National Archives of India Introduction This building is a repository of Government of Indias those records that are not currently

in official use. It is at The National Archives that individuals can access these documents for scholarly works. Originally situated in erstwhile Calcutta under the name of Imperial Record Department, the National Archives were shifted to Delhi in 1911 and again to its present location in 1926 after the new building was completed. History The National Archives, similar to the artefacts and documents it houses, showcases a very rich heritage of its existence. It was the year 1860 that created the impetus for its creation in the form of the report of the then Civil Auditor, Mr. Sandeman, who stressed on the need for a Grand Central Archive for the first time. It took more than 25 years for any action to be taken in that direction. In 1889, Professor G.W. Forrest of Elphinstone College, Bombay, was appointed to examine the records of the Foreign Department of the Government of India, and it was he who strongly requested for the transfer of all administrative records of the East India Company to a Central Repository. Due to this report and the request made in it, the Imperial Records Department (IRD) was established in the Imperial Secretariat Building at Calcutta on the 11th of March, 1891. Prof. G.W. Forrest was made its first Incharge. After the shift of the Imperial capital from Calcutta to New Delhi in 1911 the shift of the Imperial Records Department (IRD) to its present location followed in the year 1926. The Department, after independence, was renamed the National Archives of India. It was in 1939 that the wealth of information available at the Archives was opened to authorised researchers. Since its creation, the National Archives has been a repository of information and has only seen growth for the betterment of the ever-expanding intellectual hunger of the nation. About the Place At the intersection of Rajpath and Janpath, Lutyens had planned and designed several building of which only one could be constructed in the form of the National Achieves building. This building continues with the architectural styles used for the construction of the other structures of New Delhi, yet it somewhat was different from others in terms of its faade the two most important architectural clichs of the late neo-classical building style in India, namely the hall with columns and the verandah with capitals of the Delhi Order as has been mentioned by Andreas Volwahsen in his book Imperial Delhi. The material that has been used for the construction is similar to that used in other building of New Delhi i.e. red sandstone and buff sandstone. How to get there National Archives is a located off Janpath, opposite the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. It is well connected and can be reached easily by means of the metro, city buses, auto rickshaws and taxis. The closest metro station is Central Secretariat.