India, South and South East Asia Project

The first India-related publication was donated to University College Hull by the Superintendent of Records at the India Office in London in January 1927, preceding by over a year the official opening of the College in October 1928. The book was TH Holland’s Sketch of the mineral resources of India (Calcutta: Office of the Geological Survey of the Government of India, 1908) [shelved at QE 375 H7]. The BJL has since built up extensive and varied collections in support of teaching and research in this area, as was reflected in the publication of SK Mitra, D Reid and GD Weston’s Catalogue of Primary and Secondary Material on Indian Studies in the Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull (Hull: University of Hull, 1989) [(R)DS 402 U5], which contained approximately 3600 titles grouped into broad subject categories, with additional details of archival holdings. However, the most significant boost was given by the arrival of the Library of the Indian High Commission (IHC).

 

The IHC Library at India House in London was established in the 1920s to cater for the needs of its staff and of researchers on Indian matters. In 1990, the BJL received the bulk of the collection, comprising some 15,000 books, periodicals, pamphlets, reports and monographs. It includes valuable primary and secondary sources published in pre- and post-independent India, particularly in the fields of history, economics, politics, sociology, law, agriculture, labour and textiles. These are written in English but a small number of items are in different Indian languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Urdu and Sanskrit, with some in German and others in Burmese. The Collection has now been completely catalogued and added to stock by subject. The BJL now contains one of the largest Indian Studies collections in the North of England.