A historian among scientists: reflections on archiving the history of science in postcolonial India.

How might we overcome the lack of archival resources while doing the history of science in India? Offering reflections on the nature of archival resources that could be collected for scientific institutions and the need for new interpretative tools with which to understand these resources, this essay argues for the use of oral history in order to understand the practices of science in the postcolonial context. The oral history of science can become a tool with which to understand the hidden interactions between the world of scientific institutions and the larger world of the postcolonial nation.