India: Media
Resources for Indian studies
Media (Images)--India collections
- Archaeological Survey of India photographs in the India Office collections in the British LibraryMicrofiche format. Offsite MICFICHE FX3 8656
"An almost unique series of archaeological and architectural photographs taken in South Asia between the 1850s and the 1920s" Online guide. - Art of India : paintings and drawings in the Victoria & Albert MuseumMicrofiche format. Offsite MICFICHE FX3 8654 Online guide.
- Beyond the Taj: architectural traditions and landscape experience in South AsiaCornell University Library Digital Collections
- Bond Photograph LibraryDSAL, University of Chicago. Photographs taken during World War II by Frank Bond while serving in the Army Air Corps, 40th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, stationed in India and Burma.
- CIViC: an archive of Indian visual culturePopulist imagery from the inception of print culture in the 19th century to contemporary times.
- Critical CollectiveAn initiative by art curator and critic Gayatri Sinha. This website is intended to fill in the lacuna caused by an absence of publishing in the arts, a lack of reprints and a shortage of institutional infrastructure to support knowledge in the domain of the arts.
- Digital MPPAn initiative of Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya (MPP) to make available old and rare images. 7000 images in the first phase, divided into Old and rare images, and Historic ephemera (not yet available as of 6 January 2016)
- Echoes of Freedom: South Asian Pioneers in California, 1899-1965Online exhibition drawn from the University of California, Berkeley collections. Curator: Suzanne McMahon
- Festivals of the Minaksi TempleFocuses on the religious festivals of the Minaksi-Sundaresvara Temple in Madurai, Tamilnad
- The Frederick Williamson CollectionDigital Himalaya. Photographs and films from Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet taken by Frederick and Margaret Williamson between December 1930 and August 1935.
- Gandhi Photos Collection27 photographic images of and related to Mohandas Gandhi created by and for the Press Information Bureau (PIB) of the Government of India, capturing moments in his life from 1886-1948.
- Harappa.comThe major website on the ancient Indus Civilization (3500-1700 BCE) since 1995. Leading scholars from India, Pakistan, the US, UK, and Europe have published their work in slideshow, essays and articles that cover the basic facts and the latest research. The site was founded by Omar Khan. It went online in November 1995 and was relaunched in December 2015 on the open-source Drupal platform. Links to essays, books, slideshows, and videos.
- HeidICON Heidelberger Bild- und MultimediadatenbankUniversitätsbibliothek Heidelberg. Login as a Guest (Gast-Anmeldung), and then search the Cluster's image database via HeidiCon. South Asia repositories include EXC Sontheimer, SAI Benares-Exkursion 2010, SAI South Asian Archaeology, SFB-619 A2 Übergangsrituelle in Nepal, SFB-619 A4 Rituelles Theater in Uttarakhand, and SFB-619 Hofrituale in Rajasthan.
- Himalayan Art Resources (HAR)A comprehensive education and research database and virtual museum of Himalayan art from throughout the world.
- Historic Camel Photos: China, Mongolia, and IndiaOld historic camel photos; part of Roger Berry's website.
- Indian Railways Fan Club (IRFCA)A hobby group for discussing all aspects of railways in India. Links to articles, photo gallery, trip reports, and technical documents.
- The Keagle Photograph LibraryDSAL, University of Chicago. Photographs taken during World War II by an American serviceman.
- Museums of India: National Portal & Digital Repository"Presently as a part of the digitization efforts of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India the digitized collections of 10 selected Museums are placed in the digital repository. Subsequently, it will be our endeavour to make available the digitized collections of the remaining museums under the Ministry of Culture/Archaeological Survey of India also on the National Portal."
- Photo Archives of AIISThe AIIS collection from the Center for Art and Archaeology in Gurgaon, Haryana, India, has over 125,000 photographs in the collection. The images fall into the broad categories of architecture, sculpture, terracotta, painting and numismatics.
- PostcardsHistorical postcards of India, Ceylon and Pakistan. Part of the Harappa website.
- Plaques of Presidency (Re)Reading History through MemorialsPresidency plaques project
- Religious Sites in MaharashtraThis Lake Forest College collection contains images of three sites in the west Indian state of Maharashtra
- South Asian art photo collectionMicrofiche reproduction of original photographs in the American Committee for South Asian Art Archive. Avery and Offsite. Part three accompanied by printed guide.
- South Asian EphemeraPrinceton University Library. An openly accessible repository of items that spans a variety of subjects and languages. Highlights include Dissidents and Activists in Sri Lanka, 1960s to 1990s; and Hindu Nationalist Ephemera: Collection of Arvind Rajagopal, 1960s to 2000s
- The Tibet Album: British Photography in Central Tibet 1920-1950More than 6000 photographs spanning 30 years of Tibet's history. This site provides access to the photograph collections of two important British museums - the Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford) and the British Museum (London).
India Media (Videos & Film Studies)
- 1947 Partition ArchiveA collection of life stories recorded on video (and sometimes audio) from those who witnessed the 1947 Partition of South Asian States.
- Bengali Cultural Heritage: Visualizing Oral Histories Using Digital ToolsProject focuses on conducting oral histories with leading senior intellectuals of West Bengal and Bangladesh, born between c. 1920 and c. 1950. This interactive web archive will provide audio, text, images and links through a synchronized interface.
- Cinemas of IndiaFree streaming movies at the Cinemas of India website. National Film Development Corporation.
- Digital HimalayaDesigned by Alan Macfarlane and Mark Turin as a strategy for archiving and making available ethnographic materials from the Himalayan region. Based at the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, the project was established in December 2000. From 2002 to 2005, the project moved to the Department of Anthropology at Cornell University and began its collaboration with the University of Virginia. From July 2014, the project has relocated to the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and is engaged in a long term collaboration with Sichuan University.
- Film and Video from the HimalayasDigital Himalaya. Includes various trailers, and some complete films including the Lepcha film Tendong Lho Rum Faat, Glance of Genius: The Life and Work of B.H. Hodgson, the Minhe Mangghuer Torch Festival, images from Danba, the Alama Ritual, and the Wutu Collection. Locations include China/Tibet, India and Nepal.
- Fürer-Haimendorf Film CollectionDigital Himalaya. Selected film clip excerpts, including Alan Macfarlane's 1987 interview with Fürer-Haimendorf, excerpts from The Land of the Gurkhas depicting Gurung girls in trance during the gato ritual (filmed 1957), excerpts from a field trip to the Apa Tani Valley in Arunachel Pradesh depicting rope swinging, sacrifice, shamanic rituals, and village life (filmed 1944-1945), and an excerpt from Among the Sherpas of Nepal (filmed 1971). The Fürer-Haimendorf film collection is located in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).
- Films Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of IndiaThe Films Division of India was established in 1948 to articulate the energy of a newly independent nation and holds, in its archives, more than 8000 titles on documentaries, short films and animation films. Includes links to a films database (requires free registration) and videos (under "archives"). Also see Films Division YouTube Channel. Also see Films Division catalogue of films, 1949-1972 published 1974.
- Frederick Williamson's films of Sikkim, Bhutan and TibetDigital Himalaya. Williamson was a British Colonial Officer based in Gangtok, Sikkim, from 1930 to 1935, during which time he took a great number of photographs and 23 reels of 16mm cine film. The quality of the footage is variable.
- GandhiMedia--GandhiServe's Digital Media ArchiveRare audio visual content about Mahatma Gandhi and India's freedom struggle. Downloading requires subscription or individual payment.
- Gramophone Recordings from the Linguistic Survey of IndiaDigitized recordings originally collected in South Asia during a period from 1913 until 1929. Intended as a supplement to Sir George A. Grierson's Linguistic Survey of India published between 1904 and 1927, the recordings of stories, songs and poems were collected by provincial and presidential governments of British-ruled India in cooperation with Grierson and the Gramophone Company, Calcutta.
- Harappa.comThe major website on the ancient Indus Civilization (3500-1700 BCE) since 1995. Leading scholars from India, Pakistan, the US, UK, and Europe have published their work in slideshow, essays and articles that cover the basic facts and the latest research. The site was founded by Omar Khan. It went online in November 1995 and was relaunched in December 2015 on the open-source Drupal platform. Links to essays, books, slideshows, and videos.
- Independent World Cinema: Classic and Contemporary FilmAlexander Street. Includes just a few South/Southeast Asia films, including (from Bangladesh) The Clay Bird, (from India) One Track Heart: the Story of Krishna Das; Short Cut to Nirvana; West is West, (from Indonesia) Gods of Bali; Legong: Dance of the Virgins, and (from Thailand) Chang: a Drama of the Wildnerness
- Indian DiplomacyA range of documentary films which have been commissioned by the Ministry of External Affairs over the last three decades. These documentary films showcase different facets of India and focus on India's rich cultural and civilizational values, its democratic and pluralistic society, its secular values, its vibrant economy, the innovativeness and enterprise of its people.
- Music and Audio from the HimalayasDigital Himalaya. includes songs from Laya, Bhutan; Thangmi songs from Nepal; Yari Aso's songs, the Mangghuer Folktale Literature, and songs from Gcig sgril County, from Qinghai Province; the Jizong and Minyak collections from Sichuan and songs from Tha Rgyas in Tibet.
- People's Archive of Rural IndiaPARI is both a living journal and an archive. It will generate and host reporting on the countryside that is current and contemporary, while also creating a database of already published stories, reports, videos and audios from as many sources as we can.
- SPARROWSound & Picture ARchives for Research on Women. Women's Archives including papers, videos, and oral history recordings.
Institut Français de Pondichéry / French Institute of Pondicherry--Digital Database
Online versions of CDs and DVDs previously published by Institut Français de Pondichéry
- Biotik : biodiversity informatics and co-operation in taxonomy for interactive shared knowledge base: Western Ghats v. 1.0Database contains about 450 tree species from two biodiversity "hotspots" in the region, the Western Ghats in India and the Annamites mountain range in Laos. The application is based on a multimedia species identification system called IDAO (IDentification Assistée pour Ordinateur).
- Darasuram : architecture & iconography : in homage to Françoise L'HernaultInstitut Français de Pondichéry. The temple of Airavatesvara in Darasuram (Tamil Nadu), dating from the second half of the twelfth century, is one of the four biggest temples erected by the Cola Dynasty. This CD-Rom provides a near exhaustive documentation on the architecture and iconography of the complex made-up by the temples of Shiva and of the Goddess, completing that of the book of Françoise L’Hernault published by the EFEO in 1987. It also includes photographs of some other temples in Darasuram, and a search engine enabling to find images that match the criteria defined by the user.
- Digital Tēvāram / கணினித் தேவாரம்Institut Français de Pondichéry. The multi-media "Digital Tēvāram" program, was initiated in july 1997, with the purpose of being a continuation to a long-pending translation project of Tēvāram, that had been started in Pondicherry in the seventies and that had resulted in an unpublished ca. 3500 pages manuscript, containing an English rendering of the Tēvāram, in the talamuṟai order, authored by the late V.M. Subrahmanya Ayyar (1905-1981). The multi-media "Digital Tēvāram" program, was initiated in july 1997, with the purpose of being a continuation to a long-pending translation project of Tēvāram, that had been started in Pondicherry in the seventies and that had resulted in an unpublished ca. 3500 pages manuscript, containing an English rendering of the Tēvāram, in the talamuṟai order, authored by the late V.M. Subrahmanya Ayyar (1905-1981).
- Endemic tree species of the Western Ghats (India)Institut Français de Pondichéry. Made from a geographic database, this atlas of endemic tree species of Western Ghats, highlights their sapatial distribution, their ecological amplitude, the altitude, the forest types, the dry season duration and the location within the structure of the forest for 352 evergreen tree species of Western Ghats.
- Historical atlas of South IndiaInstitut Français de Pondichéry. A first phase of a project on a numerical Historical Atlas of south India has been launched by the French Institute of Pondicherry and the Tamil University of Tanjavur. This CD-ROM is a prototype. It deals with the region of Pudukkotai (central Tamil Nadu). An extension of this work is currently ongoing for the whole of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and on pilot zones of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
- Open Source Simple Computer for Agriculture in Rural Areas (OSCAR)OSCAR is an initiative from European and South Asian Institutions to develop Open Source IT&C solutions to assist decision making on farm-level concerns in agriculture. The project, which has been co-financed by the European Commission's Asia IT@C Programme, aims at developing an open source application to identify weed species of Rice-Wheat crop systems in Indo-Gangetic Plains. The prototype application will be based on an existing multimedia species identification system, IDAO (IDentification Assiste pour Ordinnateur) will contain around 50 weed species in its database and also will have suggestions about appropriate control measures. It will also be ported in different local languages so as to address the cultural diversity of the project area.
- Pondicherry past and present = Pondichéry hier et aujourd ́huiInstitut Français de Pondichéry. This bilingual (French/English) CD-ROM, first shows Pondicherry from its origins to 1824, emphasizing on the dazzling expansion of this modest textile centre which became, for a short period, the capital of an empire in the first half of the 18th century, then on its slow death after its destruction by the British in 1761, thanks to magnificent watercolour plans and maps preserved in French archives. A second part is devoted to the evolution of Pondicherry from 1824 to the present day, and to the merging of a small colonial settlement to the Indian Union. This part is illustrated with old postcards and a mixture of recent and archival photographs.
- World history in video : English-language documentaries. This link opens in a new windowWorld history in video is an online collection of streaming video that gives users access to critically acclaimed documentaries from filmmakers worldwide. Upon completion the collection will include more than 1750 documentaries that offer a survey of human history from the earliest civilizations to the fall of the Berlin Wall. World history in video covers Africa and the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania.
Street Art Nagpur, Maharashtra 2014
![[Flash] (TID) Piece @ Black Waters,, Street art, Nagpur, Maharashtra 2014](http://s3.amazonaws.com/libapps/accounts/14517/images/Flash-Piece-@-Black-Waters-Nagpur-Maharashtra-2014.jpg)
Media (Images)--South Asia Multi-Region Collections
- AGSL Digital Photo Archive: Asia and Middle EastOver 20,000 images from the holdings of the American Geographical Society (AGS) Library. Coverage includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Thailand (among other countries).
- Ames Library of South Asia--ImagesSearch selected digitized photographs from the Ames Library of South Asia, University of Minnesota. Or browse the general collection and stereoscopic images of India. Includes maps, illustrations and photographs dating from the 18th through the 20th century.
- AP images. This link opens in a new windowAssociated Press archive of over photographs from 1844 to the present, audio files of radio broadcasts, text of wire stories, and info-graphics.
- Asian Cultures CollectionMaterials in the Earlham collection are drawn from a broad spectrum of Asian cultures and includes materials both historic and contemporary
- Asian Historical ArchitectureA photographic survey of Asia's architectural heritage in 21 countries. Multiple contributors, webmaster: Timothy M. Ciccone
- Asianart.comThe on-line journal for the study and exhibition of the arts of Asia
- ASIANetwork-Luce Asian Art in the Undergraduate Curriculum ProjectSeeks to tap the Asian art and items of visual culture that exist on selected ASIANetowork college campuses and help faculty who are teaching about Asia integrate these resources into their courses.
- Beyond the Taj: Architectural Traditions and Landscape Experience in South AsiaCornell University Library. The visual core of the collection consists of approximately 7000 photographs of works of architecture, pilgrimage locales and domestic life taken in India and Sri Lanka by Professor Robert D. “Scotty” MacDougall (1940-1987), an anthropologist and an architect.
- Huntington Archive of Asian ArtCountries covered in the collection include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Myanmar (Burma). Contains predominantly Buddhist material, but also includes Hindu, Jain, and Islamic works as well. Also includes the largest photographic archive of Nepali art and architecture in the world. Also see The Huntington Archive of Buddhist and Asian Art--Database.
- Indira Gandhi National Centre for the ArtsThe arts are here understood to comprise the fields of creative and critical literature, written and oral; the visual arts, ranging from architecture, sculpture, painting and graphics to general material culture, photography and film; the performing arts of music, dance and theatre in their broadest connotation; and all else in fairs, festivals and lifestyle that has an artistic dimension. Digital resources include manuscripts, online books, photographs, slides, music/performance, Ganjifa cards, etc.
- International Collections DatabaseShowcases some of the visual materials held by the Special Collections Division of University of Washington Libraries. Feature selected photographs and postcards from Asia and South America including scenes from China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan, 1870s-1930s. Represented are historical events, typical street scenes and native people in traditional dress.
- Online Museum Resources on Asian Art (OMuRAA)An initiative of the Asia for Educators Program at Columbia University. Identifies online visual resources and indexes them in ways that are familiar to teachers and students in world history, world literature, and general art courses.
- South Asian art photo collectionMicrofiche reproduction of original photographs in the American Committee for South Asian Art Archive. Avery and Offsite. Part three accompanied by printed guide.
- South Asian Diaspora Arts ArchiveThe SADAA digital archive covers five subject areas: literature, visual arts, theatre, dance and music. It features a wide variety of text-based and visual material such as excerpts of fiction, poetry and plays, manuscripts and writers' notes, art works, photographs, leaflets, programmes of events, stage and costume drawings of theatre and dance performances, lyrics, CD and record covers, and music scores relating to the substantial body of work produced by South Asian writers, artists, performers and musicians in England from 1947 to the present.
- Tasveer Ghar: A Digital Network of South Asian Popular Visual CultureDocuments materials produced by South Asia’s exciting popular visual sphere including posters, calendar art, pilgrimage maps and paraphernalia, cinema hoardings, advertisements, and other forms of street and bazaar art.
- Trans Asia Photography ReviewDevoted to the discussion of historic and contemporary photography from Asia.
Media (Videos/Audio)--South Asia Multi-Region Collections
- Cambridge Centre of South Asian Studies : film collectionsUniversity of Cambridge. Approximately 50 individual collections totaling in the region of 80 hours of footage. Most of the material is 16mm or 8mm home movies, taken between 1911 and 1956, which give a unique perspective of life in South Asia towards the end of the British Empire and in the first years of independence. The collection covers a broad range of topics - the rescue of civilians and soldiers trapped inside Burma by swollen rivers after the country's fall to the Japanese in World War II, repairs on the railway line from Quetta to the Khyber Pass after the Quetta earthquake of 1935, relief work and disturbing scenes of the removal of bodies during the Partition period, the social lives of the Raj, children playing and going to school, royal weddings, Indian festivals and rites - the list is very long. The film collection is now available online in its entirety (with one or two omissions for copyright purposes).
- Centre of South Asian Studies Archive: AudioUniversity of Cambridge oral history archive; political leaders, journalists and educators who witnessed and shaped history.
- Colonial film : moving images of the British empireDetailed information on over 6000 films showing images of life in the British colonies. Over 150 films are available for viewing online. You can search or browse for films by country, date, topic, or keyword. Over 350 of the most important films in the catalogue are presented with extensive critical note.
- CrossAsiaOffers access to research information for East and Southeast Asian studies.
- Culture UnpluggedAn online film archive to watch films (documentaries, short films, talks & more). This platform debuted in May 2008 with Asia + Middle East's first online festival followed by fifteen festivals since then. Cultureunplugged.com presents short length + feature length documentary / film content from independent film-makers and grassroot productions to a global audience, to not only promote the art of film-making, but above all to spread awareness and promote the collective contemplation over global/local challenges. It is an online venue that hosts a festival 6 months every year. With volunteer teams in India, USA, Indonesia and New Zealand.
- EHRAF archaeology This link opens in a new windowA collection of full-text information (e.g. books, journal articles, and dissertations) on archaeological traditions from around the world. The eHRAF Collection of Archaeology is unique in that the text is subject-indexed for quick retrieval of information. Every year more archaeological traditions are added to the eHRAF Collection of Archaeology.
- Ethnomusicology: Global Field RecordingsThe audio recordings, videos, field notebooks and journals in this resource document musical traditions and how music interacts with different societies and cultures all over the globe. There are recordings from Alaska to the Pacific Islands, West Africa to Indonesia, including religious music, secular music, celebrations and funerals. There are interviews with musicians, slides and photographs of field sites and photographs of instruments being played and in isolation. This resource provides a wealth of materials for the interdisciplinary study of ethnomusicology; whether the focus is on music, anthropology, dance, religion or spirituality.
- Google Arts & CultureDiscover exhibits and collections from museums and archives all around the world.
- Oral history online This link opens in a new window"Oral history online is a landmark index to English language oral histories. Working with archives, repositories and individuals we've indexed oral histories that are publicly available on the Web and that are held by repositories and archives around the world. Our intent is to make it possible to find and explore the voices of more than 300,000 individuals."--Introd.
- Radio Free AsiaRFA is a private, nonprofit corporation that broadcasts news and information to listeners in Asian countries where full, accurate, and timely news reports are unavailable. Covers Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, North Korea, Tibet, Uyghur, Vietnam.
- Reconceptualizing the Cold War: On-the-ground Experiences in AsiaAn online archive of oral history collections concerning the Cold War and decolonization in Asia, with a particular focus on East, Southeast, and South Asia.
- Shakespeare Performance in AsiaVideos of Asian Shakespeare performances including interactive maps and timelines, interviews, biographies of directors and actors, for understanding intercultural Shakespeare. See also The MIT Global Shakespeares Video & Performance Archive.
- South Asia commons. This link opens in a new windowThe South Asia Archive is a fully searchable digital archive encompassing millions of pages of valuable research and teaching materials, providing online access to documents ranging from 1700 through to 1953. The Archive covers the Indian subcontinent, including India, Pakistan, Burma, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, and contains both serial and non-serial materials, including reports, rare books, and journal runs from noteworthy, rare publications. The documents in the Archive are interdisciplinary, reflecting the varied range of knowledge production in colonial and early post-colonial India in fields such as culture & society, industry & economy, science, technology & medicine, urban planning & administration, and politics & law. Most of the material is in English, about 30% of the documents are in vernacular languages, including Bengali and Sanskrit. Comprising material sourced from collectors and archivists in India by the South Asia Research Foundation (SARF), this Archive brings together a wealth of content relevant to both teaching and research.
- South Asian Digital CollectionLibrary of Congress. Features selected books, serials, and manuscripts related to the present-day countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
- The South Asian Literary Recordings Project, Library of Congress New Delhi OfficeLaunched in April 2000, the project has captured the readings of prominent South Asian poets, novelists, and playwrights. The authors recorded so far represent more than fifteen of the languages of India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
- South Asian Oral History ProjectUniversity of Washington Libraries. Interviews (videos and transcripts) with individuals who immigrated to the Seattle region from the 1950s to the 1980s and later.
- World cinema video collection. This link opens in a new windowThe World cinema video collection provides access to online streaming titles from Africa, America, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, including films from the silent era, from the mid-20th century, as well as award-winning contemporary works.