An Archive for People's History: the case of Roja Muthiah Research Library

There are different types of Archives - State, Private, Science, Corporate,
Family archives and so on. However, in common parlance the idea of an
Archive is usually associated with the State. These archives have certain
nature and characteristics related to power and authority. On the other hand
there are private archives and libraries which do not have the support like
the State Archives.  Their policies could be understood from the nature of
the collection. The Roja Muthiah Research Library is indeed an archive which
developed from the private collection of late Roja Muthiah of Kottaiyur,
Tamilnadu. The archive represents an eclectic range of material; mostly
paper based, thus representing both the print culture and also argues a 
case for a
collection that can be looked up for writing people's history. The
presentation will be showcasing the range of material available in the
collection.