Archives at NCBS: History of Science in Contemporary India (HOSCI) Archive
Acquisition Policy
Rev 0: original version, October 7 2026
What do archives do?
Archives collect, preserve, describe and make accessible records considered to be of enduring historical significance. Such archival records may offer valuable insights into the context and process of our lives, ranging from an old family photo album to a bundle of letters between a student and their mentor, from oral histories from community elders to minutes of corporate board meetings, and from comments in a government ministry’s administrative files to cloth banners from social movements. By creating an accessible archive, we can draw from our collective memory and share a diversity of stories for the future.
Archives preserve material that is original, rare, and not easily available in the public domain. This is so that they do not use resources to catalogue and digitise material that is already widely available.
Our archive
We are a History of Science in Contemporary India (HOSCI) archives. We aim to collect and preserve material from the 19th century onwards, across formats and across disciplines that offer an understanding of the past, especially material that is original, rare, and of informational, educational, experiential and evidentiary value.
Our goal is to record memory, process and context when it comes to aspects of science. We aim to preserve not just stories of discoveries and cutting-edge research, but also processes, reflections, failures, questions of equity within science, the divisions of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ science, science and society, who gets to do science, how science is taught, communicated, legislated, queried, and more. Importantly, we also aim to diversify the range of people who assess historical significance. Our task is not to be exhaustive, or to be faithfully representative of all groups in terms of numbers and volume – our attempt is to preserve a range of material and voices that offer insight into the history and culture of science with complexity and nuance, and offer transparency on how we make these decisions.
We are honoured to receive papers and interviews from well-known scientists considered eminent in their fields, such as Rohini Godbole, MS Swaminathan, and KS Krishnan. We are also honoured to receive material from individuals or groups belonging to underrepresented communities in science, on the axes of gender, caste, class, disability, religion, and more. We are committed to bringing diverse voices into the Archives at NCBS.
When we seek archival collections, we seek the material in full: without curation, whether all of it pertains strictly to science or not. The context of someone’s life, for instance – hobbies, parallel pursuits, disputes, personal beliefs and all – contributes to an understanding of their work in science.
In instances in which we may not be the best fit for a collection, we are happy to help connect potential donors with other archives that may serve the material better.
History of the collections
In 2016, the archival project kicked off with the aim of developing the “NCBS Archives”, an institutional archive that kept the papers of some key individuals from its history, and the research work of two scholars. In 2017, the Archives moved towards becoming an archive for contemporary biology. When the archive opened its doors in February 2019, it was the “Archives at NCBS”, with one external collection, manuscript collections from former faculty members, and institutional department collections. We are now repositioned as a History of Science in Contemporary India (HOSCI) archive.
So far, the archival material in the collections has been acquired through internal transfer within NCBS or donation/gift by individuals and organisations. As of July 2026, the overwhelming majority of our collections are from the public.
Overview of current collections
Over 100 collections were processed and made available by the Archives between 2016 and 2026, including those of manuscripts (containing letters, notes, diaries, photographic material such as slides and negatives, and more), journals, artefacts such as scientific instruments, rare publications and oral history interviews. These span a wide range of scientific disciplines and subjects from aquaculture to supersymmetry.
For a deeper understanding of why a particular collection may have been kept at the Archives, please refer to the ‘Retention Rule’ section of the Accession Record for each collection in the catalogue.
Themes and priorities (2022-2025)
A significant number of collections acquired during this period pertain in particular to the fields of ornithology, ecology, conservation, climate change and environmental activism. Other thematic focuses in this period included physics as well as public health.
Themes and priorities for future collecting (2026-2031)
We look forward to receiving archival records as well as oral history interviews from individuals and organisations in the following areas of focus:
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Geographical region: Karnataka, with a focus on the development of the history and culture of scientific research and education in the Mysuru region.
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Field or Discipline: Science policy, science education, public health and medicine, physics, and space science
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Groups/communities: Underrepresented and marginalised groups in science, particularly on the axes of caste, gender, class, disability and religion. This could refer to the identities of the creator of the archival records, as well as of the people and communities represented in the records, provided that the material has been created with meaningful collaboration and involvement of people from these groups or is of evidentiary value (reflective of the creator’s current or historical attitudes towards these groups, eg: the practice of displacing Adivasi and forest-dwelling communities from forest reserves).
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Complement to existing collections: Material that adds context, or offers links, to collections already at the Archives at NCBS.
Conditions for donation
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The material should be original, rare, of informational, educational, experiential and evidentiary value, and not easily available in the public domain.
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The donor or collector of this material should preferably be the owner of this material and have the right to donate it to the Archives at NCBS if they are not the original creator.
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Barring restrictions for sensitivity, privacy, and so on, the donor should be comfortable with this material being made available for the purposes of education and research. (Donors can request different access levels – such as material being made available in person at the Archives and not via digital copy online, but the core goal is to offer some level of access to archival material in the collections.)
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In the case of physical documents, records older than 30 years are preferred. Recent records may have personal information such as addresses that cannot be made public. Best practices from historical scholarship and right to information suggest a waiting period which has varied between 10-50 years in the last century. The collections may also include copies of public records, which the government of India recommends in its Public Records Act can enter an archive after 30 years.
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A majority of the material donated should be older than 30 years AND/OR available for access. For example, if a collection contains mostly sensitive information (eg: medical information related to children) which cannot be made accessible for several decades, the Archives is less likely to consider it.
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The material should be safe for handling by archives staff, and should not be treated with hazardous chemicals such as pesticides or completely overrun with mould.
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The material donated should be ‘complete’ as far as possible. Archives preserve context, and so fragmented or curated material is less preferred.
Material considered out of scope:
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Material from time periods before the 19th century.
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Biological or geological specimens, as we do not have the appropriate facilities to preserve them.
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Material that is irretrievable through conservation methods (if the contents are damaged or fragmented to be read or viewed) or unsafe to handle.
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Digital material in obsolete formats, if there is no way of retrieving the data.
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Material that is without context.
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Material that is curated as part of a present-day documentation project.
Having said this, we do recognise the general absence of archives of science in India, and are open to considering special cases when material falls outside our scope, though we reserve the right to decide whether we can acquire material in all instances. Please do reach out to archives@ncbs.res.in if you have material that you think we should consider.
Acquisition methods
The Archives acquires collections through bequest and donation if there is sufficient storage for such a collection, and if it is a permanent donation, transferring ownership, and not a loan. Loaned collections may be accepted under exceptional circumstances.
Policy review
This document was created in October 2026, and is due for review in August 2031.
Policy history
This document was created in line with grant agreements for the archiving projects of the Archives at NCBS. Written by the Archives team.
References:
https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/archives/archive-collection-policy.pdf
https://www.kew.org/sites/default/files/2025-09/Collections-Development-Policy.pdf
https://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/AppraisalManual4thEdition_0.pdf
https://wellcomecollection.org/collections-development-policy
