THE

GEORGE

MICHELL ARCHIVE

PROJECT

THE JOURNEY

Amit and Sujaan start working on a funding proposal via Wikimedia Rapid Grants. Dr Michell gives permission for his photographs to be shared via the Creative Commons License and the grant is approved!

Dr Michell gives his collection of about 600 photographic slides of Bengal Temples to Amit. The photos were taken in the 1980s during research work for “The Brick Temples of Bengal”

George Michell

Amit speaks to the CSSSC about the possibility of creating an online archive for George Michell’s photographs alongside the Hitesranjan Sanyal archive. CSSSC agrees in principle.

CSSSC

Amit approaches the British Library Digitisation Services. A contract is signed and the digitisation work starts. In Sep 2023, after 300 slides are digitised, the work stops due to a major cyber attack at the BL

Wikimedia

After 3 months the photographs are retrieved from the British Library and alternatives are explored. Several commercial companies are evaluated and Vintage Photo Labs is selected. They finish digitising the remaining slides in 2 weeks!

Vintage Photo Labs

Between Sep 2023 and Feb 2024, the research team at CSSSC examine and upload each image and create metadata using Dr Michell’s notes and secondary sources. In May 2024, the archive is ready to be launched.

Documentation

Digitisation at BL

THE ACHIEVEMENTS

• 600 photographic slides digitised in high quality 600 dpi
• Detailed Metadata for each image (Dublin Core Standard)
• Images available online via the GM archive on cssscal.org
• Interview with George Michell (2023) recorded and transcribed

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• Public awareness of the project and the archive via Social Media posts
• Public event at CSSSC in Kolkata in Dec 2024 where Dr Michell will launch the photographs followed by a panel discussion

THE LEGACY

• Adding to a world-class archive at CSSSC of digitised images of historical monuments of Bengal built in the 16th-19th centuries
• A tribute to the work done by scholars who surveyed and documented these monuments from the 1960s to the 1990s.
• A framework for collaboration across individuals and public and private organisations in India and the UK.

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• Setting the standards and creating a model for making similar physical archives publicly and freely available to scholars across the world.
• A framework for digitising other physical archives of photographs of monuments such as that of David McCutchion in the V&A and those of Tarapada Santra and Amiyakumar Bandyopadhyay in India.

LOOKING FORWARD

• Upload images to other archives such as Wikimedia and the American Institute of India Studies Art & Archeology Archive
• Publish Wikipedia Biography pages of George Michell, Tarapada Santra, and Hitesranjan Sanyal
• An exhibition of photographs from the archive in Kolkata (CSSSC) and London (British Library, Nehru Centre)
• Merchandise linked to the archive (CSSSC/BL)
• Planning the digitisation of the David McCutchion photographs and notes at the V&A

CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• CSSSC Executive Support: Kamalika Mukherjee, Prachi Deshpande, Rajarshi Ghose, Tapati Guha-Thakurta, Souvik Mukherjee, Rosinka Chaudhuri
• Wikimedia Proposal: Sujaan Mukherjee and Amit Guha
• Coordinating Digitisation in the UK: Amit Guha
• CSSSC India Project Lead: Sujaan Mukherjee
• Metadata Creation and Research for Wikipedia Articles: Atmajit Mukherjee, Sumantra Baral, Debraj Ghatak, Amit Guha, Sujaan Mukherjee
• George Michell Interview: Amit, Sujaan, Kamalika, Atmajit, Debraj, Sumantra
• Creating the accessible online archive: Sujaan Mukherjee
• Digitisation at the British Library: Francesca McCafferty, Gary Carter
• Digitisation at Vintage Photo Labs: Ed Padmore
• Wikimedia: Medhavi Gandhi, Davit Saroyan, Jacqueline Chen, WBUG