I’m pleased to let you know that following a request from staff in HCA the Library now has access to Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980. This resource allows you to survey the high politics of Independence and Partition, social and cultural interchange after 1947 and the ramifications that these changes continue to have throughout South Asia today.

You can access Foreign Offfice Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan via the Digital Primary Source and Archive Collections guide, the Databases A-Z list or via DiscoverEd.

The collection of files in this resource are from the Foreign Office (later the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) and Dominions Office and focus on the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan during the period 1947 to 1980. They also feature essential content on Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Kashmir, as well as other frontier regions.

Files look at the impact on UK, US and European trade, industrial policy, education and the media through a vast array of material including diplomatic dispatches, inward and outward telegrams, newspaper cuttings and transcripts, maps, photographs, political and economic reports, accounts of visits and tours, minutes of meetings, conference proceedings, letters, leaflets and more.

You can access Foreign Offfice Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan via the Digital Primary Source and Archive Collections guide, the Databases A-Z list or via DiscoverEd.

The Library has access to a wide range of historical documents and primary source material online. You can access all of these via the Digital Primary Source and Archive Collections guide.

Access is only available to current students and staff at the University of Edinburgh.

Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for History, Classics and Archaeology