Help Please: Accessing photos from Indian Archives

tembo · Oct 22nd, 2009, 12:25

Hi everyone -

In August 2007 India Today published an article about India's first parliamentarians and included a photo of the first Lok Sabha 1952 - 1957.

I have been trying to get a copy of this photo ( my grandfather is in it) on and off for the past year, but I have more or less hit dead ends.

So far I have:
- chased the national archives, but have been sent from numbr to number and eventually told they cant help me (around 12 different people, of varying degrees of helpfulness)
- Contacted India Today and received a copy of the image they used. However it is pretty small and pixelated and cant be blown up at all.

I would be grateful for any tips or experiences members have of accessing copies of such photos.

Cheers

Kristian · Oct 23rd, 2009, 14:06

The Nehru Memorial Library (Teen Murti Bhawan in Chanakyapuri) has an extensive collection of documents (50 Million+), photos (150,000+) etc relating to Indian Independence movement and Nehru's government. If your photo is to be found anywhere it would be there, you can turn up and ask to browse the photo section, they are organised fairly well but you may still have to spend a day or so sifting through indexes to locate it.

I can't gaurantee in what condition the photo would be in or if there is still a negative etc. Their storage is pretty poor with a lot of photos stuck to the inside of the plastic binding books, and I'm not 100% clear on their policy for copying photos, but as with most of their (non-copyright/non-sensitive) material a written request for a scan or photocopy of a document/photo should be fine once you've located it.

I just finished work on procurement of a vendor for a huge digitisation project for the library contents so if you aren't in such a hurry you may find your photo available online in the next couple of years! Check out http://nmml.in/ for (not much) more information about the place.

tembo · Oct 23rd, 2009, 17:04

Thanks a lot Kristian - seems I have been barking up the wrong archive.

Catch you at the next meet up.

Kristian · Oct 24th, 2009, 19:37

Welcome, let me know if you find it!

Oct 22nd, 2009, 12:25	#1
tembo Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: New Zealand/Delhi Posts: 146	Help Please: Accessing photos from Indian Archives Hi everyone - In August 2007 India Today published an article about India's first parliamentarians and included a photo of the first Lok Sabha 1952 - 1957. I have been trying to get a copy of this photo ( my grandfather is in it) on and off for the past year, but I have more or less hit dead ends. So far I have: - chased the national archives, but have been sent from numbr to number and eventually told they cant help me (around 12 different people, of varying degrees of helpfulness) - Contacted India Today and received a copy of the image they used. However it is pretty small and pixelated and cant be blown up at all. I would be grateful for any tips or experiences members have of accessing copies of such photos. Cheers

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Oct 23rd, 2009, 14:06	#2
Kristian Sausage Hero Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Delhi Posts: 16	The Nehru Memorial Library (Teen Murti Bhawan in Chanakyapuri) has an extensive collection of documents (50 Million+), photos (150,000+) etc relating to Indian Independence movement and Nehru's government. If your photo is to be found anywhere it would be there, you can turn up and ask to browse the photo section, they are organised fairly well but you may still have to spend a day or so sifting through indexes to locate it. I can't gaurantee in what condition the photo would be in or if there is still a negative etc. Their storage is pretty poor with a lot of photos stuck to the inside of the plastic binding books, and I'm not 100% clear on their policy for copying photos, but as with most of their (non-copyright/non-sensitive) material a written request for a scan or photocopy of a document/photo should be fine once you've located it. I just finished work on procurement of a vendor for a huge digitisation project for the library contents so if you aren't in such a hurry you may find your photo available online in the next couple of years! Check out http://nmml.in/ for (not much) more information about the place.

Oct 23rd, 2009, 17:04	#3
tembo Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: New Zealand/Delhi Posts: 146	Thanks a lot Kristian - seems I have been barking up the wrong archive. Catch you at the next meet up.

Oct 24th, 2009, 19:37	#4
Kristian Sausage Hero Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Delhi Posts: 16	Welcome, let me know if you find it!