Jorhat, April 20: Two premier institutes celebrated their golden jubilee last year — with one capturing its past in an album and the other building a veritable museum.

While the Assam Agricultural University is erecting an educational museum for a glimpse into its history, the North East Institute of Science and Technology has come out with a pictorial album.

The dean of the faculty of agriculture of the university, L.K. Hazarika, said the educational museum would contain not only past memorabilia but also educational material such as CDs which would trace the technological and research developments of the agriculture college. “The educational museum would be a double-storeyed building constructed at a cost of Rs 1 crore granted by the Indian Council of Agriculture and Research, New Delhi, and would not only contain agriculture material but also those of the home science, fishery and veterinary science faculties,” Hazarika said.

The dean said the museum would preserve old and rare texts and ancient documents pertaining to the establishment of the Agriculture College at Borbhetta, Jorhat, and Veterinary Science College, Nagaon, in 1948 before they were brought under the Assam Agricultural University, established in 1969 under the Assam Agriculture University Act, 1968.

“Equipment like the plough and harness, outmoded sprays and other stuff which cannot be taken into the museum will be kept outside the museum for students to view. The time may not be far when such things completely disappear but at the same time, the newer technological innovations replacing them would be placed side by side,” an official of the university said.

There are also plans to create computer kiosks inside the museum from where the history of the faculties and other educational material can be accessed.

The North East Institute of Science and Technology, formerly the Regional Research Laboratory, on the other hand, has prepared a 140-page album to commemorate its 50 years.

Head of information and business development, B.C. Saikia, said the photos show the beginnings of the institute from a two-three room set-up in the TB ward of Jorhat Civil Hospital on Jail Road in 1961.

From there it was shifted to a rented house named Indu Bhawan at Dohabora Chook for one year before being shifted again to its present location next to National Highway 37 on the western outskirts of Jorhat town.

The album also contains photographs of the first batch of 61 employees and is a valuable coffee table book.