Nisith Ranjan Ray(19 November, 1910 – 7 September,1994)[1] [2] was an Indian historian, social activist and the founder of the Society for Preservation, Calcutta, an organisation working for the preservation of the cultural heritage of Kolkata.
[3] Born in Mymensingh District of the present-day Bangladesh in 1910, Ray taught History at Calcutta University before joining the Victoria Memorial Hall in 1971 as its secretary and curator.
[3][4] He was one of the founder members of the Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi, the apex body for Bengali language in West Bengal and the director of the Institute of Historical Studies, Kolkata.
[3] He was the author of several books on history,[5] including Bengal: Yesterday and Today,[6] Calcutta: the Profile of a City,[7] India and Her People: Bengal,[8] A History of India[9] and Concise history of the Indian National Congress, 1885-1947[10] The Government of India awarded him its fourth-highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri, in 1992.
[11] A year of celebrations for the centenary of his birth was opened in November 2009 by the historians P. T. Nair and Amalendu De.