Manuscripts, maps, records: here’s a database that has it all
The British Library might be in London physically but its archives can be accessed from all over the world.
They hold numerous records on Pakistan in their India Office Records and Private Papers Collection. These can be searched through their archives and manuscripts catalogue (http://searcharchives.bl.uk/).
Gerald Wellesley’s secret family. #ArchiveSecrets #Archive30 #BLisOpenhttps://t.co/nE6K53OUH2
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However, some of these records have not been digitized and cannot be accessed online. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, all you need to do is send a request or Ask A Librarian.
Then there is the The India Office Family History Search, a British Library database, with transcriptions of family history-related information from the India Office Records and other sources. This database is freely accessible online.
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Some India Office Records which relate to Pakistan have been digitised and are available to view online through the Qatar Digital Library (https://www.qdl.qa/en/).
You can also view a number of archival materials from Pakistan through the BL’s Endangered Archives Programme which has the Nur-i-Afshan archives, a project on endangered Urdu periodicals and a project cataloguing and photographic imaging of rare manuscripts from Balochistan by Dr Kamran Ali which can be accessed for research purposes only.
India Office Family History Search is a free online resource @britishlibrary. Why not try out a name, place or keyword connected with your family? #BLisOpenhttps://t.co/IbrAwX3q6h
— Untold Lives (@UntoldLives) April 8, 2020
A reserach guide with files on the Partition of India and Pakistan are available to view online through the library’s archived webpage (https://bit.ly/2xy0LLy).
You can read about the breakdown of the Gandhi-Jinnah talks, what happened on Direct Action Day and what Nehru wrote to Viceroy Mountbatten in 1947.
Clue 7: did you notice the #Urdu character? That might have thrown you off as this illuminated manuscript is a Persian romance
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You can also search for photographs, reports, maps and other digitised content from the library’s collections by searching their website here. There rare photographs of Rohri, Murree, Attock and Karachi from the 1860s.
Check out the British Library’s Instagram page for more.
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