Archives and Research Centre

Introduction

The Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust is charged with the preservation of both the built and intangible heritage of Mahatma Gandhi. The Ashram conserves four heritage structures: Hriday Kunj, Vinoba/Mira Kutir, Magan Nivas and Nandini.

The Ashram actively works with the Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission of the Government of India for the architectural documentation and conservation of core sites associated with the life and work of Gandhiji. In doing so it endeavours to create an architectural archive of physical structures.

Archives

The Ashram has one of the largest collections of Gandhiji’s original manuscripts and other papers related to his principal associates, official correspondence and personal artefacts. This archive of approximately 35,000 catalogued items has been available since the inception of the Ashram trust to scholars and researchers from around the world who have used the archive for their historical and interpretative work on Gandhiji’s life and thought.

It has been the Ashram’s endeavour to uphold the best archiving practices and it has adopted newer technologies for preservation, conservation and dissemination of the archival holdings. The archives are housed in a secure, fire and earthquake-resistant vault which is temperature-controlled. The archive uses electronic access controls for security.

The Ashram is actively engaged in creating a digital database of all its holdings. This digital archive will eventually be placed in the public domain through the Gandhi Heritage Portal, curated, designed, developed and maintained by the Ashram.

The new Archive and Research Centre comprises an archival vault, a consultation area and facilities for twenty researchers. The Archive is linked to the Ashram’s multilingual research and reference library, which has over 47,000 titles in its collection including many rare books, first editions and books written by Gandhiji’s principle associates.

Research

The Ashram has over the years not only assisted research but also conducted its own research and publication programme. The editing, translation and publication of the diaries of Mahadev Desai, in 23 volumes, Mahadevbhai Ni Diary is a lasting contribution to scholarship.

At present the Ashram is engaged in the following research and documentation programmes.

Gandhi Heritage Portal

The Ashram has curated, designed, developed and maintains the Gandhi Heritage Portal, which is the largest online, open source, digital archive on Gandhiji’s life and thought. The Portal has over 7,75,000 pages of searchable material, including audio and video resources. The Ashram’s content research and technical application group is committed to putting up 1,00,000 pages of new content on the Portal every year while continuing to add new features based on user feedback. The Portal aspires to grow to house about 2.5 million pages. The Portal is maintained by financial support provided by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India under the Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission.

Letters to Gandhi

The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG), a 100-volume electronic documentation of Gandhiji’s speeches, editorials and other writings compiled painstakingly over 38 years, contains over 31,000 letters, telegrams and cables that Gandhiji wrote to others. The editorial design of the CWMG does not permit the inclusion of letters or other forms of communication which Gandhiji received and responded to. In some instances, the CWMG provides such received communication either as fragments or in their entirety in the footnotes and appendices, but these are insignificant compared with the total number of communications from Gandhiji included in the CWMG.

Scholars have for long felt the need to have the letters and other forms of communication received by Gandhiji so as to be able to understand his responses more completely. Certain efforts have been made to compile these exchanges. Notable among them are his exchanges with Romain Rolland, Rabindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidoo, Mirabehn and Esther Faering. These compilations have proved to be an invaluable source of biographical and historical inquiry. Significant as they are, these compilations are selective in nature and do not in any way exhaust the vast number of letters that Gandhiji received from people of the subcontinent and the world. They also do not contain the exhaustive correspondence with colonial governments in South Africa, India and the office of the Colonial Secretary in London.

The Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust has in its archives over 8,500 letters and other communications to Gandhiji. These letters are mainly in three languages: English, Gujarati and Hindi. The Ashram proposes to transcribe and publish these letters. The organisation and editorial design of these volumes would mirror that of the CWMG and thus they could potentially become companion volumes, albeit as a separate series. The letters and other forms of communication would be arranged both chronologically and language-wise. That is, there would be separate volumes for English, Gujarati and Hindi wherein the chronological order would be maintained. These letters would be published in the language in which they were received and would not contain translations. They would contain cross references to the CWMG wherever possible to make it easy for scholars to access both sets.

The Ashram has both the archival resources and the in-house expertise to initiate and complete a project of such magnitude. Tridip Suhrud and Thomas Weber have recently edited a volume of this kind, titled Beloved Bapu: The Gandhi-Mira Correspondence (Orient Black Swan, 2014).

Gandhi Heritage Sites Database

The Gandhi Heritage Sites Committee headed by Gopalkrishna Gandhi had in its final report submitted a list of over 2,200 sites associated with the life and times of Mahatma Gandhi. This list was intended as a guide to both future work related to these sites as also a comprehensive compendium. The list as submitted requires verification. For this reason Gopalkrishna Gandhi recommended that the list should be seen as preliminary data and not be published without proper verification and inclusion of additional information derived from authentic sources. This was discussed at the first meeting of the Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission held on 11 September 2013 wherein it was decided that the task of compiling the ‘Gandhi Heritage Sites: A Comprehensive List’ be given to the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust. This project is being supported by the Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission.

Scope of Work

The comprehensive list would comprise several layers of information. The basic data would be around the place, the date and purpose of Gandhiji’s visit to a particular site. Once collated the information would be organised in the following manner:

• GHS Companion - 1 will have the following:
  • Date-wise itinerary from birth to death; will have indicators of tours against respective dates as a recurring strip
  • Place-wise listing for the whole world in alphabetical order, with respective regional divisions indicated against it
• GHS Companion - 2 will have the following:
  • Theme-based details and brief narratives with cross-references across respective volumes, so that this volume will serve as an Index Volume as well, besides providing the frameworks
  • Basic themes would be: arrests, imprisonments, assaults, education, acquaintances, associates, ashrams, tours, fasts, Satyagrahas, constructive programmes, etc. arranged in alphabetical order  
• GHS List of Foreign Countries:
  • All places outside India (now) listed country-wise
  • With Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
• GHS List of Western Region - India
• GHS List of Northern Region - India
• GHS List of Eastern Region - India
• GHS List of Southern Region - India
• GHS List of Central Region - India 

Architectural Documentation

The Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission has identified 39 core sites where Gandhiji spent some time and where important historical events took place during his life. To create authentic and reliable records of such places, an exercise to document them is being undertaken. The work of coordinating the task has been entrusted to the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust, Ahmedabad, through a committee formed under the mission.

The purpose of this documentation is to record the nature of these sites which are part of the global heritage. The documentation will cover the following aspects:

Architectural documentation of the site, buildings and surroundings, with specific emphasis on spaces where Gandhiji is known to have conducted his activities.

The above documentation will record the present state of the site, but will also find out the original architectural and usage patterns and record any changes that may have occurred at various times.

In addition to documentation through drawings, photographic documentation will also be carried out. Access to historical photographic and drawn records as well as written material will assist the team to make an authentic documentation. The team would also interview those who have been associated with the site for a long time to confirm their observations and findings.

Virtual Tours

A virtual tour is a simulation of an existing location usually composed of a collection of panoramic still images played in sequence like a moving video, with added sound and text effects, or it may use models in place of actual images. It is designed to give the viewer a more lifelike 3D view of the location being presented in the tour. A virtual tour of the Ashram is available on the website, using which, a visitor anywhere in the world can navigate through each building on the Ashram Campus.

Mahatma Gandhi travelled widely all over India, South Africa, UK and Europe during his lifetime. All such locations have now become valuable heritage sites. These sites are also available on the website to visit as virtual tours.

Diaries of Manu Gandhi

Manu Gandhi, one of Gandhiji’s closest associates, maintained a diary of her life with him from 11 April 1943 to 30 January 1948. These diaries written in Gujarati and running into 18 volumes are in possession of the National Archives of India, which has given the task of editing and translating them into English to the Ashram. The Ashram has also been authorised to publish these diaries in Gujarati. This work, expected to take five years, would result in the publication of about five volumes in English and five volumes in Gujarati.

Selected Works of Mirabehn

Mirabehn (Madeleine Slade) was a close associate of Gandhiji and lived at the Ashram at Sabarmati and Sevagram. Her long and intense letters to Gandhiji have been published by the Ashram. She also wrote occasional pieces for journals edited by Gandhiji. The Ashram is editing a compilation of her writings from Young India and Harijan with additional notes and an introduction.

Selected Works of C. F. Andrews

C. F. Andrews was perhaps the only person to address Gandhiji as Mohan. Their deep friendship is evident from the series of letters they wrote to each other. These letters will be published under the series ‘Letters to Gandhi’. C. F. Andrews also made significant contributions to the Indian struggle for freedom through his writings. His work on indentured labour in the Asia Pacific region and in South Africa is reflected in the occasional essays that he wrote for journals edited by Gandhiji. These essays provide us with an understanding of the many dimensions of the Indian freedom struggle and the contribution of all those who fought for Independence as a quest for truth. The Ashram is also editing a compilation of his writings.