Nehru Memorial Museum & Library: Difference between revisions

| established = {{Start date|1964}}

The '''Nehru Memorial Museum & Library''' ('''NMML''') is a museum and library in [[New Delhi]], [[India]], which aims to preserve and reconstruct the history of the [[Indian independence movement]]. Housed within the [[Teen Murti House]] complex, it is an autonomous institution under the Indian [[Ministry of Culture (India)|Ministry of Culture]], and was founded in 1964 after the death of India's first prime minister, [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]. It aims to foster academic research on modern and contemporary history.<ref>[http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=74876  Nehru Memorial Museum and Library] Ministry of Culture, 23 August 2011.</ref> Today, the Nehru Memorial Library is the world’s leading resource centre on India’s first prime minister.<ref name=mint/> Its archives contain the bulk of [[Mahatma Gandhi]]'s writings,<ref>{{cite news |title=Christie's to return Gandhi's letter |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-07-04/europe/27963004_1_albin-schram-gandhi-manuscript-mahatma-gandhi|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110912172106/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-07-04/europe/27963004_1_albin-schram-gandhi-manuscript-mahatma-gandhi|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 September 2011|work=[[The Times of India]] |date=4 July 2007 }}</ref> as well as private papers of [[C. Rajagopalachari]], [[B. C. Roy]], [[Jayaprakash Narayan]], [[Charan Singh]], [[Sarojini Naidu]] and [[Rajkumari Amrit Kaur]]. In March 2010 it launched a digitization project of its archives, and by June 2011, 867,000 pages of manuscripts and 29,807 photographs had been scanned and 500,000 pages had been uploaded on the digital library website.<ref name=mint/> Amongst noted publications of the NMML are ''Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru'', ''Man of Destiny'' by [[Ruskin Bond]], ''Nehru Anthology '' (1980) and ''Nehru Anthology''.

Nehru Memorial Museum & Library has over the years supported scholars and historians across India. Through its fellowship programme, the Nehru Memorial Fellowship, it has funded some of India’s best academics such as Chief Information Commissioner OP Kejriwal.<ref>{{cite news |title=Controversy In Nehru's Home|url=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne210209controversy_in.asp |publisher=[[Tehelka]] Magazine  |volume=6|date= 21 February 2009 |issue = 7}}</ref> It is also one of the best libraries in Delhi for the [[social sciences]] as it has a huge collection on labour related issues in the form of PhD dissertations, reports, books, journals and news papers.<ref>[http://www.indialabourarchives.org/sources/nmml1.htm Nehru Memorial Museum & Library] Archives of Indian Labour.</ref>

On 26 April 2016 a dagger gifted to former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru by Saudi Arabia was stolen from the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/antique-dagger-stolen-from-nehru-memorial-museum-2772083/|title=At Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, a gift is stolen, not one CCTV|date=27 April 2016|work=The India Express}}</ref>

Nehru Memorial Museum and Library is known as Teen Murti Bhawan (sculptor: Leonard Jennings of Britain), after the three statues established in 1922 in honor of the three Indian princely states Jodhpur, Hyderabad and Mysore after their contribution in World War I by serving in the present day Gaza Strip, Israel, and Palestine. It was designed by [[Robert Tor Russell]] who also designed Connaught Place and a few parts of Janpath. Spread over 30 acres, its construction started in 1929 and took around one year to completion. It is a masterpiece of British and French architecture and woodwork. Initially knows as Flagstaff House, it was used by British forces as the residence of the Commander-in-Chief. After Independence, the house was taken over as the residence of Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964), first Prime Minister of India. After his death in 1964, it was decided that Teen Murti Bhawan should be converted into a museum and a library which would promote original research in modern Indian history with special reference to the [[Nehruvian]] era.