Researching the project

Researching Ghadar has involved using a range of different source bases. In addition to published memoirs and collections of official documents – available through inter-library loan – I have consulted contemporary newspapers online through the library subscription to the ProQuest database. This was a useful backdrop, providing a number of insightful angles, adding to the image of Ghadar as a transnational movement. However, these sources have to be approached carefully, since they are collections edited by their authors, who have themselves chosen exactly what to include or omit.

In order to get a more complete view of this transnational revolutionary movement, I recently undertook some research at the British Library in London. I consulted archival material held in the Asian and African Studies section of the library, where British Foreign Office, Indian Office, and SIS correspondences on Ghadar are held. There is also an extensive collection of “Hostile Oriental Propaganda Pamphlets” available to peruse here- essentially a collection of ‘Indian’ themed anti-British literature. A surprising amount of this was connected to Ghadar: either produced by them, reprinted at their presses, or distributed via a proxy connected to active Ghadarites. This will certainly add to the depth of my analysis, being able to anchor Ghadar in some of its own literature, but also in evaluating the extent to which the British government perceived the movement as a threat. What I found would support the assertion that Ghadar was considered a distinct threat by the imperial authorities. To provide an example, Sir Edward Grey, the foreign secretary at the time (1915), was consulted on the ‘dangerous’ amount of Ghadar literature – all of which was considered as seditious – that was being smuggled into India. This went to the very top.

Using the British Library

For the purpose of anyone else who might find it useful to utilise the resources of the British Library (it is also an excellent repository of books, with upward of 56 million items), I would like to sketch out a brief guide on getting set-up there.

I would recommend pre-registering for a reader’s ticket online before you head to the library, as this will save you time when you get there: http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/inrrooms/stp/register/stpregister.html. Follow the instructions, and make a note of your pre-registration reader number- you will need this to complete the registration when you get to the library.

I would also recommend ordering items to your account before you get there, so that you will have something to work with straight away. In order to do this, you need to upgrade your account to a ‘British Library Online Account’: http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=1&dstmp=1426532317978&vid=BLVU1&fromLogin=true If you follow this link, the login button should be in the top-right corner. The option to ‘upgrade’ should then be the top link that you find here.  Enter your reader ID, and pass expiry date that you should have been sent in an email when you completed the pre-registration confirmation; you will then receive one of those confirmation emails that will ask you to follow the link of in order to complete the process.

You can now use the library search database to order your books. On the main catalogue, enter your search, then click the ‘I want this button’, followed by ‘Deliver item to: The British Library’s Reading Rooms’. Login, and then choose whether you want the item straight away, or ‘add to basket’, where you can choose to have the item reserved for a particular day. If you want to consult the archival and manuscript material held at the library, first of all click on the ‘Archives and Manuscript’ Catalogue from the toolbar on the British Library homepage. Once you have found what you’re looking for, you need to login, and click ‘request other items’ in the taskbar. Using the reference number from your search, you can submit a request for the relevant section and either ‘request for today’, or add to basket as with the items in the main catalogue.

When you arrive at the library, just head to the registration room on the first floor to complete the registration process and pick up your readers card. From here, you can head over to the relevant reading room (I was in the African and Asian one on the third floor). If you have ordered any material,  you can pick it up from the ‘issue and return desk’ area of the reading room.

I hope that this has been helpful. I can definitely recommend a visit if you have the time; there are some great collections here, and the reading rooms retain the grandness of a traditional library despite being contained within a fairly new building.