Mahmudul has been going to the National Archives for the past five years and using the archives for his MPhil. 

“Whenever I need any information or reference, I visit the National Archives. Most of the time I get the information I need,” said Mahmudul Hasan. 

Currently, Mahmudul is in pursuit of his PhD research on the political evolution of Rakhine from 1784 to 1990.

He has been collecting information on the past from the correspondence between the then-British officials posted at Chattogram and Dhaka office about the border situation. Later, Dhaka office would send the letters to the Governor-General in Delhi. 

The Department of Archives and Library in Agargaon is a repository for original documents from the past to be used by researchers and academics. The archive is massive.

Whilst it is commonly visited by researchers in Bangladesh like Mahmudul as well as foreigners –for historical documents like newspapers, maps, gazettes, government publications, political manifestos and land records of historical values – it remains almost unknown by the masses. Many people have little to no idea about the place and the documents it preserves. 

You can read more in an article by Ariful Islam Mithu published in The Business Standard at: http://tinyurl.com/mr2we7yw.