School of Cultural Texts and Records Jadavpur University

The School of Cultural Texts and Records was set up at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India in 2003 to consolidate the activities of the University across the broad field of archiving, digitization, bibliography, textual studies, editing and book history. Its activities extend to text, image and music archives, oral histories and audio-visual records. It has emerged as the pioneering centre of digital humanities and cultural informatics in India.

Granth South Asia

Granth South Asia is supported by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Mumbai, as part of the Collaborative Project on Digitization of South Asian Archival Resources between the School of Cultural Texts and Records, Jadavpur University and the British Library, UK. The project has allowed us to undertake surveys and extend support to the digitizing and conservation of critically endangered records. Some examples are the Maulana Azad Library and Museum, Kolkata, the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Kolkata, the Sanskrit College, Kolkata, Caturanga Patrika, Kolkata and the Tribal Research and Training Centre, Chaibasa, Jharkhand. More extensive collaborations have followed, as for instance with Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies and the Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata. We have also been able to approach and help small stakeholders, both public and private, and assist them in their digitization initiatives. We have conducted workshops, lecture sessions and training courses to disseminate skills among all interested parties. Work has also been done on creating new databases and resource material for early book history and shared with stakeholders.

Granth South Asia is our attempt to present some of the resources of the School of Cultural Texts and Records to a wider audience.