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The archive preserving the story of India after Independence

The photographs tucked away in a family album, the papers dismissed as “rubbish”, and the voices of women whose stories were never written down, are some of the fragments of India's post Independence history being preserved at the Archives of Contemporary India in Ashoka University.

Photograph of S. Radhakrishnan being welcomed by US President John F. Kennedy during his visit to America in 1963. (Archives of Contemporary India, Ashoka University)

8 min read New Delhi Oct 23, 2026 11:43 AM IST First published on: Oct 23, 2026 at 11:40 AM IST

A large screen displaying photographs of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan at a landmark exhibition of Indian art in Germany is among the first things to catch the eye on entering the Archives of Contemporary India (ACI) at Ashoka University.…