The name is absent

an exhaustive computer search of the available literature
on Anglo-Indians using American, Australian, British and
Canadian databases. As a computer search of Indian
databases was not possible, a manual search was
substituted.

This very wide ranging, thorough and systematic search
yielded very few references about Anglo-Indians. The
researcher's next step was to contact as many Anglo-Indians
as possible, on an international basis, who might have or
had access to a bibliography or possess a library of books.

The researcher inherited a library of books from the estate
of the late Vernon Charles Selkirk. He was the
researcher's brother who collected books about India. An
extensive bibliography on Tknglo-Indian culture and history,
was sent to the researcher by Withbert Payne, an
Anglo-Indian living in the United States of America.

The Selkirk library, the Payne bibliography and the results
of the manual and computer searches enabled the researcher
to arrange inter-library loans, including those from
British, American and Canadian University libraries, to
build up an archive of information about the Anglo-Indians.

The selection of information from the books, newspaper
clippings, journals, letters and anecdotal descriptions of
life in Anglo-Indian schools in India written by
Anglo-Indians who were either students or teachers in
Anglo-Indian schools proved invaluable. Indian
educationists, journalists and social scientists also made
their contribution to the accumulation of material about
the community.

The next section describes the problem of bridging the
sociological and geographical imaginations in the
historical research.

166

<<   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   >>

More intriguing information