Archiving the Third World

The entry for Dawn in a microfilm catalog, Serial and Government Publications Division, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

“It is truly tragic,” Eqbal Ahmad wrote, “that our archives suffer from neglect and fragmentation, and historians are nearly extinct in Pakistan.”¹ Ahmad’s dire assessment was made in a June 1995 tribute to the efforts of the sometimes embattled historian Zawwar Husain Zaidi (1928-2009). Born in Budaun, Zaidi studied at Aligarh Muslim University and taught at Lahore’s Forman Christian College before completing his Ph.D. in 1964 at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where he would teach for some three decades. His dissertation, “The Partition of Bengal and Its Annulment - a Survey of the Schemes of Territorial Redistribution of Bengal 1902-1911” was based on the private papers of Crewe, Hardinge, and Mayo at Cambridge, the papers of Balfour, Midleton, Ampthill, Curzon, Cross, Elgin, Northbrook, Morley, and others at the British Museum, the Asquith Papers in the Bodleian, and other private papers in Edinburgh, Kent, and Birmingham.² He also made extensive use of the India Office’s library and consulted London’s Public Records Office.

Any student of the British Empire’s global history will find the rehearsal of names and locations above immediately if not intimately familiar. Colonial archives are well-mined and well-known, and their dominance in the historiography of the modern world impossible to deny. Anti-colonial archives remain lesser known, even chimeric for some. Concomitant with an increased attention to the history of the Third World in professional historiography, the presence and value of anti- or post-colonial archives are today the subject of provocative and thoughtful discussion. Largely missing from this new academic discourse in the West, however, are the contributions of those historians, archivists, and librarians in the Third World who thought seriously about how to collect and document their past throughout the second-half of the twentieth-century. Even the briefest glance at the journals of university libraries, historical societies, or other learned groups and institutions in Asia and Africa reveals sustained attention to the material challenges, cultural significance, and political meanings of Third World archives.

The text I’ve reproduced below is an address delivered by Zaidi at the General Conference on the Planning of Archival Development in the Third World convened under the auspices of the International Council on Archives (ICA) in Dakar in January 1975.³ Drawing on his key role in the preservation of the Muslim League’s records, Zaidi makes an eloquent case for the conservation and maintenance of Third World archives.⁴ In his remarks, he briefly mentions the role of his wife, Parveen Zaidi (1945–), who unlike him was professionally trained in the archival sciences, restoration in particular. “During the months that became years,” Eqbal Ahmad wrote in his aforementioned tribute, “Parveen Zaidi patiently bore the brunt of professor Zaidi’s highly articulated frustrations with Pakistan’s versatile foot draggers... she became Pakistan’s first and so far only internationally recognised restorer of manuscripts.” In a 1980 interview with UNESCO’s news bulletin Parveen articulated her own intellectual commitments: “Many third world countries… own valuable documents. They realise the time has come to do something about them, but they don’t have restoration departments. I’m anxious to help and I would like to undertake a project in this field.”⁵  

A final note: the annals of liberation movements will never be sufficiently accounted for by paper records alone, as the exigencies of the struggle itself made records undesirable. In the discussion following Zaidi’s paper, Mohamed Mahgoub Malik noted that the archives in Khartoum’s Central Record Office, where he was the deputy director, “reflect the role of the ex-rulers of Sudan only.” “Unfortunately,” he continued, “most of the political leaders of the independence movement have not kept their records owing to security reasons. The local press was also under censorship precautions.” Malik concluded that “the responsible archivist” must get special training to conduct oral history interviews, to account for that absence. A valuable lesson for historians and archivists today.

The Pakistan Archives 1:1 (1984), 100.

Z.H. Zaidi: Records of Freedom Movement with Special Reference to Pakistan 

Senegal and H.E. President Leopold Sedar Senghor deserve our gratitude for having taken the initiative and lead in organizing the First Conference on the Planning of Archival Development in the Third World on which those of us gathered here will be deliberating in the course of the next few days. Let us hope that our discussions will bear fruits and we shall be able to pool our resources, techniques, knowledge and experience for the laudable object we have set before us. Many countries have already established archives on modern and scientific lines but the creation of a meaningful archival institution has yet to be accomplished in others. Historical reasons, public indifference, apathy of scholars and government servants, lack of technical know-how and lack of adequate financial resources have contributed to the absence of organized archives in some countries. The long felt need of archival development in the Third World, let us hope, will now be fulfilled through the good offices of the International Council on Archives which should pay increasing attention in assisting the countries of the Third World in order to build and develop effective and meaningful archival structures and services. Let us not forget that some of these countries though at present lacking in archives had a history when others did not have geography. Let us therefore make a resolve that we shall not allow these treasures of past history to remain half-forgotten, half-neglected and in certain cases insect-ridden and moth-eaten. 

Preservation and proper maintenance of management of records is the essential duty of a government for records are the “basic administrative tools by means of which a government’s work is accomplished”. Abul Fazl, a scholar and administrator in the sixteenth century in India aptly remarked: “Keeping records is an excellent thing for a government; it is even necessary for any rank of society.” Records are equally valuable to the historian whether engaged in writing political, cultural or religious history or the development of economic, legal or juridical institutions for records are vehicles of evidence. The evidence they convey, to quote Roger Ellis, may be “trivial, or revolutionary, scandalous, treasonable, pious, comic or merely dull” but it is this evidence which has to be preserved for posterity.

On 14 August 1947 a new state — Pakistan — came into being. The Muslims of the sub-continent had won independence against almost impossible odds. To Quaid-i-Azam Mohamed Ali Jinnah must go, in a very large measure, credit for this achievement. For within a matter of ten years (1937–1947) he was able to organzie the disparate and disorganized Muslims of the subcontinent under the banner of the All-India Muslim League—the party which spearheaded the Pakistan movement. But the story of this phenomenal rise of the League and the achievement of Pakistan has not yet been properly written. This has been mainly due to the non-availability of the records dealing with the Independence movement.

The aftermath of the transfer of power posed gigantic problems for those who inherited power. Unfortunately archival services did not receive the property they deserved. Those who played an important part in the Independence movements during the colonial period were too pre-occupied with the problems which Independence posed. Because of the disturbances, dislocation of administrative services and large scale migrations especially in the case of the Indian sub-continent, no attention was paid to locate, collect and preserve records of the Independence movement immediately. In the meantime, the records were allowed in certain cases to deteriorate. Instead of finding an abode, they remained scattered often attacked by deteriorative agents which a tropical climate is fashioned to breed and multiply. Frequent changes of governments added to the problems. For instance, the records of the All-Indian Muslim League (covering the period from its inception in 1906 to 1947) which had been sifted from Delhi to Karachi after partition continued to be housed at the premises of the League in Karachi. But with the promulgation of the Martial Law in 1958, political parties throughout Pakistan were banned and their records sealed. 

For long, archives and records in Pakistan had suffered for want of funds, lack of preservation facilities and above all interference on the part of the custodians of repositories of these national treasures. They had been condemned to a life of stagnation; their development had been retarded and they hardly functioned as public utility organizations. The unfavourable storage conditions, the unscientific and outmoded methods for preservation, the continued negligence of the custodians of record offices had reduced them to mere godowns, ill ventilated, ill kept and constantly under attack by deteriorative agents. They showed varying degrees of damage caused by termites, and funghi, etc. Some of the private papers were in a potable condition. The original owners who built private collections had either died or had lost interest in their maintenance. Others did not have the means nor the techniques to preserve the materials with the result that in certain cases rare books, manuscripts and records had either been dumped in cellars or remained locked in the original chambers. 

Deeply grieved at the state of affairs, I contacted historians, archivists and government officials about the urgent need of saving and preserving the old historical records. For a number of years nothing happened and it was not until October 1966 that the records of the League which had been dumped in 123 gunny bags and 46 boxes and which in addition contained over 96,000 columns of about 300 different publications and pamphlets were shifted to the University of Karachi, thanks to the efforts of Dr. I.H. Qureshi, then the Vice-Chancellor of the University. 

Restoration and classification of these records posed great problems. Most of the field had been broken up as a result of bad handling in the past, the papers of bound registers had been scattered and the original make-up of the records had been completely disturbed. Moisture, lack of ventilation insects, dust and acidic gases all contributed to their share individually and collectively in reducing them to almost a wasteful hoarding. The paper has become brittle and, therefore, extremely difficult to handle. Dampness and water damaged not only the documents but spread the insatiable ink leaving stains; mildew corroded the contents; insects and beetle pierced through some of the bound volumes and split them in such a way that what was once a foolscap sheet was no an irregular polygon with jagged edges, parts of which would tear if handled any more, Many of the documents had creased; other had missing portions. Thus these half-forgotten and wholly neglected records presented many problems in the way of restoration, classification and preservation. Since modern techniques for restoration were then not available in Pakistan, two members of the staff were sent to London for six months’ training in the India Office Library, India Office Records. Professor C.H. Phillips, Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London proved a pillar of strength and secured for us equipment and materials throughout the eBritish Council. In order to train more people in Pakistan, a training camp was started at the University where Mr. John King, a senior craftsman from the India Office Library and my wife Mrs Parveen Zaidi trained about 15 trainees for a period of four months in restoration work. 

Restoration work because of the nature of documents proceed slowly as, sometimes, a badly damaged document took a whole day or more to repair. But traditional repair — laborious and painstaking but rewarding exercise was the only suitable technique; lamination, because of the fact that it is still in an experimental stage could not be adopted for documents of such primary importance as the League Collection. 

Classification of the records was not easy either. Since almost all the documents had been scattered, one had to wait for months in order to fund the missing links. If, for instance, there were fifty documents in one file relating to a specific issue and only a few were obtained from one gunny bag or box, the classifier had to search for the remaining in other bags or boxes. All this required great patience because each sheet of paper had to be identified. Approximately four years were spent in making a preliminary classification. It is heartening to note that by now, more than 30,000 documents have been resorted and bound in 255 volumes — a great achievement on the part of the team of dedicated workers engaged in organizing and restoring these records. The bound volumes are available for use by scholars.

Acquisition of the League Records was only the beginning for ten other private collections that were soon added to the holdings — the most important being the Jinnah Papers. The Jinnah Papers were subsequently shifted to the Ministry of Education, Islamabad where they are being restored and catalogued. Accession lists and descriptive catalogues of these papers have already been printed. 

Acquisition of private collections is not an easy task. It involves personal visits, social contract, considerable drive and initiative. The archivist has to be well informed about the life and career of those whose papers he wants to acquire. He [sic] has got to win their confidence and convince them of his credentials. Only then he can make a headway. He should be prepared to climb the attics or go into cellars in search for records. Initially he may have to work at the premises of the owners of the collections, ridding the papers of dust and even insects, sorting them out and creating some system where none existed. It may even be necessary to repair some papers before actual acquisition in order to convince the owner that his papers will be well looked after. Often the collection contains papers of personal and intimate nature. In such cases, the wishes of the owner have to be respected. The golden rule is never to betray the confidence nor part with information which you have been forbidden to reveal. Archival work needs dedication and total commitment; the only reward of an archivist is the satisfaction that he or she has been able to create something out of nothing. 

Many countries throughout the Third World have won their Independence recently. But in most cases, the history of the struggle for independence and the emergence of the new nations based on primary source materials has yet to be compiled. Some countries have succeeded in retrieving and organizing records of Independence movements; in others this important and urgent work has yet to be accomplished. Unless and until evidence — oral as well as documentary — is collected and made available to scholars and historians, the story of the various movements and of the politics, political developments and processes culminating in the establishment of new nation-states will remain unrevealed. It is the bounden duty of governments, scholars, archivists and public men [sic] to pay immediate attention to the collection and preservation of their historic treasures. 

President Senghor has rightly summed up the importance of archives in one sentence: “This is a basic requirement for our development”. I shall elaborate this by saying: We can change the course of rivers, we can reduce mountains to dust, we can construct dams and barrages, we can build new factories and install new industries. But we cannot write our history if the old records — the raw material of history — are destroyed. For records constitute the memory of our society, the evidence of our experiences, the story of our failures and achievements , the testimony of the growth of our social, economic, political and cultural institutions. In them is hidden the story of the fall and rise of a nation and our degree of “development” is to be judged by the care and attention we give to their preservation and the extent to which we utilize them in reconstructing our past. A nation, wrote a historian, that forgets its past is doomed to live in a state of infancy. 

Proceedings of the General Conference on the Planning of Archival Development in the Third World: (Dakar, 28-31 January 1975), (München: Verlag Dokumentation, 1976), 43-48. 

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¹ Eqbal Ahmad, “Pakistan’s Endangered History,” Dawn (June 4, 1995), reproduced as a pdf here. For a recent, general account of Pakistan’s archival state of affairs, see: Syed Jalaluddin Haider, “Archives in Pakistan,” Journal of Archival Organization, 2:4 (2005), 29-52. 

² Syed Zawwar Husain Zaidi, “The Partition of Bengal and Its Annulment - a Survey of the Schemes of Territorial Redistribution of Bengal 1902-1911,” PhD diss., (SOAS University of London, 1964).

³ Dakar was the site of the ICA’s first regional training center, established in 1971. For an overview of the ICA’s projects in the Third World, see: W.I. Smith, “The ICA and Technical Assistance to Developing Countries,” The American Archivist 39:3 (1976), 343-351. A detailed, critical study of the ICA’s influence and impact on Third World archives remains to be done.

⁴ For a detailed account of the many challenges Zaidi faced over the decades of acquiring and preserving Jinnah’s papers beyond what he recounts below, see his forward to the first volume of the published papers, Zaidi, ed., Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah Papers. Prelude to Pakistan. 20 February–2 June 1947, 1st series, vol. I, part 1 (Islamabad: National Archives of Pakistan, 1993), vii-xxiv. 

⁵ Pierrette Posmowski, “Saving the Written Treasures of the East,” UNESCO Features 749/750 (1980), 28.

⁶ Proceedings of the General Conference on the Planning of Archival Development in the Third World: (Dakar, 28-31 January 1975), (München: Verlag Dokumentation, 1976), 48.