Historical research is challenging when studying informal spaces like urban slums, where extant scholarship is limited, government data are sparse or absent, and populations change rapidly due to eviction, environmental shocks, and the everyday churn of migration. Moreover, written materials and political ephemera generated within slums are rarely preserved in accessible state archives, limiting the usefulness of conventional archival research. In such contexts, the discovery of informal archives—unmapped, non-systematized collections of materials kept by individuals and groups in the spaces under study—can contribute to the reconstruction of local histories. This article draws on 20 months of fieldwork in India’s urban slums to offer insights on the collection and use of informal archival materials. These materials afford an intimate look at how the urban poor organize and make claims on the state. Their analysis, however, involves inferential challenges. Researchers must consider how processes of production, preservation, and provision shape the content of gathered historical materials and thus the inferences that can be drawn from them. Beyond urban slums, informal archives are likely to be useful sources of historical data for a range of studies in comparative politics, especially those that focus on informal institutions and local quotidian politics.

中文翻译：

---

非正式档案：印度城市贫民窟的历史叙述和纸张保存

在研究城市贫民窟等非正式空间时，历史研究具有挑战性，在这些空间中，现有的学术研究有限，政府数据稀少或缺失，人口因驱逐、环境冲击和日常迁移而迅速变化。此外，贫民窟内产生的书面材料和政治昙花一现很少保存在可访问的国家档案中，这限制了传统档案研究的有用性。在这种情况下，非正式档案的发现——个人和团体在研究空间中保存的未映射的、非系统化的材料集合——可以有助于重建当地历史。本文借鉴了在印度城市贫民窟 20 个月的实地调查，以提供有关收集和使用非正式档案材料的见解。这些材料可以让我们深入了解城市贫民如何组织和对国家提出要求。然而，他们的分析涉及推理挑战。研究人员必须考虑生产、保存和供应的过程如何塑造所收集历史材料的内容，从而可以从中得出推论。除了城市贫民窟之外，非正式档案很可能是一系列比较政治研究的有用历史数据来源，尤其是那些关注非正式制度和当地日常政治的研究。和规定塑造了收集到的历史材料的内容，从而可以从中得出推论。除了城市贫民窟之外，非正式档案很可能是一系列比较政治研究的有用历史数据来源，尤其是那些关注非正式制度和当地日常政治的研究。和规定塑造了收集到的历史材料的内容，从而可以从中得出推论。除了城市贫民窟之外，非正式档案很可能是一系列比较政治研究的有用历史数据来源，尤其是那些关注非正式制度和当地日常政治的研究。