2 days ago
Janice Pariat Finds Living History Across Britain’s Archives
Janice Pariat spent a summer visiting libraries and archives in Britain.
She was looking for old documents connected to the Khasi Hills and its history.
Archives contain letters, maps, books, photographs, and other records from the past.
Finding the right materials was often slow and difficult.
Some records were missing, too fragile, or unavailable because a library was closed.
Pariat noticed that archives can be dusty, tiring, and hard to search.
She also felt excited when a letter or document revealed something unexpected.
She says archives do not tell the whole story because many voices and records are missing.
Even so, the materials can make history feel alive in the present.
Writer Janice Pariat spent two months researching archives across Britain.
Her research focused largely on the Khasi Hills, northeastern India, and related colonial records.
At the British Library, she examined India Office records in the Asian and African Studies Reading Room.
She also consulted collections in Edinburgh and Aberystwyth, while a planned Nottingham visit was disrupted by an archive closure.
Pariat says archives are incomplete and one-sided, but their silences, objects, landscapes, and surviving documents remain alive in the present.
- Who
- Writer Janice Pariat, accompanied at times by her husband, Sam.
- What
- A two-month research journey through British libraries and archives.
- Where
- The British Library in London, the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, and other British archive institutions.
- When
- During the summer, including work at the British Library until the end of June and archive visits continuing into July.
- Why
- To research the Khasi Hills and examine historical records, letters, maps, photographs, and other materials connected to the region.
Key facts
- Main researcher
- Writer Janice Pariat
- Research period
- Two months during the summer
- Primary institution
- The British Library
- British Library room
- Asian and African Studies Reading Room
- Key subject
- The Khasi Hills and related colonial records
- Other collections
- The Crawford Papers and materials at the National Library of Wales
- Research limitation
- Some items were missing, too fragile, unavailable, or held in closed collections
Quotes
Carolyn Steedman
Historian and author whose work on archives is discussed by Pariat.
“Will always do this: be both there and not there; what is left and what is gone.”
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Janice Pariat
Writer and narrator describing her efforts to photograph a large map in Wales.
“I might need a drone”
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Sources
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