Custodial history: With the immense contributions of Henry Vincent Bayley, Raj Narayan Basu and other erudite persons this library was established in 1851 as very first public library of India(as the executive committee of library has claimed for a long times) in Midnapur district of Bengal. After facing many up and downs this public library got its present name as Rajnarayan Basu Smriti Pathagar and its own permanent building in 1940 as well. Although many valuable collections are either lost or damaged for lack of maintance, but some very rare books and manuscripts are still available. Many books are found more than 7 languages and various contents like Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Odiya,English, Sanskrit.
Administrative context: The CSSSC, on realising the importance of copying the collection applied for a grant to the EAP against which EAP921 has been awarded.
Extent and format of original material: 3 series of books, manusccripts, and periodicals.
Owner(s) of original material: Rajnarayan Basu Smriti Pathagar.
This collection contains the following 3 series.
- EAP921/4/1: Books from the Library of Rajnarayan Basu Smriti Pathagar [1849-1940]
- EAP921/4/2: Manuscripts from the Library of Rajnarayan Basu Smriti Pathagar [6th century-18th century]
- EAP921/4/3: Periodicals from the Library of Rajnarayan Basu Smriti Pathagar [1916-1958].
