India Office Records, Official records of the British government covering the British rule in India
The India Office Records is a collection of approximately 175,000 documents held at the British Library in London, spanning from 1600 to 1947. The materials come from the East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, and the Burma Office, and include official reports, handwritten manuscripts, photographs, maps, and personal papers.
The collection begins in 1600 when the East India Company received the right to trade in Asia, later evolving into an administrative institution under British control. After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the government took direct control and established the India Office, which operated until independence in 1947.
The collection documents encounters between British officials and Indian communities across several centuries of interaction. The records reveal personal and administrative perspectives on life in India under British rule, showing everyday practices and institutional structures of that period.
You can search and request items online, with requests submitted before 4 pm typically available the same day. Photography with mobile phones or small cameras is permitted, but scanning of materials is not allowed for security reasons.
The collection contains letters from Mahatma Gandhi to Adolf Hitler in which Gandhi expressed respect for Hitler's patriotism but urged him to pursue peaceful methods rather than violence to solve problems. These rare documents show Gandhi's direct response to the major global events of his time.
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