Fonds WST - Papers of Arthur Anderson, Clement, Edward William, Henry, and Walter West

The papers were created by the five brothers between 1845 and 1866, with annotations added up until 1888. As a complete collection they appear to have been been in the custody of Edward William West until his death in 1905. Following his death the the papers were organised and catalogued by Arthur Anderson.
Correspondence between Arthur Anderson West and James Burgess dated February 26th 1906 suggest that Burgess had contacted Arthur regarding their Indian cave papers, which Arthur sent by registered post to Burgess's Edinburgh address the same date. The paper's remained in Burgess's custody, with the addition of some of his own material, until his death in 1916.

This collection consists of seven leather bound portfolios containing topographical drawings, maps, floor plans, notes and papers that the West brothers had created when working in the Maharashtra region of India in the mid to late 1800's. The main focus of the collection is the Kanheri Caves; a group of over 109 rock cut temples located in what is today the Sanjay Gandhi National Park on the western outskirts of Mumbai. The brothers studied these caves over the course of several decades, returning to the site many times to check and amend measurements, locations, and expand open their interpretation of the site. The remainder of the collection covers several other sites such as: Ajanta, Ellora and Daulatabad.

The material is arranged following the order in which it arrived at the Royal Asiatic Society. It is divided into seven leather bound portfolios, each containing sub-folders, pertaining to different sites or regions, or different themes of the same site. This includes:

WST/1 Portfolio One WST/2 Portfolio Two WST/3 Portfolio Three WST/4 Portfolio Four WST/5 Portfolio Five WST/6 Portfolio Six WST/7 Additional Material

Open. Please contact the archivist using the email address given here . The archive is open on Tuesdays and Fridays 10-5, and Thursdays 2-5. Access is to any researcher without appointment but it will help if an appointment is made via phone or email. Please bring photo ID.

The Royal Asiatic Society hold the personal paper's of Edward William West (GB 891 EWW). Reflecting his interest in Pahlavi language and Zoroastrianism, the majority are handwritten notebooks and manuscripts, with some loose handwritten notes, correspondence, and other printed material.

Our Library Collections also holds several books written by E.W. West, as well as articles published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Details can be found on our Catalogue https://ras.koha-ptfs.co.uk/.

Photo.23/(008) is of E.W. West aged 71 years.