CHENNAI: Interested to see the report of Major Bannerman on the trial and execution of Veerapandia Kattabomman dating back to 1799 or glimpse through the copy of the diary of Bhaskara Sethupathi of 1893? Walk in to the TN Archives and Historical Research (TNAHR) in Egmore.
One of the earliest institutions in India to archive government records besides those relating to important international, national and regional events, the TNAHR set off its journey as the Madras Record Office in 1909 and later became TN Archives and subsequently assumed its current name, the TNAHR in 1973. The department houses interesting records related to Sepoy mutiny, the Ashe murder trial and numerous data relating to the independence movement. It publishes the district gazetteers and select document series periodically.
TN archives is one of the biggest research institutions in South East Asia, and it is celebrating its centenary now. On Thursday, Deputy Chief Minister MK Stalin, Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi, Information Minister Parithi Illamvazhuthi and top government officials participated in the celebrations.
Stalin said it was important to record, preserve and use historical events. The State’s ancient history could be traced only with the help of temples, inscriptions and sculptures of Chola, Chera and Pandiya emperors and there was a paucity of properly recorded history. However, the TN archives was doing a wonderful job of conserving data related to modern history.
“This is a treasure trove and it can be useful even for the World Classical Tamil meet next year.” Referring to the representation of Parithi Illamvazhuthi that cash assistance should be given to the employees of TNAHR, the deputy CM said the plea would be positively considered.
Some of the interesting records in TN archives: History of the Justice Party that heralded the social justice movement in TN in early 20th century, Dutch records (1657), intelligence on the movement of Tipu Sultan during the Mysore war, invitation of Tipu’s son’s marriage in Persian, Dickinsons Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, export trade from Great Britain to East Indies (1791-93), British India government declaring Gandhi cap as a political symbol (1941), post mortem report of Napolean Bonaporte (1827), forced Sati in Thanjavur (1821) and judicial records related to it.
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