The Silverfish is a digital publication of the Archives at NCBS. The archives team preserves and makes accessible archival records related to the history of science in contemporary India, from its public space in Bangalore. While most of this effort gets captured through the collections uploaded on the website, the process of getting to an output is a story of its own. It often involves individuals across the archives – from the donors to custodian, archivists to archives, funders to institutions, and archives users to the audience for these users (and probably many more involved!), navigating a variety of questions – what is valuable? what is valuable enough to enter an archive? how do we arrange the piles of recorded memory of a person and make it sensible? what stories are within this pile? who gets to tell these stories? are they facts? how can they be used? should they be used?

And all of these questions rarely have a single answer.

The Silverfish began as a project in 2024 to capture this madness. We started by inviting archivists and researchers to write about the stuff that they were engaged in – whether it was a project, a collection, or a decision. These were compiled and published in two magazine issues between 2024-2025. However, over the years we have received articles from visitors and students as well.

With the introduction of a blog, we are open to stories emerging from beyond our work-desks. We are interested in learning about some questions you may have found yourself asking at the archives – whether about the collections, the projects, or the space. If you would like to contribute to The Silverfish, write to
archives-outreach@ncbs.res.in.