people, we past
The British official records were preserved in the
Answers
Administration Produces Records
The British felt that all the important letters and documents must be carefully preserved. So they set up record rooms attached to administrative institutions, and institutions such as archives and museums were also established for preserving records.
Those official records of the British administrative offices and government departments are an important source to learn about history; they clearly wrote down every plan, instruction, policy, decision, agreement, and investigation.
Why Surveys Are Important
Detailed surveys were carried out by the British to map all of India, and revenue surveys (to decide how much tax was to be collected from where) were conducted in villages in order to know the topography, the quality of soil, flora, fauna, cropping patterns, etc.
By the end of the 19th century, the British had started conducting census operations which provided information about the distribution of population in different provinces, castes, religions, and their occupations.
What Official Records Do Not Tell Us
Official records, although very detailed and easily available, do not help us in knowing what other people in the country, people who were not directly under the British rule, felt, and what reasons were behind their actions. To know that, unofficial records are used, which of course are more difficult to find as compared to the official records.
Some non-official records are:
personal diaries of people
accounts of travellers and pilgrims
autobiographies of important people
popular booklets
newspapers
writings of reformers, poets, and novelists