Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, History museum in Sadashiv Peth, Pune, India
The Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal is a research center holding over 250,000 historical documents, 4,000 coins, and 1,000 paintings that span several centuries of Indian history. The library contains about 27,000 books covering the Mughal period, the Maratha age, and the British colonial era.
The center was founded in 1910 by Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade and Khanderao Mehendale to study and preserve Indian history. The founders began collecting documents and objects to create a lasting record of India's different historical periods.
The institution preserves manuscripts in Sanskrit, Marathi, Kannada, and Persian that document the cultural connections across Indian history. Walking through, you can see how these different languages show the way people from various regions and backgrounds communicated and shared knowledge.
The archive is open to visitors for a small fee and can be used for research and exploration. It is helpful to check in advance which sections are accessible and how much time you might want to spend there.
The institute is currently digitizing its extensive collection of historical papers and letters to protect them for future scholars. This work helps preserve fragile documents while also making them easier to access for research.
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