South Asian Archives Research and Digital Access Project

Exploring and transforming scholarly and public understanding of the Ashmolean’s relationship with South Asia and its material culture

About the research project

The Ashmolean Museum has a distinguished collection from South Asia, the most comprehensive in the UK outside London. However, our understanding of its collecting history is still nascent. Institutions such as the Ashmolean, and the individuals associated with its collecting practices, have been key players in the construction and arbitration of historical knowledge.

Through multidisciplinary investigations of archives and related objects in the Ashmolean, the South Asian Archives Research and Digital Access Project (SAARDAP) will be the first ever assessment of individuals who shaped the Museum’s South Asian collection and the most detailed examination ever produced of the way in which museums collected objects from South Asia. The project will examine and disseminate the production of knowledge conditioned by societal, political, and epistemological considerations.

It will document, make digitally accessible, and carry out the first full-scale study of globally significant archives connected to: 

• Eugene Impey (1830-1904), Colonial Officer and Photographer
• Oxford’s Indian Institute (1880-1962)
• William Cohn (1880-1961), Indian Institute Consultant/Curator/Advisor, 1947-61
• Douglas Barrett (1917-92), British Museum Curator/Keeper of Oriental Antiquities, 1947-77
• James Harle (1920-2004), Ashmolean Curator/Keeper of Eastern Art, 1960-87.

Work on digitisation and the cataloguing of these archives started in November 2023, with the support of volunteers. MuseumPlus records, including digitised images, have already been created for the Impey Archive and are accessible through Collections Online

The long-term research seeks to uncover hidden connections and forgotten histories, contextualising an assessment of the roles of colonial officers, curators, collectors, etc., to explore and present a history of collecting practices that affected discussions around collections in the 19th and 20th century. It will analyse its impact on, and draw lessons regarding, the historiography of South Asian material and visual culture in the present.

The project also aims to develop an international network to stimulate exploration of South Asian material culture in collections around the world.