In January 2020, a preliminary visit to the archival collection of Sir Prabhashankar Pattani was undertaken by Avni Pattani along with Tana Trivedi, Aditya Kanth, and Soham Patel. This first pilot exercise aimed to gauge the size, condition, and potential of the collection. Spanning across correspondences in English and Gujarati, photographs, paintings, files, and records, the materials opened up multiple readings. For Avni, it was a personal journey into ancestral legacy, while for the others, it was a rich archive of administrative history, conservation challenges, and digitisation possibilities.

The team’s first visit had begun even earlier, in July 2019, when they travelled to Bhavnagar. Tana Trivedi, with her interest in business history, was drawn to Sir Pattani’s writings and encouraged Avni to explore further materials with her family. With support from Avni's parents and senior trustee Piyushbhai Parasharya, the team discovered bundles of documents and photographs stored in a cupboard. Aditya Kanth assessed the conservation needs, while Soham Patel shared methods for digitising fragile, century-old materials. Their discussions unearthed themes around ports, railways, and education reforms—marking the beginning of a much larger archival journey.