Collection

Abnashi Ram Collection

• 1931-1982 (Creation)

1 box

This collection contains about 337 letters from Mr. Abnashi Ram, who came to the USA in 1920 and was the first Indian student from India to graduate from Texas A&M in 1923 and established a successful export/import/gift shop in Hollywood, California. The letters also reflect correspondence with other fellow immigrants and many famous Americans. These letters reflect their gut emotions while living as lonely immigrants who could not bring their families to the USA on account of the draconian immigration laws that were finally eliminated in 1967. The collection also includes 75 letters from Mr. Mumtaz Kitchlew of Chicago. Dr. Sharma and his wife have lived in Richardson, TX for over 42 years. Sharma taught at SMU for over ten years. In 2009 he authored a book, Saving Immigrant's Daughter a story about Mr. Abnashi Ram and his daughter who he met at UCLA and ultimately married. Much of this collection has been digitized and is available on the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) website.

The collection is arranged in chronological order and includes correspondence from many friends and family members of Mr. Ram.

• English
• Hindi
• Urdu

Donated by son-in-law Dr. Roshan L. Sharma, and Ram's daughter Raj Ram.

Finding Aid Authors: Rebecca Hankins, and Meet Patel.

• South Asia

• Correspondence
• Newspaper
• Photographs