Archive Nepal: December Issue
In this issue: Journal of Newar Studies, Centenary of the 1923 treaty between Nepal and the UK, Archive Nepal's Services, Memories of an Archivist and More.
Collection Highlight: Journal of Newar Studies (Newah Vijnana)
Our highlight this month is the Journal of Newar Studies (Newāh Vijñāna). This Journal used to be published by the International Nepal Bhasha Sewa Samiti under the editorship of Daya Ratna Shakya. It strived to unveil the vibrancy of Nepal's Newar culture, encompassing its traditions, customs, history, arts, literature, music, and linguistic heritage. They have articles in English, Nepali and Nepal Bhasa (Newari).
Here’s our pick for the month:
English language articles:
Sii Guthi: A Newar Funeral Organization in Kathmandu by Juhee Suwal | Vol: 1, 1997, Page 6
The Newars: the Indigenous Population of the Kathmandu Valley in the Modern state of Nepal by Bal Gopal Shrestha | Vol: 2, 1998/99, Page 1
Historical evidence on Nepal Sambat by Bhuwan Lal Pradhan | Vol: 3, 1999/00, Page 1
Digitization of Asha Archives | Vol: 4, 2000/01, Page 59
Cultural, Spiritual, and Nutritional Value of Samaybaji by Nirmala Rajbhandari (A Newah Cusine) | Vol 5, 2004/05, Page 44
Nepali language articles, for our Nepali reading patrons:
हामी कसरी नेवारै भई रहने? by Dr. Tulsi Maharjan | Vol: 4, 200/01, Page 59
ओझेलमा परेको पोखराको नेवार संस्कृति by Bishwa Shakya| Vol: 2, 1998/99, Page 1
होस्ते, हईन्से by Yagyaman Pati Bajracharya | Vol: 7, 2010/11, Page 69
पुस्तक परिचय: नेपालभाषा व्याकरण | Vol 5, 2004/05, Page 44
We added new items to our collection. You can now search over:
32,646 images,
1,108 videos,
2084 journals,
69 books,
1,101 objects,
589 documents.
Story behind the picture
This December we explored the centenary of the “1923 Nepal - UK Treaty of Friendship” highlighting the importance of this treaty which helped Nepal preserve its independence and sovereignty.
View the full: 1923 Treaty between the United Kingdom and Nepal
The 1923 treaty was signed by the British envoy to Nepal, William O'Conner and Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher at Singha Durbar, Kathmandu on December 21, 1923 which was the first formal recognition of the sovereignty and independence of Nepal by the UK. It marked the application of the international law principle of sovereign equality of states, alleviating doubts among Nepali people about a potential British invasion.
Since 1911, using the 'Hunting Diplomacy', Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher had been trying to get formal British acknowledgement of Nepal's sovereignty and get permission to import and manufacture weapons. Situation finally changed after World War I in 1921, where over 100,000 Nepali men died while fighting for the British cause. During the hunting expedition in Chitwan, Nepali and British officials reached a new understanding about Nepali independence, as Thomas Cox explains in an article in the Journal of South Asian Studies.
Read further: Centennial of hunting diplomacy in Nepal
Video: Guard of Honour for England Prince Wales Edward Albert | 1992 | Prime minister Chandra Shumsher by Archives Nepal
Explore further readings and our Digibit HERE.
Updates from Archive Nepal
Growing together, Expanding Horizons!
As we wrap up 2023, we talked to you to know what you know about Archive Nepal!
Many of you recognize us as a platform to find photos and objects related to Nepal. As we evolve, we have transcended to provide additional archiving solutions to individuals & organizations.
Here’s an insight to Archive Nepal’s Services:
For education and research: you can freely browse journal articles, e-books, photos, videos, documents publicly available through our website.
Digitization: of documents, records, photos in high resolution for digital preservation. Includes data organization, keywords extraction (Title, description, date, subjects, etc.) and conversion to low resolution. See our very first digitization project:
Profile Page: and publicly discoverable portfolio online for independent artists’, individuals, journalists, organizations’. Option to sell original or reprints of the art worldwide. See one of our current collaborations:
Digital Archiving: and preservation of high resolution documents using Amazon AWS digital archiving solutions.
Ordering physical or digital re-prints: of any drawings, photos, documents that are available through our website.
Manaslu Records Management System (MRMS): a private access solution built in with password access to a private online portal with advanced search. All digitized photos/documents will be easily searchable based on selected keywords just like a Google Search.
Other archiving solutions: tailored to cater digital archiving in the forefront and provide comprehensive archiving solutions to individual or organizational needs.
If you are interested in learning more about our services, pricing options or think of ways how we can serve your organizational archiving or records management needs, please contact us at contact@archivenepal.org for more details.
Discover other news from the Archive World
Memories of an Archivist
by Anita Bhetwa
Balaram Chitrakar, a photographer since the age of 10, dedicated his life to preserving Nepal’s historical documents.
He initiated the microfilming of archives in the Department of Archaeology’s National Archives, a project spanning 25 years and covering 182,000 manuscripts. King Birendra supported this effort, resulting in 29,000 documents being microfilmed with German collaboration.
However, these microfilms, now 30 years old, are deteriorating due to the ‘Vinegar Syndrome.’ Despite a preservation plan submitted in 2014, the Ministry of Culture has been slow to act, jeopardizing Nepal’s rich archaeological archive and Chitrakar's life's work. Read more HERE