Collection at a Glance

India Gazette (1864 onwards):- One of the most important holdings of the Library, is the India Gazette which is a unique document containing information about various Acts, Rules, Legislations passed by the Parliament, in addition to information about key appointments, and Orders of the Government.

Calcutta Gazette (1792-1863):- The Calcutta Gazette began publication in 1784 and was not initially a government publication, but was owned and managed by an official of the East India Company.The volumes contain important information about the history, polity and society during the Imperial days in Calcutta and subsequently about Government orders, rules relating to Bengal.

London Gazette (1810-1954):- It is one of the most respected and important journals of record of the British Government which began publication in 1665.It contains valuable information about Royal Assent to Bills, Appointments, Awards, Honors, etc.

Provincial Gazettes:- Provincial Gazettes containing information about Acts,Rules, Orders pertaining to different States are housed in the NAI Regional Office Bhopal. (For list please see Annexure I).

Annexure I

Provincial Gazettes in National Archives of India Regional Office, Bhopal

• Agra 1841-1858
• Andaman & Nicobar 1876-1970
• Andhra Pradesh 1954-1970
• Assam 1889-1970
• Bihar & Orissa 1912-1935
• Bihar 1936-1970
• Bombay 1873-1960
• Burma 1869-1941
• Calcutta 1862-1975
• Central Provinces 1870-1949
• Ceylon 1913-1922
• Coorg 1925-1956
• Delhi 1952-1970
• Goa 1962-1970
• Gujarat 1960-1970
• Haryana 1966-1970
• Himachal Pradesh 1956-1970
• Hyderabad 1868-1953
• Jammu & Kashmir 1952-1970
• Kathiawar Pol. Agency 1863-1923
• Kerala 1958-1970
• Kutch 1952-1956
• Laccadives 1965-1970
• Madras 1864-1969
• Madhya Pradesh 1950-1970
• Maharashtra 1962-1970
• Manipur 1952-1970
• Mysore State 1877-1908
• Nagaland 1964-1970
• N.W.P 1867-1902
• North West Frontier Province 1923-1947
• Oudh 1868-1877
• Orissa 1936-1970
• Pondicherry 1964-1970
• Punjab 1965-1970
• Rajputana 1876-1880
• Rajasthan 1952-1970
• Sindh 1899-1951
• Sikkim 1967-1968
• Tripura 1952-1970
• Western India States Agency (WISA) 1924-1945
• Uttar Pradesh 1903-1971

The Census Reports (1871 onwards) are a valuable and basic source on demographic studies and contain data about the population, castes, tribes, occupation etc for the use of scholars and other users.(For list of India Census Reports and Provincial Census Reports please see Annexures II & III).

Annexures II

Census of India Reports in National Archives of India

Pre 1947 period Post 1947 period :

• 1881 1951
• 1891 1961
• 1901 1971
• 1911 1981
• 1921 1999
• 1931
• 1941

Annexures III

Reports of Regional Census in National Archives of India

• Bengal 1881
• Bihar & Orissa 1911-1971
• Assam 1881-1971
• Ajmer/ Rajputana/ Rajasthan 1881-1971
• Delhi 1931, 1951, 1961, 1971, 1981
• Gujarat1961-1971
• Haryana 1971
• Bombay 1971-1971
• Andhra Pradesh 1901-1961
• Kerala 1961-1971
• Himachal Pradesh 1961-1971
• Madras 1871-1971
• Jammu & Kashmir 1901,1911,1921, 1931,1961, 1971
• Mysore 1881-1971
• Kerala 1961-1971
• Hyderabad 1901-1951
• Travancore  1891-1951
• C.P.\ M.P. 1881-1971
• U.P., Agra,and Awadh 1865

Gazetteers are another valuable reference tool providing information about the people, their culture, customs, geographical, linguistic, ethnic data, etc. The Gazetteers in the Department are of three categories viz:

Imperial Gazetteer of India (India Series):- The Department has 26 Volumes (including index) of the Imperial Gazetteer in its custody.The first edition of the Imperial Gazetteer of India was published in 1881 under the stewardship of Sir W.W.Hunter and contains valuable information about the people of India

Imperial Gazetteer of India (Provincial Series):- This series focuses on information in respect of various Provinces.

District Gazetteers:- The District Gazetteers were started privately under the auspices of Government agencies and contain information about each district.

This Collection consists of recorded proceedings of the British Parliament, which includes Questions, Proceedings relating to India as well as White Papers,Reports of Parliamentary Committees,Reports of Commisioners,Trade and Tariff relating to India etc. Some of the important Volumes in the Collection are:

• Cobett’s Parliamentary History of England (1688-1785)
• The Mirror of Parliament (1829-39)
• Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates (1841-91)
• Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates relating to Indian Affairs (1886-1925)
• Parliamentary Debates (House of Commons) (1934-1948)
• Parliamentary Debates (House of Lords) (1909-1935)
• Sessional Papers (1899-1912)
• Parliamentary Debates (1892-1935)
• Indian Parliamentary Debates (1892-1898)
• Indian Debates (1898-1908)
• Debates on Indian Affairs (1909-35).

This Series comprises the following Volumes:

• Proceedings of the Legislative Council of India (1857-1920)
• Legislative Assembly Debates of Indian Legislatures (1921-49)
• Constituent Assembly Debates (1947-50)
• Parliamentary Debates (1950-53)
• Rajya Sabha Debates (1952 onwards)
• Lok Sabha Debates (1954 onwards)

These volumes cover the following States:

• Bengal(1862-1932)
• Bombay (1862-1936)
• Burma (1923-35)
• Central Provinces (1916- 32)
• Madras (1922-36)
• Punjab (1926-36)
• United Provinces (1896-1936)

These are abstracts or summaries of Vernacular Newspapers compiled by the erstwhile Home Department to enable the Government to keep itself informed about activities in various provinces and are a very useful source material relating to public opinion in various States on issues of general interest. Prior to Independence, these Selections were classified as confidential documents and were not meant for public access. Some of the major Reports in the Series are:-

• Report on Native Newspapers,Bengal Presidency (1863-1931)
• Report on Native Newspapers,Bombay Presidency (1868-1932)
• Report on Native Newspapers,Central Provinces, Central India etc (1896-1927)
• Report on Native Newspapers,Eastern Bengal & Assam(1907-11)
• Report on Native Newspapers Madras ( 1872-1911)
• Report on Native Newspapers, N.W.Provinces and Oudh (1890-1937)

(For complete list please see Annexure IV)

Annexure IV

Selections of Vernacular Native NewsPapers

• Bengal Presidency 1863-70, 1873-1911, 1920-27
• Bombay Presidency 1868-82, Supplementary Vol: 1882-98, 1883-91, 1895-1911, 1920, 1922-23, 1925-27.
• Madras Presidency, 1872-81,1881-91,1882-1911
• Central Provinces, Ajmer-Merwara, Central India,Burma etc. 1896-97,1899-1911,1921-26, 1927
• Punjab 1864-71, 1871-91 (Supplementary vol), 1872-75, 1880- 81, 1883, 1886, 1888-1894, 1899, 1889-98 (Supplementary vol), 1900-04, 1906-11, 1920-21, 1923, 1926.
• N.W.F.P, Oudh & Central Provinces 1864-65, 1867-68, 1871, 1876-79, 1882, 1884, 1887-1895, 1898-1900, 1902-03, 1905-1911.
• Ajmer-Merwara, Rajputana 1895-96
• U.P. Agra & Oudh 1903-11, 1923-26, 1928, 1930-35.                         
• Thagi & Dacaity Deptt (Spl.Branch) 1899-1900.

These volumes contain Selections from important activities and decisions of the British Government and were published for the information and use by the public. They provide useful information about the British administration in India. Notable volumes among the Selections are:

• Government of India 1853-1900
• Bengal Government, 1851-1890
• Bombay Government, 1852-1907
• Punjab Government, 1852-79
• Madras Government, 1853-96

Another valuable Collection are the Almanacs containing information on statistical accounts, astronomical data, events, civil and military appointments, rules and regulations about the Govt. of India etc. The four volume series comprises of the following:

• Bengal Almanac 1803-54
• Bombay Calendar and Almanac 1836-68
• Madras Almanac 1817-58
• Asylum Press Almanac 1862-1958

This Collection complied by C.U.Aitchison,Under Secretary to the Government of India, was published originally in 1909. The 14 volumes cover treaties with various states and countries including Punjab, Rajputana, Bundelkhand, Hyderabad, Madras, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Persia, Afghanistan, Nepal, Turkistan, Muscat, Baluchistan etc.

Published in 1933, it is a comprehensive Directory compiled from the Civil Lists of the Government of India and includes service records of officers who served in India and Burma. It also has information about military officers, recipents of medals and awards, rates of pay, pensions, etc.

This is an exhaustive list containing information about the officers of the Indian Civil Service as well as the Indian Administrative Service from 1886.

This document provides the names, rank, postings and service details of Army officers who served in India. There are separate lists for Bombay Bengal and Madras, viz:

• Bombay Army List 1826-1895
• Bengal Army List 1825-1889
• Madras Army List 1826-1894

These are useful documents containing information about the employees of the East India Company who served in the Civil, Military, Marine establishments, births, marriages and deaths in India, etc.

These volumes covering the period (1877-1988) deal with the history, politics, literature and chronological events in England and other British colonies.

These volumes deal with public activities, social, cultural, industrial, educational events concerning India during the period (1919-47)

Another useful reference aid, it contains information about India’s population, commerce, trade, commercial organizations as well as biographical data of important persons.

This is another valuable publication containing information about various items , persons and events specially related to Calcutta from 1885-1957.

This unique collection comprises publications in prose and verse as also pamphlets and posters in various languages including Hindi, English, Urdu, Tamil, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada, Bengali These were written during the freedom movement and reflected the strong passions among the freedom fighters which were aimed at arousing patriotic feelings among the public. Consequently, these were banned by the British Government, to prevent them from reaching the people. Some of the significant articles\poems in the Collection are:

• Azadi ka Bigul (Hindi) ed. by K.C.Rastogi
• Azadi Ka Bomb (Hindi), ed. by Jagannath Prasad Arora
• Kanavu (Tamil), by Subramaniam Bharati
• Yug Bani (Bengali), by Qazi Nazrul Islam
• Bijli di Karak (Punjabi), by Darshan Singh Daljit
• Azadi ki Garaj (Punjabi), by Sajjan Singh
• Golibarachi (Marathi), by Shahiv Rao Kokate
• Appeal to my countrymen (English), by S.N.Sanyal
• Azadina Geet (Gujarati), by R.N.Parikh
• Dard-e-Wattan (Urdu), by Om Prakash Sahni
• Angrezon ki bolti band (Urdu), by Babu Ram Doneria
• Bhagat Singh Keerthanamitram (Tamil), by V.R.Elumalai Pillai

These are a series of first hand accounts of foreign travellers who came to India from different countries. Many narratives have been published by the Hakluyt Society which depict the lifestyle, customs, social practices and religious beliefs etc. of the people in different parts of the country and are a valuable source material for study of contemporary history. Some important volumes containing such accounts are:

• Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Punjab, in Ladakh, Peshawar, Kabul, by William Moorcroft (1841)
• Journals kept in Hyderabad, Kashmir, Sikkim and Nepal, by Richard Temple (1887).
• India in the Fifteenth Century (translated and edited by Richard Henry Major)
• The Voyage of Sir James Lancaster to the East Indies.
• A new Account of East India and Persia, by John Fryer
• The Travels of Peter Mundy
• Peter Flories, his voyage to the East Indies (1611-15)
• The Original Writings and Correspondence of the two Richard Hakluyts
• The Desert Route to India (1745-51)
• Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrims
• The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Travels and Discoveries of the English Nation, by Richard Hakluyt.

This Collection comprises Reports of about 450 Commissions\ Committees appointed by the Government on various subjects from time to time, and provide valuable source material for research. Starting with the Indian Police (Bird) Committee-(Minute of Evidence, 1833) , the Collection contains many Reports of far reaching significance, among which mention may be made of the following:

• Report of the Prison Discipline Committee, 1836-38
• Report (Simms) on the Survey of Calcutta, 1850
• Indian Police Commission Report, 1860
• Indigo Commission Report, 1860
• Report of the Deccan Riots Commission, 1876
• Indian Education Commission Report, 1882
• Bombay Akbaree Commission Report, 1885
• Report on Jail Administration in India 1888-89
• Indian Famine Commission Report, 1901
• Report of the Public Service Commission 1888
• Report of Indian Factory Commission, 1890
• Komagata Maru Committee Enquiry Report, 1914 (Vol. 1)
• Burma Reform Committee Report, 1921
• Burma Crime Enquiry Report, 1923
• Report on Indian Constitutional Reforms, 1924
• Indian Sandhurst Committee Report, 1925-26
• Report of the Riots Enquiry Committee, 1939
• Scavenging Enquiry Committee Report, 1961
• Madras Agricultural Committee Report, 1888-89

• These are a Collection of rare and valuable Articles, Reports, Notes prepared by various organizations and experts, on a wide range of subjects like Education, Agriculture, Medicine, History, Trade, Railways, Religion etc and cover the period 1851-1929. Some important Pamphlets in the Collection are:
• Rabies and anti rabic treatment in India, by Hugh Seton and R.Knowles (1914)
• Review of Forest Administation in several provinces of British India (1873-77), by D.Brandis
• Catalogue of Mandalay Manuscripts in India Office Library, by V.Faushill.
• Travels in Central Asia in the year 1812-13, by Meer Izzat Ollah
• Official key to the Civil Service of the Crown and Guide for candidates seeking appointments by J.C.Parkinson (1859)
• Russian Commercial Mission in Central Asia by V.Christian Sarauv (1872)
• Pukhto or Pushto Manual for use of Surveyors, by G.B.Scott (1896)
• Notes on etymologies of Hindi rural words, by Paul Whalley (1904)
• Classified Catalogue of Sanskrit works in the Saraswati Bhandaram Library of His Highness, Maharaja of Mysore(1870)
• Founding of Fort St. George Madras by William Foster (1902)
• Iranian Art, by Von Spiegel (1886)
• Truth about the Indian Army and its Officers, by Hydaspes (1861)
• Khana: A handbook of resources of India, by G.T. Hugh (1870)

These provide very useful material for the study of the history, culture and traditions of the Indian people, apart from carrying world wide news about activities and events. Prominent among the holdings are:-

The series covers the correspondence between the Court of Directors in London and the Fort William Council from 1748 to 1800.

These are published in-extenso in 21 volumes. Edited by an eminent historian each volume contains the text of the correspondence together with a comprehensive introduction, copious notes, select bibliography and an exhaustive index besides a number of illustrations.

A most significant Collection in the Library are rare and contemporary works on India and its history going back to the 17th century, which are valuable sources for research Some of the titles are listed below:

• The life of Dom John De Castro the Fourth Viceroy of India, by Sr. K. Peter Wyche & Jacinto F.De Andrada (1664)
• Voyage from England to India in the year MDDCLIV (1754), by Edward and Charles Dilly (1773)
• Official documents relating to the Negotiations carried out by Tippoo Sultan, (1799)
• Interesting historical events, relating to the provinces of Bengal and the Empire of Indostan by J.Z.Holwell (1766)
• British Empire in the East, by Count Bjornstjern (1840)
• A view of English interests in India, by William Fullerton (1787)
• History of India, by John Marshman (1807)
• India, by John Strachey (1888)
• Studies Manual of the History of India, by Taylor Meadows (1870)
• Sepoy Revolt by Innes Mcleod (1897)
• Indian Rebellion-its causes and results, by Alexander Duff (1858)
• Brief history of the Indian people, by W.W.Hunter(1897)
• Great Mutiny-India 1857,by Cristopher Hibbert (1878)
• Histories of Non Cooperation and Khilafat Movements, by P.C.Bamford(1925)
• Press list of Mutiny Papers (1921)
• History of Indian Mutiny by GW. Forrest (1893)
• India old and new, by Valentine Chirol (1921)

This is a unique Collection comprising the Inaugural issues of as many as 300 magazines and journals going back to the late 19th and 20th centuries. A brainchild of late Sh.Annapurnanad,a resident of Varanasi., the Collection was gifted to the National Archives by his wife Smt. Janak Dulari These journals were .published from different places including Delhi,Bombay, Lahore,Varanasi,Allahabad,Calcutta,Patna etc,and are primarily in Hindi with a few being in Sanskrit and Urdu They contain articles and features on issues like social ills, women emancipation, world history, national movement, patriotism, politics, etc. Naari Agrasar, Achoot, Janmat, Rashtrapati, Asha, Hans, Tapobhoomi, AdarshBharat, Harischandra, and Hunter are some of the titles found in the Collection.Many notable personalities like Premchand, Madan Mohan Malaviya, Banarsidas Chaturvedi, D.P. Mishra Madame Cama were associated with these journals.