Research Guides: A Guide to South Asian Studies: Primary Resources

Library Databases

Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980 (Parts I, II and III)
Sourced from the British Foreign Office files at The National Archives, the UK government's official archive. Focuses on the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
India, Raj and Empire
Sourced from the Manuscript Collections of the National Library of Scotland, and documenting the history of South Asia from the foundation of the East India Company in 1615 to the granting of independence for India and Pakistan in 1947.
Empire Online
Over 70,000 images of original documents relating to Empire Studies. The images are sourced from libraries and archives around the world, including a strong core of document images from the British Library.

Primary Source Material

These are external sites and are not monitored or maintained by University Libraries. Please report broken links to AJ Robinson.

Also see the following article for South Asian resources:

Magier, A. P. (2018). Online research resources for South Asian history. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.173

Digital Colonial Documents (India)
To promote study of the rare seminal documents which were influential in the formation of the notions of nation, state and culture during the colonial period.
Echoes of Freedom:South Asian Pioneers in California 1899-1965
Bhagat Singh (1907 - 1931)
A small collection of documents relating to Bhagat Singh.
Women in Workd History: South Asia
Women in World History reflects three approaches central to current scholarship in world history and the history of women: an emphasis on comparative issues rather than civilizations in isolation; a focus on contacts among different societies; and an attentiveness to “global” forces, such as technology diffusion, migration, or trade routes, that transcend individual societies. Project materials also utilize recent advances in our understanding of how historical learning takes place, including complex interaction with sources, recursive reading, and skills used by historians.
South Asian Migration Histories Timeline
Moving Here explores, records and illustrates why people came to England over the last 200 years and what their experiences were and continue to be. It offers free access, for personal and educational use, to an online catalogue of versions of original material related to migration history from local, regional and national archives, libraries and museums.
The Indian papers of Colonel Clive and Brigadier-General Carnac, 1752-1774
British Library's Endangered Archives Program
Open access collections of digitized unique cultural artifacts.
Medical History of British India
Collection of reports regarding disease and its prevention in 19th and 20th-century British India, including veterinary medicine and animal husbandry.