R J Ranjit Daniels Papers

Content Description

The Collection primarily includes research related to birds, herpetofauna, fish, insects, vertebrates and flora in India – the Western Ghats, the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands – and Barro Colorado Island in Panama. This largely takes the form of field notes, sketchbooks, book drafts, illustrations, photos, slides, maps, graphs, transparencies, and hundreds of index cards detailing information about birds in the Uttara Kannada region (including local names), Goa and the Nilgiris and their habitat, photographs and slides. It also contains a list of key studies in ecology as reference material and habitat heterogeneity data on frogs in Panama. The Collection, which spans papers from 1977 until the mid 2000s, also includes material about Daniels’ education and career such as college notes on agricultural botany and horticulture, correspondence, summaries of lectures on biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, newspaper articles referring to Daniels’ work on birds, and a memoir about Daniels’ time in Uttara Kannada with text, photographs and illustrations. The Collection indicates work done at institutions including the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, and the Bombay Natural History Society.

Condition Description

The Collection is in good condition. Some of the photographs have deteriorated due to water damage, and a few papers are brittle, these require care while handling.

Accession Date

2023-02-27

Dispostion

All material processed as a new collection, MS-019 (R J Ranjit Daniels Papers). All received material is retained for the collection, except for duplicates.

Acquisition Type

Gift

Provenance

Collected from RJ Ranjit Daniels’ residence by Archives at NCBS staff Soumya Swain on 23 February 2023. Couriered from Chennai residence to the Archives at NCBS the following day. Accessioned on the date of arrival 27 February 2023. On 13 September 2023, an additional box of photographs, slides and negatives was collected from RJ Ranjit Daniels’ residence by Archives staff Venkat Srinivasan. It was transported to the Archives the same day and added to the existing accessioned material.

Retention Rule

Retain permanently.

Language of Description

English

Script of Description

Latin

Restrictions Apply

Yes

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for access unless mentioned in specific folders of the finding aid.

Use Restrictions

Copyright may not have been assigned to Archives at NCBS. Permission for reproduction or distribution must be obtained in writing from the Archives at NCBS (archives@ncbs.res.in). See access guidelines for more information (https://archives.ncbs.res.in/access). The Archives at NCBS makes no representation that it is the copyright owner in all of its collections. The user must obtain all necessary rights and clearances before use of material and material may only be reproduced for academic and non-commercial use.