Narayani Gupta is a well-known historian and academic known for her groundbreaking research in the field of history of urbanization in India. Born in 1942, she is the third daughter of Narayani Menon and V.K.R. Menon, an Indian Civil Services officer in Bihar province in British India.
Gupta's academic journey has been marked by numerous milestones. She started her teaching career as a lecturer in Indraprastha College, University of Delhi, 1966. She retired as Professor of History in Jamia Millia Islamia, 2004.
Gupta was awarded the Homi Bhabha Fellowship to research on urbanisation in south India, 1980-1982. She is the founder-member of Conservation Society of Delhi, 1982-1992. She was assigned a project ‘Urbanisation in India’, for the Ministry of Urban Development’s Report of the National Commission on Urbanisation, 1986-87. She received the UGC Career Award, 1992. She served as member of the Delhi Urban Art Commission, 1993-96 and 2005-2008; Heritage Conservation Committee, Ministry of Urban Development, 2013-2016; and of the Jury, UNESCO Heritage Awards, 2020-23. She was also a Consultant, INTACH, Delhi Chapter, and Communications Division, 2005-2016.
She supervised the listing of heritage buildings in Delhi from 1998 onwards which was published in 2000. She headed the committee on SCERT school textbooks and was a member of NCERT’s National Focus Group on Teaching of Social Sciences, 2002-2005.
Her book Delhi between Two Empires 1803-1931: Society, Government and Urban Growth (1998) based on her doctoral thesis is considered one of the most pioneering works in the field of urban history. She is also a columnist for newspapers and online magazines such as The Indian Express, The Hindu, The Times of India, The Wire, The Print and HuffPost.
Narayani Gupta continues to be actively engaged and committed to the conservation and preservation of Delhi’s heritage sites, cultural monuments and urban landscape.
About the Collection : Narayani Gupta has donated a significant collection of her private papers, which span her extensive career. The key elements of the collection include research material gathered from various research libraries and archives in India and abroad on the history of Delhi for her book Delhi Between Two Empires 1803-1931; urbanization in south India; and material collected during her days at Conservation Society of Delhi (1982-1992) and Delhi Urban Art Commission (1993-1996). Additionally, the collection includes correspondence from her grandfather, Sir K R Menon, to his son in Cambridge during the 1920’s and papers related to her sister Indira Menon’s work on Carnatic music. Other resourceful material in the collection includes bibliographies, journals, press clippings, offprints, and notes, etc. reflecting her research interests and work over the years. The collection is an invaluable resource for scholars interested in urban history and conservation.
Donor: 2024
Acquisition: Narayani Gupta