Whether you want to share a family narrative, suggest a folk craft for documentation, or ask about our oral history archive, the editorial team is here to listen. Send a note and we will point you to the right person.
Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 18:00 IST. We reply to most messages within two working days.
Start with your immediate family. Ask parents and grandparents about the villages they left, the languages they spoke at home, and the objects they carried when they moved. Record the conversation on your phone, even if it feels informal. These sessions often surface names of places and people that no document will ever list.
Oral history interviews work best when you prepare a short list of open questions about daily life, festivals, food, and migration. Let the person lead the story, and avoid correcting or prompting them too quickly. A quiet room, a glass of water, and a willingness to listen for two hours will yield more than a structured questionnaire.
Regional archives, district gazetteers, and land records are useful, but many family stories live in temple registers, school admission books, and railway employment files. For Indian states, the National Archives of India and state-level archives hold census and migration records. Local librarians and postmasters in small towns often know exactly where such papers are kept.
Photographs, letters, ration cards, and old passports are the most common starting points. A worn recipe notebook or a hand-stitched quilt can be just as valuable, since it carries the names of the women who made it. Label every item with the date, place, and the person who gave it to you, even if you think you will remember.
If a language is no longer spoken at home, begin by collecting songs, proverbs, and everyday phrases from the oldest speakers you can find. Write them down in a simple phonetic form and record the audio. Community groups and university linguistics departments in Karnataka, Odisha, and the Northeast often run documentation projects that welcome volunteer contributions.
You can share your family's story as a written essay, a photo essay, or a short audio recording. The platform accepts personal narratives, transcribed oral histories, and practical guides about regional traditions. If you are unsure how to structure your piece, send a rough draft to the editorial team and we will help you shape it before publication.
These are the practical concerns that come up most in our correspondence. If your question is not answered here, write to us directly and we will point you toward the right resource or person.
Before you trace a family line or submit a memory, a few clarifications on how we handle stories, sources, and the limits of what a community archive can promise.
We treat oral histories as primary sources, but we do not certify them as legal or genealogical proof. A grandmother's account of a migration route is preserved as her testimony, not as a document for official records. When we publish a family tree or a timeline, we mark which branches rest on written evidence and which rest on memory.
Names of villages, festivals, and crafts often carry multiple spellings across dialects and colonial-era records. We keep the spelling used by the family or community we interview, and add the common alternative in parentheses on first mention. If you find a mismatch with your own records, it is likely a transcription difference, not an error in the archive.
When a contributor shares a scanned photograph or a recipe card, we describe it as it appears to us and note the owner's account of its origin. We do not date or attribute images beyond what the contributor can support. If an item is undated or unattributed, we say so plainly rather than guess.
We publish names and details of living people only with explicit consent from the contributor and, where possible, from the person named. If you request an edit or removal of a family member's mention, we act on it within thirty days. Our default is to obscure identifying details for anyone born after 1990 unless the family asks otherwise.
Our guides on tracing roots across Indian states explain where to look: district archives, land records, railway employee registers, missionary school rolls, and temple donation lists. They do not replace professional genealogists or legal advice on inheritance, caste certificates, or property claims. For those matters, we point you to the relevant government office or a qualified practitioner.
We accept family stories, recipes, and craft documentation from readers, but we do not publish every submission. Our editors check for clarity, consent, and alignment with the archive's focus. We may edit for length and readability, and we always show the contributor the final version before it goes live. If a story is declined, we explain why and invite a revised draft.
Support and guidance
Send your family history questions, archival requests, or story submissions to info@borninthemotherland.com. Our editorial team reviews every message and responds within two working days.
Prefer a conversation? Call +91 69 63088052 between 10 AM and 5 PM IST, Monday through Friday. We help you decide which resources fit your research goals before you begin.
Our physical archive at 29, Aisha Nagar, Ajmer - 535172 holds oral history transcripts, regional craft documentation, and family record guides. Appointments are recommended for longer sessions.
Email queries receive an initial reply within 48 hours. Complex research requests may take up to a week as we consult our network of regional historians and language specialists.
We accept personal essays, recorded interviews, and photo documentation from readers. Submissions are reviewed monthly, and we provide editorial feedback on every piece we consider.
Many questions about starting a family tree, locating village records, or preserving dialect recordings are answered in our help section. Browse the FAQ before writing to us.