Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1489

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

• 1.21 linear feet (2 boxes)
• 4.3 megabyte(s)

Language Note:

The bulk of the material is in English but the Kalambandhi and Moje Jarif booklets are in Gujarati written by Marathi speakers.

Preferred Citation:

Marcia J. Frost research collection relating to Gujarat, Ms. Coll. 1489, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1933-2020 (inclusive) and 1975-2020 (bulk)

Form:

Flash drives, Computer source media, Booklets, Writings (documents), and Research notes

Abstract:

This research collection primarily contains Gujarat village records collected from the mamlatdar record offices in the mid-1970s by economics professor Marcia J. Frost, whose research focused on the economic history of Gujarat territories. Village officials prepared kalambandhis (annual talati accounts) and moje jarif (village registers from the revenue survey) during the first decade of British rule in western India. These cover a wide range of topics including population and animal censuses, village revenue and expenditures, land tenures and use, village history and customs. Frost collected these records for her dissertation study of the economic history of the Gujarat territories under the East India Company administration in the early 19th century.

Marcia J. Frost received her B.A. from Carleton College, and M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests focused on demographic, agrarian and technological change, and their interactions with each other and social, political and economic institutions. Her research has taken her to London, Bombay, Gujarat, Mongolia, North and South Korea and China. She was named a Fulbright scholar in 1999 for her project, "Surviving Scarcity: Coping Strategies and Demographic Impacts, Kheda District, 1824-25." She has taught courses in economic history, economic development, labor and principles at UC Santa Barbara, Occidental College, Dennison University and Wittenberg University. She retired from academia in 2016.

This research collection contains 43 booklets of handwritten copies of kalambandhi (annual talati accounts), and a few moje jarif (village registers from the revenue survey) as well as essays, maps, a flash drive and other printed material. Frost obtained these booklets from the mamlatdar record offices in the mid-1970s, for her dissertation study of the economic history of the Gujarat territories under the East India Company administration in the early 19th century. Frost describes the kalambandhi booklets as important local documents, akin to a city's deed book but much more complex. They may include maps, description of lands, etc. Village officials prepared the booklets during the first decade of British rule in western India. They cover a wide range of topics including population and animal censuses, village revenue and expenditures, land tenures and use, village history and customs. Frost provided an inventory of each booklet's contents and these are located in the inventory folder.

The collection also includes writings and research by Frost. Of particular interest may be four essays which provide important context to the collection, their attachments and other materials. In the first essay, "Introduction to the Kalambandhi, Moje Jarif and Related Materials," Frost discusses her acquisition of the documents and translating issues. This essay, located in box 1, folder 23 is an invaluable tool to understanding the collection. The second essay, "19th Century Revenue Surveys in Gujarat," provides background to the earliest attempts by the East India Company to determine the resources of the territory it acquired in the first two decades of that century. Her third essay, "Early 19th Century Village Records in Gujarat: Kaira Collectorate," discusses the moje jarif and kalambandhi documents. A flash drive (from which all files have been extracted and are available for research in the reading room) containing the data files from the population censuses and the information needed to use them is discussed in the fourth essay "Kaira Collectorate, ca. 1802-67." Born digital files also contains pdf files of the essays and their attachments, the inventories of the booklets in the collection and those in the Gujarat State Archives, the codes she created for villages and castes, the location of villages over time, and the population data are in Excel files.