Jamia’s Premchand Archives and Literary Centre (JPALC) at Jamia Millia Islamia, has been conducting a series of workshops and masterclasses on Digitization, Photography and Archives as part of the Digitization project titled Marginal Histories: The Founding of Jamia Millia Islamia and the Struggle for India’s Independence funded by the Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) Grant of the British Library.
On August 20, 2025, the teachers and students of PG Diploma in Still Photography and Visual Communication, AJK Mass Communication Research Centre (MCRC) participated in a workshop that introduced them to the entire process of digitization and meta data creation.
The material that the JPALC seeks to preserve predates 1950 and falls into two broad sets. The first set comprises collections belonging to the founders and early pioneers of JMI who were also prominent national leaders. The second set of materials are the collections of literary stalwarts whose works provide a rich and vibrant account of the socio-cultural-political milieu in which Jamia was born. These holdings are rare and unique to the collection of JPALC. The first set includes the collections of Maulana Mohd. Ali(1878-1931), Dr. M. A. Ansari (1880–1936), Maulana Shaukat Ali (1873-1938), Hamid Ali Khan, A. M. Khwaja (1885 – 1962) Dr. Zakir Husain (1897-1969) and Shafiqur Rehman Kidwai (1901-1953). The second set seeks to digitize the collections of literary stalwarts Munshi Premchand, (1880-1936), Devinder Satyarthi (1908-20003) Pandit Banarsi Das Chaturvedi, Hamid Hasan Qadiri (1887- 1980), Begum Anis Kidwai (1906-1982) and Prof. Khwaja Ahmad Farooqui (1917-1986). Comprising letters, diaries, correspondence, registers, scrapbooks, photographs, convocation addresses, newspaper clippings, certificates, magazines, journals, notepads and rare books, these collections bear testimony to the role played by the founders and early pioneers of Jamia Millia Islamia.
The workshop conducted last week for PG Diploma in Still Photography and Visual Communication, AJK MCRC students and teachers which introduced them to the entire process of digitization and metadata creation was coordinated by the Course Coordinator and Associate Professor, Sohail Akbar who had previously also played an important role in training the digitization specialist in the use of NIKON cameras. Prof. Shohini Ghosh, Director (Offg.), welcomed participants and resource persons, providing an overview of the JPALC and the EAP project. The programme included a guided tour of the JPALC led by archivists Syed Mohd Amir and Shraddha Shankar. Archivist Snigdha Roy explained the digitization workflow with a focus on handling fragile documents. Akif Sattar (Digitisation Specialist) highlighted the unique challenges of archival photography, while Mohsina Akhter (Metadata Creator) outlined the standards for creating robust and accurate metadata. Participants also gained valuable hands-on experience of the process.
This workshop marked an important step in JPALC’s efforts to preserve fragile cultural heritage while training a new generation in archival practices.
Established in 2004, the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) was established to preserve and make accessible vulnerable archival materials from around the world. Its mission is to safeguard cultural heritage that is at least more than fifty years old and is at risk of loss through ageing, deterioration, conflict, or environmental damage or degradation. The programme does this primarily by funding projects that digitise endangered collections such as manuscripts, rare printed works, photographs, and sound recordings. The JPALC staff worked rigorously to prepare and submit a detailed proposal and successfully cleared several evaluation rounds to secure the prestigious grant. The mandate of the EAP is not only to preserve fragile archives but also build local capacity through workshops and master classes. It is in this spirt of capacity building that the workshops on Digitization, Photography and Archived workshops are conducted.
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