Reprography

Brief History

In 1800's an English photographer John Benjamin Dancer experimented and developed the process of microphotography, which today is known as micrographic process to record the content of a document on films in greatly reduced size.

In 1818's a Frenchman Rene Dagron, realized the possibilities of this new technique for record keeping and is credited with being first to use micrographic process on commercial scale.

The main cause of paper explosion is the increasing dependence of business, research and education on accurate, complete and detailed information. Information and data need to be compiled, evaluated, retrieved and disseminated for effective use.

Besides acute storage space, records are liable to damage due to natural deterioration of paper, attack by pest, rodents, water, fire and other multiple causes. Valuable records can be lost forever if NO DUPLICATES ARE RETAINED.

Thousands of years ago, people recognized the necessity of keeping records of their daily activities. What began simply as carving or painting graphic figures on the walls of caves, evolved over the centuries into more complex forms of languages and written alphabets were developed, paper was invented and the art of writing and record keeping became defined. As more and more people began to preserve more and more records on paper, complex storage methods were devised to house these records. But they took up more and more room, and finally people began to run out of space. Something needed to be done. In the 1800's an English photographer, John Benjamin Dancer, experimented with and developed the process of microphotography, which today is known as "Micrography"-the use of a photographic process to record documents on film in greatly reduced sizes. Also, in the 1880's a Frenchman, René Dagron, realized the possibilities of this new process for record keeping and is credited with being the first to use micrographics on a commercial scale.

There is really no mystery to micrography. It is nothing more than automated photography-and nothing is as accurate and faithful to detail as photography. Microfilming is the technique of miniaturizing paper- of all kinds of paper, in all sizes shapes-into tiny frames of photographic film. Handling costs per item are reduced to a fraction of present costs of handling paper records. Instead of entire rooms, files fill only a few cabinets, instead of wasting precious time, locating elusive documents, microfilm puts them within reach in few seconds, in the original size or even larger. Microfilm greatly reduces the space, provides for the duplication and distribution of documents and provides easy access to materials. Moreover microfilm alleviates the filing and out-of-file problems and protects the physical integrity of files by providing back-up and archival copies.

The rapid advances in micrographic technology during the last decade have made microform systems more responsive to user demands with the result that greater benefits are now provided to the user than are offered by the original paper system. The trend today is towards active microform systems rather than the archival system. Active systems are those in which the information recorded on film is used during the normal course of business in place of the original paper. In contrast, and archival system is one in which information is recorded for safe preservation in the event the original information is liable to be destroyed, deteriorated due to many relevant causes. In an archival system, the filmed copies are not expected to be used in the normal course of business. In the Directorate of Archives, Maharashtra State in-house facility is available for the sole purpose of safety microfilming, as the main objective of Archives is to preserve precious records of immense historical, archival and national importance for a longer of period of time.

Advantage of Microform

* Space saving-records on microforms need as little as 2% of space occupied by the records on paper.
* Lower operating costs-less time is involved in sorting, filing and refiling than paper records.
* Speed and convenience-a required record could be retrieved within a few seconds from even a million records using systems such as computer-assisted retrieval system.
* Security-keeping a duplicate microform at a different place reduces considerably the possible destruction or loss of vital information.
* Improved productivity-queries can be handled accurately and more quickly than by searching paper files.
* Fixed file continuity-records filmed on microform are infixed sequence, which guards against misfiling, mislaying, alteration or loss.
* Ease of production of copies required-if required paper copies of the original document could be produced in seconds from the microform.
* Data integrity-data integrity is ensured as against papers or electronic media.
* Easy updating-particularly in the jacket system.
* Savings in mailing costs.
* The most important aspect in today's rapidly growing computer technology, the micrographic technology is fully compatible with the computers as well as emerging future platforms.
* And from the archival point of view, microform has a longer preservation period.

Microfilmed Records

  1. Surat Residency Factory Diary
  2. Broach Factory Diary
  3. Commercial Residency Diary
  4. Karanja Residency Diary
  5. Thana Factory Diary
  6. Kalyan Residency Diary
  7. Poona Residency Diary
  8. Fort Victoria Bankot Residency Diary
  9. Bankot Factory Diary
  10. Karwar Factory Diary
  11. Sind Factory Diary
  12. Mokha Residency Diary
  13. Basara Factory Diary
  14. Kolhapur Residency File
  15. Rewa Kantha Residency File
  16. Baroda Residency File
  17. Thana Agency File
  18. Public General Department File
  19. Secret & Political Department Diary
  20. Secret & Political Department File
  21. Public Department Diary
  22. Public Department Order Book
  23. Selection Book Diary
  24. Warden Selection Diary
  25. Secretarial Department Inward / Outward Book
  26. Public General Department Minute Diary
  27. Political Secret Department Minute Book Diary
  28. Secret Department Minute Book Diary
  29. Political Department Minute Book Diary
  30. Political Department Weekly Book Diary
  31. Political Department 46 Series File
  32. Political Department Compilation File
  33. Political Department Volume
  34. Public General Compilation File
  35. Revenue Department Branch File
  36. Revenue Department Compilation File
  37. Revenue Department Index
  38. Revenue Department Inward Registar
  39. Revenue Department Minute Book
  40. Revenue Department Order Book
  41. Revenue Department Outward Registar
  42. Revenue Department Volume
  43. Revenue & Forest Department File