Museum Archive

The Archive and Documentation Department at CSMVS aims to document, structurally, the Museum’s archival records and information about the rich object collection for the purpose of research and study. The department does so with the desire to contribute to the knowledge repository of the institution as well as public education.

The idea of creating the Museum archive and documentation department is one that the current Director-General, Dr. Sabyasachi Mukherjee, has nurtured since he took charge in 2007 –
“In the Museum, we are recording the histories of the collections we have, but we also had the desire to preserve the history of the museum itself, and the people who have been associated with it over the years… We have documents dating all the way back to the founding of the Museum in 1905. This is the first institutional archive of its kind in India”

The CSMVS Archives have preserved and documented the history of this museum and its holdings. The collection includes papers, photographs, publications, slides and detailed information about the artifacts of the museum. These archives constitute an important knowledge base for curators, conservators, archaeologists, historians, artists, heritage conservationists, research scholars, and students.

Located at the corner of the Sir Dorab Tata Gallery, this office has a dedicated curatorial as well as archival staff. They work to scan and make inventories, record, document and organise drawings and plans, files, registers, index and accession cards, photographs, negatives, slides, floppy disks, CDs and so on. It also has the responsibility to maintain important future documents and agreements.

The department has a dedicated photography unit which undertakes regular photography of the collection, curatorial and educational processes in the galleries, events and other activities. The section is also responsible for loaning images to researchers and institutions.

The CSMVS Archives were setup under the Metro Museum Modernisation Plan (2013 – 2016) under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

Read the news article about the Archives
http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/a-history-of-its-own-chhatrapati-shivaji-maharaj-vastu-sangrahalaya-sir-dorab-tata-gallery-4710615/