An impressive record - The Hindu It's hard to find a place so fastidiously built for preserving
documents. The iron girders, stacks and ladders were imported from
Birmingham and fabricated locally. The building has a research hall and
nine stack rooms, with a Commissioner's office on the first floor. The
stack rooms branch off on either side of a central corridor, the space
between them ensuring air and light. Their perfect three-level symmetry
allows one to see through the windows all the way to the last room. The
walls are tiled. The records are stacked on floating shelves, with legs
placed in small moats that were once filled with oil. The stacks are
arranged in chronological order, department-wise. The oldest book is
from 1633, the oldest record dates back to 1670.
