Page 12 - TCA-booklet-silver-jubilee-book

THE OPENING

RM LALA
Honorary Director, Tata Central Archives

Excerpts from his speech at the launch of the
Tata Central Archives in Bombay (now Mumbai)
on January 7, 1991.

he concept of the Archives first came to me when I
was reaching the end of my book ‘The Creation of Wealth’.

TIt was a miracle the book was ever published. Because the
material was not organised, it was all over the place; and there was

such rich material — there were letters from Subhas Chandra Bose
to Nowroji Saklatvala. There were other documents. There were

the great figures of history passing through — Mahatma Gandhi
visiting Jamshedpur, Rajendra Prasad, (Jawaharlal) Nehru — and

I said, this is something we should really put together for future
generations. And as Mr Tata (JRD) said, the Tatas are sometimes

a bit slow, so it took about 10 years to get the thing launched. But
I am delighted at the response to Mr Tata’s letter to the companies.

The companies have responded in a very big way and they have
appointed very senior officers in charge of the Archives. And this,

today, is the beginning of the first training programme.

I don’t think any company has yet organised an archives in India.
They may have just started perhaps, a company or two. So it’s

an uncharted sea. And the concept I had was that apart from
the archival material, which will be useful to very few people

comparatively — students of economic history, business history,
students of industry — there should be a place, a central hall which

portrays with illustrations, memorabilia, original letters, the great

12 12 13