PUNJAB STATE ARCHIVES (Patiala & Chandigarh)
Punjab State Archives, initially known as Record Office,
came into existence in 1925 at Anarkali Tomb, Lahore.
After the partition of India, Punjab was also divided
into East Punjab and West Punjab. Punjab Records Office
of East Punjab was reorganized at Simla in 1948 with only
nearly 21000 files. On the other hand, when the Patiala
and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) was formed in1948,
the old Munshi Khana of Patiala State was reorganized
and was renamed Punjab Province and records of both were
also amalgamated at Patiala and the Department was renamed
as the Department of Archives, Punjab. At present, nearly
10 lakh records are in the custody of the Punjab Archives.
Punjab archives have illustrated manuscripts, including
copies of Ain-I-Akbari, Zaffarnama of
Guru Gobind Singh,Shahnama of Firdausi, Adi
Granth of 1666,tales of Laila Majnu, rare
Tibetan palm-leaf manuscripts etc. Besides manuscripts,
there are a number of paintings of the British era, including
battles of Anglo-Sikh wars, paintings of Maharaja Ranjit
Singh period, miniature paintings, prints of the paintings
of Emily Eden etc. Most of the manuscripts have illustrations
done in both Mughal and Pahari styles of painting. The
paintings mostly depict the British era. Documents contain
Royal Orders of the Maharajas (Princes) of princely States,
treaties, sanads etc.
The modern era has not been missed either. There are
important documents about Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru (the first
Prime Minister of India) when he was sent to Nabha jail
(Punjab) along with DR. Kitchlew and Mr.A.T.Gidwani. Letters
of Pt. Nehru, his father Pt. Moti Lal Nehru, Dr. Kitchlew
and other nationalists also form part of the collection.Records
related to Freedom Movements which include Nankana Sahib
Tragedy, Jallianwala Bagh Tragedy, Jaito incident, blowing
off Kukas at Maler Kotla, etc are also available. Punjab
Government Gazettes since 1857 are part of the records.
Khalsa Darbar records of Maharaja Ranjit Singh are one
of the important collections of the Department. Chamber
of Princes series, Bhandari collections are important
private collections.
An Archival Building was partially constructed at Chandigarh
in 1995 and now all the records related to Punjab from
1803 -1959 have been preserved in this building at Plot
No.3, Sector 38-A Chandigarh. The records related to eight
erstwhile princely States i.e. Patiala, Nabha, Jind, Kapurthala,
Faridkot, Malerkotla, Kalsia and Nalagarh from 1708-1947
at Pralekh Bhawan (old Commissioner & D.C. Offices),
The Mall, Patiala.
