Hindustani Academy, Prayagraj, is an autonomous literary institution functioning under the Department of Language, Government of Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 22 January 1927 and formally inaugurated on 29 March 1927 in Lucknow by the then Governor, Sir William Morris. The Academy was founded with the vision of strengthening literary and intellectual ties among Hindi, Urdu, and other Indian languages, encouraging scholarly research, translations, and quality publications, while preserving India's shared cultural heritage. The proposal for such an institution was first presented by Pandit Yajnanarayan Upadhyay in 1925, followed by Hafiz Hidayat Husain's resolution in the Provincial Legislative Council in 1926, which eventually led to its establishment. Eminent personalities including Rai Rajeshwar Bali and Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru played a significant role in its foundation.

Since its inception, the Academy has made remarkable contributions to the promotion of Hindi, Urdu, Braj Bhasha, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Bundeli, and other Indian languages through publications, translations, research, and literary exchange. Its quarterly journal Hindustani, published continuously since 1931, originally appeared in both the Hindi and Urdu scripts, symbolizing the spirit of linguistic harmony and India's composite Ganga-Jamuni culture.

The Academy's library is one of its most valuable assets, housing over 25,000 books in Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit, English, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, and several other Indian languages. It also preserves more than 300 rare manuscripts, handwritten documents, early printed works, and over 8,000 literary journals and newspapers, making it an important repository of South Asian literary and cultural heritage. The Academy has undertaken extensive digitization of its collections, and a selected portion of its rare books and manuscripts is now available through the Rekhta Digital Library, enabling readers and researchers worldwide to access this invaluable literary treasure.