India Office - India Office Records

India Office Records

The India Office Records are the repository of the archives of the East India Company (1600–1858), the Board of Control or Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India (1784–1858), the India Office (1858–1947), the Burma Office (1937–1948), and a number of related British agencies overseas. The focus of the India Office Records is in the territories mainly that today include India, Pakistan, Burma and Bangladesh and their administration before 1947. The Records also include source materials for neighbouring or connected areas under the India Office at different times, covering not only South Asia, but also Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa. The official archives of the India Office Records are complemented by over 300 collections and over 3,000 smaller deposits of Private Papers relating to the British experience in India.

The India Office Records are administered by The British Library as part of the Public Records of the United Kingdom, and are open for public consultation.

Many catalogues of the India Office Records can be consulted on A2A – Access to Archives. The 14 kilometres of shelves of volumes, files and boxes of papers, together with 70,000 volumes of official publications and 105,000 manuscript and printed maps, comprise the archives of the East India Company (1600–1858), of the Board of Control or Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India (1784–1858), of the India Office (1858–1947), of the Burma Office (1937–1948), and of a number of British agencies overseas which were officially linked with one or other of the four main bodies. Unlike all other British Government records, the India Office Records are not in The National Archives at Kew, London, but are deposited in the British Library in London and as such, form part of the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections. The catalogue is searchable online in the Access to Archives catalogues. Some of the records are freely available online under an agreement that FIBIS have with the British Library.

The India Office maintained a comprehensive library. It began under the Company in 1798 and was moved to the India Office in 1867. Since 1947 it has been under the control of the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations.