An American in Assam (or the “Thrill of the Hunt”)
How does a historian specializing in the American West find himself in Assam, India? If one finds themselves in such a predicament, do they do archival work the same as the United States? I have thought often of these questions before and after I left the U.S. on August 17, 2019. Having received the notification from the Fulbright Program that I had been selected to research the history of the British Raj in Assam, panic began to set in. Although I knew my way around different U.S. archives (big/small; general/specialized; near/far, etc.), I had never ventured out of the safe confines of my own country. Actually, this fellowship marks the first time I had ever left North America. I began to wonder if I would be able to “make it” in such a different environment. One of the many legacies of British colonial rule is their archival systems. The National Library and the National Archives spawned from British efforts to save every scrap of paper and book written about their efforts ...