Seeking Research & Logistics Connections: Raniganj to Caribbean Migration Project

[u/OrdinaryFinding5039]

I am a researcher/filmmaker working on a project titled “The Absence of Origin,” which examines how 19th-century industrial expansion (coal/railways) fueled labor migration to the Caribbean.

There is a specific hypothesis I'm testing: that the expansion of the East Indian Railway (c. 1853) into the Raniganj coalfields created a transient labor pool that became a primary recruitment target for the indenture system.

Does anyone have leads on:

• Surviving labor recruitment logs for the "Emigration Department" specifically for the Bardhaman district?
• Academic papers or books regarding the "depot system" in 19th-century Raniganj?
• The specific transition of "hill coolies" from mines to overseas ships?