Begin with the described documents

Chughtai Library’s National Archives of Pakistan collection includes a record titled M.A. Jinnah and the Punjab Boundary Commission: Documents and Correspondence, serial 27453. It describes forty-one English-language pages concerning 1947, including demographic material, community appeals and infrastructure questions. This is a specific catalogue lead, not proof that the entry contains every Commission paper or a complete hearing transcript. The page dates the material to 1947, but that does not date the creation of the modern digital description. Online reading requires sign-in. The underlying pages were not inspected here, so the catalogue’s abstract cannot establish what an individual correspondent said or how a particular claim was decided.[1]

Separate a person’s authority record from their papers

A second route begins with Oskar Hermann Khristian Spate. ANU’s authority record identifies him as a geographer, describes his 1947–1951 London School of Economics appointment and points to his papers at the National Library of Australia under MS 7886. An authority record identifies a person and links collections; it is not itself their diary or a finding aid for each folder. Preserve the full name and repository reference when following the trail. The linked older NLA finding aid was unavailable during this check, and no original manuscript was read. ANU’s biographical summary alone does not establish his precise role in the Punjab hearings.[2]

Scholarly citations

Fitzpatrick’s Spate study cites MS 7886, 6-1-1 for corridor notes. This is a scholarly reference, not direct manuscript inspection here.[3]

Check which Boundary Commission is meant

The National Archives of India’s public holdings list contains a Punjab Boundary Commission entry with inclusive year 1966. Keep that date attached to the search result: this entry does not identify a 1947 Partition file. The list directs researchers to the catalogue or research room for further searching. Before requesting material, record the commission year, repository, series or serial, document title and the passage needed. Similar institutional names across different moments can otherwise send an enquiry to the wrong body of records.[4]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Chughtai Public Library; National Archives of Pakistan collection. M.A. Jinnah and the Punjab Boundary Commission: Documents and Correspondence — serial 27453 ↗Inspected institutional source · Source date: Catalogue describes 1947 material; digital record date unestablished · Locator: Complete record: title/subtitle, 41-page extent, serial, abstract, source and online-reading sign-in requirement. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual complete catalogue body read. No sign-in performed and none of the underlying 41 pages inspected. The catalogue’s date is retained as its description of historical material, not silently used as the digital publication date. No individual archival file code or complete Commission coverage claimed.Return to Begin with the described documents, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Australian National University Archives. Spate, Oskar Hermann Khristian ↗Inspected institutional source · Source date: Authority record entered 2012-06-04 · Locator: Identity/history, 1947–1951 appointment and Sources field pointing to NLA Papers, MS 7886. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual complete authority record read. The linked older NLA finding aid failed to load; no NLA catalogue body or original manuscript was inspected. ANU’s authority record and any mirror share one pool.Return to Separate a person’s authority record from their papers, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Hannah Fitzpatrick; Journal of Historical Geography 66,55–68. Imagining and mapping the end of an empire: Oskar Spate and the partition of India and Pakistan ↗Inspected scholarly source · Source date: 2019; DOI 10.1016/j.jhg.2019.07.005 · Locator: Actual accepted manuscript PDF pp.26–27, corridor discussion and notes 62–63: NLA MS 7886,6-1-1. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual 33-page accepted manuscript retrieved and relevant discussion/notes read. Original NLA notes not examined. The earlier courtroom paper was also downloaded for overlap checking; both papers discuss some of the same archival maps and papers.Return to Scholarly citations, paragraph 1 ↑
  4. National Archives of India. Public Records: list of public records in the National Archives of India ↗Inspected institutional source · Source date: Page last updated 2026-10-30 · Locator: Actual public holdings table, entry 116 Punjab Boundary Commission, inclusive year 1966; introductory search direction. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual table row read. No 1966 report or original file inspected. This entry is not used as evidence of 1947 holdings.Return to Check which Boundary Commission is meant, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-COL-0045 · English edition · human review not performed