Date of tip:  April 2006

Source: Erica Wald, e.l.wald@lse.ac.uk

Location: Janpath, New Delhi

How to get there: The National Archives are located at the corner of Janpath and Rajpath, about a 15 minute walk from Connaught Place.

Language: English, Hindi, Urdu

Getting started: Foreign visitors must come with a letter of introduction from both their home university/supervisor and their Embassy.  You will then need to complete an application form.  You will also need to have a daily security pass.  These passes are obtained on the day, or, in the case of wishing to consult the archives on a Saturday, on the day before. 

Opening Hours: 9:30-6, Monday to Friday, 9-5:30 on Saturday

General working conditions: At the time of my first visit, repairs were being done to the building, so the reading room was noisy.  

Consultation: The number of requests per day is limited to 10.

Policy on technology: Laptops are permitted.   

Photocopy policy: For foreign nationals, xerox copies are 6 Rupees per page.  All requests must be submitted using the designated photocopying form for the archives.  You will need to allow a considerable amount of time for photocopy requests, usually ranging from 2-7 days.  

Particularities: There is a very reasonably priced cafeteria outside and to the left of the building.  Alternatively, there are a number of restaurants and hotel restaurants along Janpath.     

Etc: The staff is excellent- and in the absence of any real organised cataloguing system (the archives are still catalogued mainly under the old colonial system), they are invaluable in locating certain material.

Places to Stay: I stayed at Hotel 55 in Connaught Place, which was reasonable and clean and about a 15-20 minute walk to the archives.  The archives are about a 5-8 minute walk from the Central Secretariat metro station.  As the metro in Delhi is relatively speedy, researchers could easily stay near any of the metro stations and have a very quick ride in to the archives.  Alternatively, if you don’t want to walk, there are always the ubiquitous auto-rickshaws.

Forms: There is a link to the application form on the archive website.