The Silverfish is a collection of articles, reflections, and ideas that chronicle the various scenes from the Archives at NCBS.
Latest PostS
-
My first introduction to Oral Histories was in 2022, when I began summarising interviews with conservationists at the Archives at NCBS. The summary would consist of a document with archival identifiers, a biography, and an abstract featuring indexed headings with details under each. Bound by deadlines, however, we had to streamline this time-consuming process. The final product has now taken a more concise form – the identifiers, fields, biography and only the indexed headings, without the detailed, flowery summaries. As I worked on the summaries I was asked to flag any sections that I felt were sensitive. This was the… read more
-
I immensely enjoyed archiving A P Krishnaja’s material, primarily because as a Biology graduate with molecular biology research experience, sifting through her laboratory data felt like looking through a window to the past. Various laboratory methods have evolved over time to accommodate the growing needs of the researcher, but certain routines have been preserved from the past, albeit not the most convenient method of data presentation. The cut-and-paste method to present the chromosomes in a grid is one such protocol. Born in Calicut, Kerala, in 1951, Krishnaja did her BSc. in Zoology (with chemistry and botany subsidiaries) at Malabar Christian… read more
BROWSE BY CATEGORIES
ARCHIVES IN FRAMES
-
February is archives at its busiest. Anyone dropping by the space will find the team running down corridors with a trolley full of boxes, frantically removing staple pins, chugging down sugar with extra coffee, crying in front of spreadsheets, and having meetings after meetings because the big ol’ “launch” is approaching. In Archives at NCBS vocabulary, the “launch” is the annual public event where the team presents archival collections that they have processed throughout the year along with a new exhibition. This month’s ‘Archives in Frames’ features the team digging through the catalog (and their phone gallery) to find other… read more
The Silverfish is a project by the Archives at NCBS to share ideas, reflections, and experiences of individuals who have engaged with the archives and its collections. These are presently in the form of articles by archivists and researchers. But we are hoping to expand our scope and are open to entries by anyone who has a story to tell about the archives. This can be in formats across text and visual media. If you are interested in contributing,
write to archives-outreach@ncbs.res.in.