Church Historian, Dr Joshua Lorin, explains
Morung Express Feature
Dimapur | July 28
“As a student of history, my research work was primarily based on archival material,” said Dr. Joshua Lorin, Vice Chairperson of the Naga Archives and Research Centre (NARC), who is overseeing the digitization pilot project. “My concern is the preservation of the unpublished materials here.”
Dr. Lorin recognized the significance of archives early on while researching for his PhD dissertation at the School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary, in California. As a Church Historian, materials he found at the USA Archives – like Edward W. Clark’s letters – cleared a lot of misconceptions about, say, American Baptist missionary activities in Nagaland. Today, as the Principal of the Oriental Theological Seminary (Dimapur), Dr. Lorin’s experience with archives also helps him develop a lucid future for theological education in Nagaland.
As the “only archives of its kind” that contains Naga socio-political history, peace works and church relations among the Naga people, there is an essential reminder of why these archives must be preserved through digitization.
“Lot of what is happening today can be easily resolved by revisiting our history. We cannot expect outsiders to come and preserve our history for us. Though this is tiresome and lonely work, it is our task, and we have to do this before it is too late,” urged Dr. Lorin.
While more hands will be needed over time to materialize Rev. VK Nuh’s dream of making the NARC a Naga national archive, at least the work has begun.
“I do not even know how to operate a phone properly – I am completely ignorant of these modern things,” laughed Rev. Nuh, who clicked many photographs in the archives on a “rotten camera.” “But it is important to digitize all the works here. Generations to come will be thankful for this. Without history, no nation can survive,” he reiterated, hopeful of a brighter, clearer, Naga future based on the “black and white” truth of Naga history. Perhaps, the digitized NARC will show that way.
