Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Pandya, A. J.
Title:	A.J. Pandya Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1925-1975
Quantity:	10.5 linear ft.
Abstract:	Papers of the Indian attorney, author, and political reformer.
Language:	The majority of the collecion is in English, with a few item in Arabic and Gujarati.
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Ave., Suite 600 Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center/university-archives

Biographical History

A.J. (Anantprasad, or Anant Prasad, Jagganath) Pandya was an Indian attorney, author, and political reformer who spent much of his career in Kenya. Educated in London, he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1935 and called to the bar in 1943. He served as Advocate on the Supreme Court of India and as Principal of the Law College at Unjha, Gujarat, and was the author of several books on Indian law. He was involved in African nationalist endeavors and participated in the Kenya Constitutional Conference of 1962 (Oscar Gakuo Mwangi, "Democracy and Party Dominance in Kenya and South Africa: A Comparative Study of the Kenya African National Union and the African National Congress," p. 289). Pandya was a managing director of Pandya and Company Ltd., which he launched on his own. In 1926, he established the Pandya Printing Works Ltd. in Mombasa, and printed the first Indian newspaper of East Africa, in both English and Gujarati with a weekly edition, "Kenya Daily Mail". The company has closed in 1964. He was active in the local business community, serving as the president of the Indian Merchants' Chamber at Mombasa. He founded the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Eastern Africa and was its first president. He also served on the Mombasa District Committee from 1920 to 1925, and he was elected president of the Indian Members of the Kenya Legislative Council from which he resigned in 1927 in obedience to a Congressional mandate.

[Sources: Library of Congress Authorities, "Pandya, A. J." ; Renu Paul and Mitra Sharifi, "South Asian Law Students at the Inns of Court: Lincoln's Inn, 1864-1947", p. 145; Shirraz Durani, Makhan Singh: A Revolutionary Kenyan Trade Unionist, p. 147.]

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The A. J. Pandya Papers consists of committee and conference materials, correspondence-subject files, memorabilia, photographs, printed material, and writings.

Committee and conference materials contains minutes, notes, and reports of various committee meetings.

Correspondence-subject files consist of letters, and other documents. Some materials were foldered and labeled by Pandya and remains in original order with folder titles.

Memorabilia consists of certificates, C.V.s, news articles, and scrapbooks.

Photographs consist of personal and committee photographs

Printed materials includes bills, clippings, and speeches by Pandya and others. There are also several volumes of Little Lenin Library.

Writings consist of speeches and notes by Pandya, and drafts of a book, Indians in Kenya, which may or may not be by him.

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Arrangement of the Collection

The collection is in alphabetical and chronological order.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Subjects

Places

Genres and Forms

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

A. J. Pandya Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Theresa Gregory, 2017.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: MRC
Date: 5 Sep 2019
Revision history: 17 Mar 2026 - collection processed (BAH)

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Inventory

	Committees and conferences
Box 1		Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Eastern Africa July 27, 1942
Box 1		Currency Devaluation Committee 1939-1940
Box 1		East African Indian National Congress 1944-1945 (2 folders)
Box 1		The Indian Advisory Man Power Committee 1939 (3 folders)
Box 1		Kanu Parliamentary Group undated
Box 1		Kenya Coastal Strip Conference 1962
Box 1		Kenya Constitutional Conference 1962
Box 1		Kenya National Assembly 1968
Box 1		Labour Department Bulletin May 1947
Oversize 2		Pandya & Company, Limited January, 10th, 1933
Box 1		Pandya Memorial Society 1949 - Fourth Annual Report
Box 1		Miscellaneous undated

	Correspondence subject files
Box 2		[Untitled folder] 1929-1953
Box 2		Delegation, File No. 2 1931
Box 2		[General] 1932
Box 2		Sugar quota-question Kibos Farmers' Case 1934- 1935
Box 2		[Untitled folder] 1934-1936 (2 folders)
Box 2		Legislative council elections 1934-1936
Box 3		Legislative council elections 1934-1938
Box 3		[General] 1935
Box 3		[General] 1942
Box 3		[Untitled folder] 1948-1959
Box 3		[General] 1953-1954 (2 folders)
Box 3		[Untitled folder about elections] 1958-1961
Oversize 1		[Untitled folder about elections] 1958
Box 3		[General] 1959
Box 3		[Illegible] box 166 Kampala 1959-1961
Oversize 1		[Illegible] box 166 Kampala 1960
Box 3		[General] 1960-1962 (3 folders)
Box 3		Indo Africa Insurance co. 1962-1975 (2 folders)
Box 3		[General] 1963-1966, 1969-1970 (5 folders)
Box 4		Wedding congratulations 1970
Box 4		Holiday greetings 1971
Box 4		[Untitled folder] 1974
Box 4		[Untitled folder] undated

	Memorabilia
Box 4		Certificates 1949-1962
Box 4		C.V.s undated
Box 4		Daughter's wedding June 21,1970
Box 4		Election materials undated
Oversize 1		Election materials 1959
Box 4		Invitations 1958-1966
Box 4		Pandya Memorial Clinic 1947-1951
Box 4		Planners 1930-1964 (5 folders)
Box 5		Planners 1965-1967 (2 folders)
Box 5		Planners 1972-1974
Box 5		Rotary Club August 31, 1966
Box 5		Schoolwork 1930-1933 (3 folders)
		Scrapbooks
Box 5			Native Marketing Bill 1935
Box 5			[Untitled] 1936 - newspaper clippings on Kenyan Congress, elections, speeches, and views on trade and politics; these were originally in a single binder but pages were removed and placed in folders, in original order (4 folders)
Oversize 3			Volume I 1925-1932 - newspaper clippings about Pandya and councils
Oversize 4			Volume II 1932-1934 - newspaper clippings about Pandya
Oversize 5			Volume III 1935 - newspaper clippings about Pandya's speeches
Oversize 6			Volume IV 1925-1928 - newspaper clippings on council elections, general correspondence, government commission and other papers
				Table of contents is as follows: about Legislative Council elections 1925, Patel Libel Case 1927, Certain General correspondence during this time, correspondence on various issues as member for legislative council 1925-1927, Feetham Local Government Commission 1926, Correspondence and [illegible] committee minute on Mbaraki segregation 1927, Indian Trade Mission and correspondence, Education Tax Controversy and other papers.
Oversize 1		Miscellaneous undated

	Photographs
Box 6		Constitutional Conference January 1,1960
Box 6		Constitutional Conference February 2, 1962
Box 6		Kenya Members of Parliament 1961, 1963, 1956
Oversize 1		Kenya Members of Parliament 1956
Box 6		Miscellaneous undated

	Printed material
		Clippings
Box 6			Clippings 1933-1964 - most pertain to the problems of land in Kenya
Oversize 1			Clippings 1933-1964 - articles by Dr.U.R. Ephrenfels and others
		Legal and financial materials
Box 6			The Answer to Kenya's Constitutional Problem by some Kenyans of all races 1962
Box 6			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Colonial Loans 1925-1934
Box 6			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Colonial Loans 1938
Box 6			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Revenue and Expenditure 1942
Box 6			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Revenue and Expenditure 1943
Box 6			Kenya Gazette Supplement 1949-1966
Oversize 8			Kenya Land Commission Evidence, vol. 1 1933
Box 6			Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Industrial Development and Investment Co. 1941
Box 6			Mining bill undated
Box 6			Non-Official Resolutions undated
Box 6			Pandya & Company Limited, Memorandum and Articles of Association 1933
Box 6			The Sino-Indian Boundary Question and International Law by K. Krishna Rao 1933
Box 6			Zanzibar Government Bill 1947 - Bill Supplement No. 6 to the Official Gazette of the Zanzibar Government vol. LVI Draft
		Papers and speeches
Oversize 1			A.B. Patel--Farewell Speeches 1956 - broadsides of speeches
Box 6			Abortion Law in Common Wealth Africa by Rebecca J. Cook October 11-18, 1975 - paper presented at the Seventh Annual Conference of the African Medical Students Association
Box 6			Effective Prohibition in Gandhi's Gujarat by Prabhudas Balubhai Patwari 1972 - paper read at the First International Congress of the International Commission for Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug Dependency
Box 6			Ideals and Progress by Shri Shivabhai G. Amin 1972
Box 6			Indians Abroad 1930 - The Honorable Sir Fazie Hussein's statement on the position of Indians in Africa
Box 6			The Indian in Natal 1943
Box 6			Inter-Territorial Conference, 2nd April 8-9, 1944
Box 6			The Kenya Indian Congress 1956
Box 6			Question of the Closer Union of Kenya, Uganda, and the Tanganyka Territory 1931
Box 6			State Opening of [Kenya] Parliament 1965
		Reports
Box 7			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, African Housing in Townships and Trading Centres by E.A. Vasey 1950
Box 7			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Agricultural Credit for Africans 1950
Box 7			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Capital Improvements of Roads 1944
Box 7			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Committee on Arab and African Terms of Service 1941
Box 7			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Coordinating All Forms of Transport 1936
Oversize 7			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Development Committee undated (2 volumes)
Box 7			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Income Tax Committee 1954
Box 7			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Kenya Tariff Committee 1929
Box 7			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Whether the Essentials of Life are beyond the Economic Capacity of Officers of the Government and the Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours (European, Asian, and African) in the Lower Grades undated
Box 7			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Working Party on African Land Tenure 1957-1958
Box 7			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Working Party Appointed to Consider Elections 1960
Box 7			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Soil Erosion 1935
Box 7			Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Visit to India 1941
Box 7			E.A. [East African] Indian National Congress, Secretary's Report 1934-1943
Box 7			East African Policy Board, Co-ordination of Transport in Kenya, Uganda and the Tanganyika 1937
Box 7			Emigrants Repatriated to India under the Assisted Emigration Scheme from South Africa and On the Problem of Returned Emigrants from all Colonies, by Bhawani Sannyasi and Benarsidas Chaturvedi May 15, 1931
Box 7			Indian National Congress, Indians in East and South Africa 1938
Box 7			Joint Select Committee, Closer Union in East Africa, Vol. 1 1931
Box 7			Kenya Local Government Commission, Settled Areas and Grant of Magisterial Powers To Selected Justices Of The Peace. 1927
Box 7			Kenya Prisoners' Aid Association, Annual Report 1960
Box 8			Kenya Red Cross Society, Annual Report 1971
Box 8			Republic of Kenya, Organization of the Government of the Republic of Kenya 1965-1967
Box 8			Royal National Parks of Kenya 1957
Box 8			Segregation of Indians in Kenya, by P.D. Master 1931
		Miscellaneous
Box 8			Europe Since Versailles by David Low 1940
Box 8			Guide to the Problem of India by R. Palme Dutt 1942
Oversize 9			Jawaharlal Nehru in the Soviet Union by unknown 1956
Oversize 1			Kenya Daily Mail January 26, 1950
Box 8			Letters on India by Mulk Raj Anand 1942
Box 8			Little Lenin Library, by V.I. Lenin 1941, 1942, undated - volumes 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 13-17, 21, 24 (15 volumes in 3 folders)
				Vol. 1: The Teachings of Karl Marx Vol. 4: What is to be DONE? Vol. 8: Letters From Afar Vol. 9: The Tasks of the Proletariat in Our Revolution Vol. 11: The Threatening Catastrophe and how to fight it Vol. 13: On the Eve of October Vol 14: State and Revolution Vol. 15: Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism Vol. 16: "Left Wing Communism" Vol. 17: Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution Vol. 21: Lenin and Stalin on Youth Vol. 24: Lenin and Stalin on Propaganda
Oversize TBD			Map of British East Africa undated - Philips' New Wall Map of East Africa
Box 9			On the National Question, by Josef Stalin 1942 - Little Lenin Library
Box 9			Towards a Socialist Agriculture, by Frederick Wilse Bateson 1946
Box 9			Miscellaneous books
				The Allidina by Mombasa The Way Out by C.Rajagopalachari Our Ally China by Frank Owen Crime in the U.S.S.R. by Ralph Millner An Atlas of the U.S.A., East Africa Information Digest, 1962 Revolutionary Change by Paul Kurowski Free to build a New World by Max Bladeck The League of Colored Peoples by Dr. Harold A. Moody The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Eastern Africa The St. John Ambulance Association Kenya Centre Rules Common Sense

	Writings
Box 9		Speeches 1958-1963 1958-1963
		Indians in Kenya - Pandya may or may not be author, unclear
Box 9			Rough draft
Box 9			Draft [A]
Box 9			Draft [A], carbon copy
Box 9		Notes
Box 9		Miscellaneous

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