Preserving Memory, Amplifying Voices
The Highland Institute is committed to documenting and preserving histories that have long been marginalised, forgotten, or deliberately excluded from official narratives. Our Archival and Oral History Projects focus on recovering lived experience, local knowledge, and cultural memory—especially from Indigenous, rural, and highland communities.
We believe that oral history and archival work are forms of research justice. By working closely with communities, families, and institutions, we aim to return historical agency to those whose stories matter most.
What We Do
Oral Testimonies and Life Histories
- We record, transcribe, and curate oral narratives from elders, culture-bearers, and community historians—often focusing on memory, displacement, healing traditions, resistance, and intergenerational knowledge transmission.
Digitisation and Preservation of Fragile Materials
- Many important documents—missionary correspondences, village manuscripts, personal letters—remain at risk of loss. We digitise, catalogue, and preserve these materials, often in collaboration with families and local institutions.
Archival Recovery and Research
- Working with researchers and institutions across the world, we locate and make accessible historical records pertaining to highland communities—especially those hidden in distant or private archives.
Community-Led Curation
- We support communities in reclaiming and curating their own histories. Exhibitions such as Ancestral Voices have emerged from years of oral history and archival work with Naga elders, youth, and storytellers.
Ongoing Projects
The Ursula Graham Bower Archive
- A collection of wartime photographs, letters, diaries, and film reels capturing Bower’s life among the Zeme Nagas and her role in WWII. This ongoing project involves digitisation, interpretation, and collaborative curation.
The John Shakespear Collection
- Archival recovery of rare colonial-era correspondences, military and administrative records from the Indo-Burmese frontier, including annotated personal materials and field notes. The collection is featured in the recently published book The Diary of Connie Shakespear: The Naga Hills 1900-1902 (Highlander Press).
Missionary and Indigenous Church Archives
- Work with local churches and theological institutions to document the complex history of Christianity in the highlands, including hymnals, translations, and oral conversions narratives.
Private and Community Collections
- We are currently cataloguing and digitising personal family archives, clan histories, and ceremonial records with permission from local custodians across Nagaland and the Northeast.
Our Approach
All our archival and oral history initiatives are ethically grounded and community-engaged. We prioritise:
- Free, prior, and informed consent
- Respect for cultural protocols and epistemologies
- Co-authorship and shared authority in interpretation
- Local access and return of digitised materials
We understand that archives are not neutral—they shape power, memory, and belonging. At the Highland Institute, we are building archives that are living, plural, and rooted in the communities they represent.
Interested in contributing materials, collaborating on a project, or accessing our digital collections?
Please get in touch with our research and heritage team:
info@highlandinstitute.org
The Highland Institute, Meluri Road, Kohima, Nagaland, India
The Highland Institute, Meluri Road, Kohima, Nagaland, India