Unlocking an Urdu writer's treasure for scholars

The Sajjad Zaheer Digital Archive is the result of a collaboration between two varsities and the communist ideologue's family

Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD) and the University of Texas (UT) at Austin have good news for scholars and researchers, who are struggling to access physical archives during the Covid pandemic due to restrictions on domestic and international travel.

Letters, manuscripts, photographs and other materials belonging to Urdu writer Sajjad Zaheer (1905-1973), who founded the Association of Indian Progressive Writers’ in London and later in India, are now available for open access in a digital archive that was launched on Tuesday. Hosted at https://sites.utexas.edu/zaheerarchive this initiative is a collaboration between the Zaheer family, AUD and UT.

Sajjad Zaheer’s