Series 4: TDF family records - Naraikadu, bulk: 1918 to 1983.
Scope and Contents
The conceptual origin point for the material in this collection is Naraikadu, a spiritual retreat of The Dohnavur Fellowship (TDF) located in the mid ranges of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot in southern Tamil Nadu. The various logbooks are paper-based, handwritten in long notebooks with entries ranging from 1918 to 2022. They contain a mix of notes on daily life, prayer, forest expeditions, nature and weather observations by various members of the TDF family. The earliest set of notes and observations are written by the founder, Amy Carmichael. Other contributors include Godfrey-Webb Peploe (also see AR-027-3-1 and AR028-3-1) and other members of the TDF family. The oldest logbooks with maximum number of entries related to biodiversity and weather observations have been selected for digitisation. The series has no sub-series but individual folders organised by item name.
Dates
- Creation: Majority of material found in 1918 to 1983.
Creator
- From the Collection: The Dohnavur Fellowship (Creator, Organization)
- From the Collection: Saythu…Linking People and Heritage (Processing Archivist, Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for access unless mentioned in specific folders of the finding aid.
Conditions Governing Use
Donor (The Dohnavur Fellowship) retains all copyrights. Apply for explicit permission.
Biographical / Historical
Naraikadu was so named by the founder of TDF, Amy Carmichael (1867-1951). The retreat has a few cottages built using local materials with no modern infrastructure or amenities such as road access, electricity, indoor plumbing or furniture, and tropical rainforest at the doorstep. TDF refers to each cottage as a house, such as Forest House, Jungle House and so on. Since inception TDF’s family members have maintained log books in each of these houses.
Full Extent
From the Collection: 1753 Sheets
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
From the Collection: Tamil
Repository Details
Part of the Archives at NCBS Repository
National Centre for Biological Sciences - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Bangalore Karnataka 560065 India
+9180 6717 6010
+9180 6717 6011
archives@ncbs.res.in
