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preserving our collective history
The 1947 Partition Archive is a non-profit non-governmental organization dedicated to institutionalizing the people’s history of Partition, Independence and World War II in South Asia through:
Documenting, preserving and sharing eye witness accounts from all ethnic, religious and economic communities affected by the Partition of British India in 1947.
Collecting, preserving and sharing personal items and artifacts associated with the people's memory of the 1947 Partition.
Bringing knowledge of Partition into widespread public consciousness through
i) creative and scholarly expression including but not limited to literature, film, theater, visual arts, other creative medium, and academic research
ii) proactive world-wide primary education curricula,
iii) traveling exhibits as well as physical 'Centers for Learning' designed to memorialize the people's history of Partition and serve the public for research and educational purposes.
By Sean Patrick Farrell and Somini Sengupta
What began as an idea in 2008 to acknowledge and popularize the people’s history of Partition has been accomplished through the founding and building of The 1947 Partition Archive, a grassroots community based documentation effort. To date, we have together preserved over 11,500 oral history interviews with Partition witnesses. Much to the credit of the thousands of individuals who have come together to document and share lived histories, Partition is no longer a forgotten memory as it was in 2008, and witnesses’ plight is being amplified the world over. Through the sharing of thousands of witness accounts millions of times via public history curations over the last decade, the ‘people’s history’ of Partition has been established and is now a growing and active area of research as well as new documentation efforts. We are proud to have accomplished this, as part of our first goal of ‘popularizing’ recognition for this important chapter in our global history. We look forward to working with you in ensuring that the lessons of Partition are taught in textbooks around the world, so that we do not repeat history.
Our flagship community-based oral history project has helped preserve over 11,500 memories of Partition witnesses. Browse stories by visiting collections. Oral history excerpts are widely distributed on social media for public education and are available for access to researchers. Our work is not purely academic but is public history with humanitarian undertones. We are devoting our lives to serving witnesses and to creating a more empathetic world.
The 1947 Partition Archive began preserving oral histories of Partition witnesses in 2010 and continues today through a combined program that includes an innovative technique for crowdsourcing by Citizen Historians, as well as collection by dedicated field work scholars. Over 11,500 oral histories have been preserved on digital video, making The Archive the first and largest documentation effort focused exclusively on Partition. Oral histories have been recorded from nearly 5,000 cities and villages in 17 countries across the world. A tiny staff supported by nearly 1,000 volunteers have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to support 130 digital oral history archivists who are helping to preserve oral history interviews, 200+ Story Scholars who are and have contributed oral histories, and over 850 certified Citizen Historian volunteers who have devoted an estimated 250,000 hours in volunteer labor towards recording stories. In addition to oral histories, The Archive also digitizes and preserves antiquated and current photographs of significance, family portraits, as well as objects of significance from the time of Partition. In total, the collected works amount to over 7,000,000 digital artifacts preserved with meticulous care.
Over 1,000,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have shared witness stories millions of times every year, resulting in many reunions of old families and friends. The 1947 Partition Archive’s effort to bring lived memories to the public also include hosting “Voices of Partition,” witness storytelling events across the world, free oral history workshops, as well as pop-up audio visual traveling exhibits that bring stories to art and culture spaces. During the COVID-19 pandemic, The 1947 Partition Archive also launched its first web series, Sunday Stories Live, streaming on Sundays via Facebook and YouTube, live.
The Archive is truly a labor of love, built for people, by people from diverse backgrounds. You too can join us. Learn how to record and share a story from your community now! Or support another story through your donation.
The 1947 Partition Archive records life stories shaped by Partition. Witnesses are waiting right now to share their incredible and historic memories. Will you donate now to help us reach one witness?
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