The India Office Records is a vast collection of archives relating to the administration of the East India Company (1600–1858) and its successor the India Office (1858–1947). The collection includes hundreds of official publications and records, manuscripts, photographs, maps and private papers. These archives document the complex story of

British trade with the East, politics, the development of the British Empire and the road to Indian independence.

About Kavita Puri’s Partition Voices

In 2017 BBC journalist Kavita Puri led a project to mark the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India. Through interviews, the Partition Voices team directly documented the experiences of those who lived through this traumatic time and subsequently moved to Britain, as well as stories from their children and grandchildren. The testimonies recall

epic journeys and forced migration, violence, partings with friends and family, and the end of Empire, with some speaking about these events for the very first time. The outcome of this project was an award-winning three-part series for BBC Radio 4 titled Partition Voices, and later an acclaimed book of the same name. The full recordings and transcripts from Partition Voices are archived at the British Library Sound Archive, with collection reference C1790.

About the Endangered Archives Programme

Since 2004 the Endangered Archives Programme has facilitated the digitisation of many archives from around the world that were in danger of neglect, serious physical deterioration or even outright destruction. With generous backing from the charitable fund Arcadia, the Programme has digitised over ten million images and 35,000 soundtracks from 90 countries worldwide. This continually expanding online collection of rare prints, manuscripts and audio recordings is available through local archival partners and discoverable through the British Library catalogue.

The India Office Library and Records Interviews

The India Office Library and Records Interviews is a collection of over 120 interviews recorded in the late 1980s for the India Office Library and Records department of the British Library. The interviews were conducted mainly with British civil servants, officers of the Indian Army, business, religious, legal and medical professionals, and their families, who worked in India before independence. There are also 14 interviews conducted by Gillian Wright on behalf of Trevor Royle for his book The Last Days of the Raj and 10 interviews, donated by BBC Radio Scotland, recorded for its 1987 programme Going Home. The interviews capture personal recollections of British rule in India, including the Quit India movement, Indian independence, and Britain’s legacy in India. The full recordings from the India Office Library and Records Interviews are archived at the British Library Sound Archive, with collection reference C63. Copies of the interviews in this collection are also lodged at SOAS.

British in India Oral Archive

These interviews were carried out between 1975 and 1976 to supplement the BBC's popular Plain Tales of the Raj radio series. The project was jointly conducted by the National Sound Archive (NSA), the India Office Library & Records (IOLR) and the School of Oriental and African Studies. The NSA and the IOLR became part of the British Library in the early 1980s and are now known as the British Library Sound Archive and the India Office Records respectively.

The collection includes interviews conducted in the UK, India and Pakistan with a wide range of people, including Lord Mountbatten, B K Nehru and British civil servants. The interviews cover the role of the Viceroy, the royal family, missionary work, the police force, the Indian Civil Service in Burma, trade and shipping in Calcutta (now Kolkata), the Japanese invasion during the Second World War and the Nehru family. The interviews were conducted almost exclusively with those who had roles in the administration of the British government in India, and this is reflected in their content. The full recordings from the British in India Oral Archive are archived at the British Library Sound Archive, with collection reference C5.

The Hindustan Times Collection

The Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published in New Delhi. Sunder Singh Lyallpuri founded the newspaper in 1924, and it played an

important role in the Indian independence movement. The British Library holds copies of the Hindustan Times from 1924 to today, which are available in our reading rooms.

The Millennium Memory Bank Collection

These interviews were recorded in 1999 by Alan Ingram for BBC Radio Stoke as part of a groundbreaking BBC and British Library project to explore British life at the end of the 20th century. The Millennium Memory Bank holds over 5,000 oral histories recorded by local and national BBC radio stations, from which each participating station broadcast a series of programmes on 16 common themes. All of the full unedited recordings and the subsequent programmes are archived and available at the British Library, with collection references C900 and C953.

The Joyce Collection

This album contains images of the Cabinet Mission’s visit to India between March and June 1946. The album includes images of British officials meeting Indian political

leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammed Ali Jinnah in New Delhi and Shimla. Alec Houghton Joyce was a civil servant who took part in the Cabinet Mission. He donated this album to the India Office Library after he retired in 1958.

Prints from the India Office Library & Record’s 1976 Jinnah Exhibition

These photographic prints come from a collection that the India Office Library & Records displayed at the 1976 Jinnah Exhibition in London. The photographs were obtained from a variety of sources, including the Pakistan High Commission, with the images recording the political career of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The collection also includes images of other notable figures, including Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lord Louis Mountbatten and Lord Frederick Pethick-Lawrence.