University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

The papers of Kanji Dwarkadas, an Indian politician and activist born in 1892, contain correspondence and writings by both Dwarkadas and some of his contemporaries, dating from 1914 to 1965. Active in Mumbai (then Bombay), Dwarkadas began his career alongside Annie Besant, Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the Indian Home Rule movement. Letters to and from these individuals and many other important figures in twentieth century Indian politics are included in this collection, along with a number of interviews conducted by Dwarkadas. Beginning in the 1920s, Dwarkadas was actively involved in organizations to promote social welfare in Mumbai, such as the Prostitution Inquiry Committee and Children’s Aid Society (meeting minutes, resolutions and reports from these and other groups are included in the collection). Dwarkadas withdrew from politics in 1933 and focused his energies on labor organization and worker’s rights.