An Introduction

 

• Record Office created by Chief Commissioner Sindh: 1853

• Records shifted from Hyderabad to Karachi: 1895

• New Accommodation was constructed: 1902

• Record Room was further Extended: 1923

• No additions were made for record Room: 1936 to 1947

• Sindh archives was established: 1976

• Shifting of record to Sindh Archives from the 1992 abandoned building of former Record Office:  

• Computerization Started: 2005

Our HistoryOur History

• Collection and preservation of archival records.

• Preparation and publication of Finding Aids .

• Reprography of records in other mediums.

• Running the website of Sindh Archives.

•  Maintenance of research library for scholar & students.

• Publication of source material on history & culture.

A. Archival Records( Original)

I. Records of Chief Commissioner, Sindh

• It is the main collection of Sindh Archives comprising 35000 files app.

• Specifically files of this collection starts from 1820 to 1935.

• These records are divided into (a) Records of pre-mutiny period (1820 to 1857), and (b) Records from 1857 to 1935.

a) Records related to pre-mutiny period (1831 to 1857)

These records contain correspondence, directives, circulars, memoranda, exchange of notes, treaties, etc. between the concerned agencies and material on following topics:

Political Matters. Military Matters. Administration Reports Census. Custom Duties. Establishment. Jagirs. Irrigation - Canals Fisheries and Harbors Municipal Matters.

The following Memoirs/Reports form part of the record Khairpur State Tribes Modes of Irrigation employed in Sindh Sehwan and Kohistan. Hints towards understanding the character and present condition of

people. Deployment, reinforcement, military strategy and battles in Sindh. Measures taken to prevent smuggling of opium from Sindh.

b) Records from 1857 to 1935 are divided in following Departments

• General Department.• Revenue Department• Judicial Department• Political Department• Financial Department

General Department:

The General Department contains the record following matters:

• Archaeology• Immigration• Pilgrims• Schools• Local Boards Constitution• Railways.• Municipalities• Indus Steamers: Arrival and Departure Reports.• Indus Boat returns.

Revenue Department :

The Revenue Department contains exhaustive record of the grants, Jagirs.

It also contains Revenue Reports for each financial year.

The revenue records also contain important record on (I ) Right to Property; (ii) Statistical, Returns; (iii) charitable and other grants; (iv)Canals and Bands; (v) Trade and frontier Duties; (vi) Settlement Reports;(vii) Public Works; and (viii) topographical Survey of Sindh etc.

Judicial Department:

The Judicial Department comprises 1681 files. These files

contains useful material on administration, Rules, Orders,

Instructions and diaries.

Political Department:

The files of Political Department contains following useful records : Administration reports. Tours. Ex- Ameers in Sindh. Political Petitions. Extradition and other special files. Political frontiers. Kutch Affairs. Khairpur Affairs.

Financial Department :

The Financial Department comprises of 160 files which contains Bills and

Accounts, Budgets and general files of the department.

ii. Government Publications:

a. Bombay Government Gazette (1838 to 1849,1861 to 1869 & 1881 to 1913.)

b. Gazette of India (1863 to 1878, 1880 to 1886, 1897 to 1903 & 911 to 1915)

c. Calcutta Gazette (1844 to 1863.)

d. Punjab Government Gazette (1901 to 1916.)

e. Sindh Official Gazette (1869 to 1889 & 1905 to 1913.)

f. Civil Lists.

g. Sindh Assembly debates.

h. Resolutions of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (176 volumes)

iii. Court records:

High Court of Sindh Records (19th Century) 17,530 Files/cases.

Session Court Shikarpur (19th Century) 100,000 Files.

v. Other records:

a. Record of Registrar office (1866-1949) b. Shikarpur Library. (1340 books)

c. Sind old Record from Punjab (152 Files)

B. Archival Records ( Copies)

• 230 volumes of correspondence between Mr. M. A. Jinnah and other leaders of Pakistan Movement from records of All India Muslim League (AML).

• 72 volumes of Shamsul Hasan collection (correspondence of AML) .

• Abdul Rab Nishtar Collection.• Reports of Governor Sindh (1937-1947).• Scans of documents on Freedom Movement (357

volumes).• Rare pictures of Quaid e Azam.• Letters of G.M. Syed.

S.No. Collection holder Name Books1. Syed Shamsul Hasan 70002. Mr. Mumtaz Mirza 4503. Dr. N. A. Baloch 64214. Dr. N.B.G.Kazi 8565. Pir Ali Mohammad Rashdi 60006. Mr. Saeed Siddiqui 34007. Shaikh Ibrahim Khalil 34518. Syed Zafar Hussain Shah 2177

9. Prof. Jhamun Das Bhatia 600011. British India Library 434

12. Prof. Sharif-al-Mujahid 2613

13. Mr. Shafi Aqueel 18

14. Others 238

Personal Collections:

Newspaper Collection:

Newspapers Language Year from Year toKawish Sindhi 1994 2009Hilal e Pakistan Sindhi 1994 2009Jang Urdu 1980 2009Ibrat Sindhi 1994 2009Dawn English 1952 2009Pakistan Time English 1958 1664Pakistan Observer English 1958 1964Daily News English 1993 2009Morning News Karachi English 1958 1975Alwaheed News Sindhi

Comrade English

Muslim ,Rawalpindi 1979 1980

Microfilms:

Books 05 Rolls

Newspapers 39 Rolls

G.M. Syed Library Papers 67 Rolls

Sindhi Adabi Board 57 Rolls

Journal of Royal Asiatic Society 31 Rolls

Revenue Department 287 Rolls

Finance Department 13 Rolls

District Registrar Karachi 194 Rolls

Microfilms of City Court 194 Rolls

Journal of Asiatic society of Pakistan ( 1956-67 )

Journal of the Bihar and Orissa research society( 1922, 1924-26,

1928-29, 1932-35, 1937 )

Journal of the Royal united service Institution (1957)

Journal of Asiatic society of Great Britain and Ireland (1856,1886,

1902, 1908-09, 1914,1917, 1920-23,1935-39, 1941,1943,1945-46,

1949-51,1953-55,1959-60, 1985-86 1989, 1993)

Journal of the royal Institute of chemistry( 1960-64 )

Journals:

Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (1942,1944, 1988)

Journal of the Royal statistical society ( 1952,1958)

Journal of the Royal Asiatic society of Bengal (1873 1837,1840-

41,

1845-46, 1853,1866-68,1871, 1873, 1876 1884,1886,

1888-89, 1909, 1914, 1916-17,1920, 1928-30, 1938 )

The Geographical Journal( 1937-41)

The Geographical Society of London( 191953)

Bulletin of Deccan College Research Institute (1938-42)

Journal of the Gujarat Research Society (1940)

Journals:

C. Reference Library:

1010 books in Urdu on General Works, Philosophy, Islam &

Other Religions, Social sciences, Language & Literature,

and History & Geography

2309 books in Sindhi on the above stated subjects and also

on Shah Lateef Bhitai and Fine Arts

646 books on Pakistan

691 books on India

Rare pictures of Quaid e Azam.

2 volumes of Who is Who –Jacobabad & Larkana

2895 Asian development bank reports

About 1200 oriental manuscripts have been acquired at this repository which is written in Arabic, Persian, Sindhi and Urdu languages. Some unique manuscripts are as under:• Diwan e Walid bin Yazid bin Abdul Malik bin Marwan written

during 2nd cent. A.H and calligraphed in 6th century A.H. (Rare).

• Daqaiq ul Haqaiq by Ahmed Rumi. (Rare).

• Risala e Sulook by Zain uddin Khwwafi (821 A.H.)

• Insha e Atarad by Shoqiram calliphed by his daughter.

• Muntahi al Ghaayat by Allama Bahishti (988 A.H.)

Articles and poems in Urdu language in handwriting of writers and poets like Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ibn e Insha etc.

Manuscripts:

A “New Category” has been added as PICTURE ARCHIVE.

Collection of Picture Archive:

1. Rare Pictures of Quaid-E-Azam.2. Rare Pictures of Old Karachi.3. Rare Pictures of other occasions and personalities.4. Pictures of Development.

Sound Archive to be established in near future.

Picture Archive:

New Acquisitions:

Records of Sindh from Punjab Archives

Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah Collection.

Prof. Sharif Al Mujahid Collection.

Shafi Aqueel Collection.

vi. Acquisition in Progress:

Collection of Rare Newspapers.

Collection of copies of records from different institutions.

Completion of series by acquiring missing documents.

vi. Finding Aids ( Archival ):

Hand list of Rare Maps

Catalogue of oriental manuscripts.

Classified press index of archival record files (1857-1858)

Alphabetical Catalogue of the Contents of PRE-MUTINY RECORDS

of the Commissioner in Sindh -1857.

Karachi buildings ( under preparation)

Index of Press clippings.

vi. Finding Aids ( Library):

A Classified catalogue of English language resources on India held

at Sindh Archives.

Classified catalogue of General, Bibliographical, Reference and

geographical information sources in English held at Sindh

Archives.

Pakistan : English reference and information sources at the

General library of Sindh Archives

Union list of books on Karachi

Classified Catalogue of Dr. N.B.G.M. Qazi Library vol.1

Classified Catalogue of Dr. N.B.G.M. Qazi Library vol.2

Mumtaz Mirza kay kutub khanay ka Darja Band Catalogue

vi. Finding Aids ( Library):

Index of Articles in Journals of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal

Index of Articles in Sindh Quarterly Journals

47

“EXTENSION OF SINDH ARCHIVES”

Total Cost: Rs. 39.9 million

Execution by: Works and Services Deptt.

Started by Culture and Tourism Deptt : 2002

Status: Building has completed and electrification is in progress.

IMPROVEMENT & STRENGTHENING OF SINDH ARCHIVES

Total Cost: Rs.70.5 million

Period : 3 years.

Status: Ongoing (Under Revision)

Main Objectives: Computerization of Old records, Cataloguing, Survey of record rooms.

ESTABLISHMENT OF E–ARCHIVES( ONLINE)

Total Cost: Rs.15 million

Period: Two years.

Main Objectives: Development of website with live search of holdings

Objectives:

• Digitization of records.• Cataloguing & classification of general library. • Procurement / acquisition of Archival material.• Research on history and culture of Sindh.• Microfilming publication of source material on history & culture

of Sindh.• Preparation of Finding Aids.

Digitization of Records

After thorough analysis IT team has developed 13 application softwares for ingestion & retrieval.

Data Entry:All 20000 Catalogues of archival record have been entered into database and task completed using the latest developed application.Metadata for more than 31000 Archival files has been entered into database.Metadata for 8413 books has been entered into database.Metadata for 962 manuscripts has been entered into database. Details of 740 Maps have been entered into database.

Scanning & Editing :

Around 750,000 pages of Archival records including 1200 oriental manuscripts have been digitized.

S.NO. SUBJECT AUTHOR / TRANSLATOR

01 Khalhora Period Architecture Hakim Ali Shah Bukhari

02 Study of Islamic Epigraphy in Pakistan Dr. Ahmed Nabi Khan

03 Makli Nama of Mr. Ali Sher Qani Dr. NBG Qazi

04 Antiquities of Kutch & Kathiawar Mr. Dr. Atta Mohd Bhanbro

05 The study of Indus Scripts -do-

Books Completed :

Objectives:-To develop and host the website of Sindh Archives.

-To present details of holdings of Sindh Archives on line.

-To help out researchers/scholars in searching records/books of their need.

-To promote history and culture of Sindh.

-To start online newsletter.

-To present details of holdings of other archives and libraries.

Website for Sindh Archives has been developed and uploaded having URL : www.sindharchives.gov.pk

Salient features • Online search facility in holdings of Sindh Archives.• Details of Important Collections.• Details about other similar institutions & libraries.

Future ProgramsFuture Programs

• Establishment of Oral Archives

• Survey and enlistment of District Record Rooms.

• Organization of Exhibitions.

• Training initiatives in Archival Management.

• Collection of copies of records about Sindh from other Archives

i.e. British Library, National Archives of India etc.

• Expansions of Preservation Labs and repositories.