The Itinerant Library of Lala Lajpat Rai

This essay traces the movements of a library from New York to Lahore in the wake of the First World War and then to Shimla and Chandigarh following the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. It explores how this collection of books, assembled by the anti-colonial nationalist Lajpat Rai (1865-1928), intersected with and informed key moments of political struggle in twentieth-century urban America and colonial India. The essay then considers the fate of Lajpat Rai's library today, its place in twenty-first-century Punjab, and the questions it poses for historians interested in anti-colonial histories, post-colonial presents and the commemorative work (as well as enduring political questions) that bind them

Ancient history · Colonialism · Indian subcontinent · Nationalism · Partition (number theory) · Political science · Politics · History · Indian History and Philosophy · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · South Asian Studies and Diaspora