Sharing the Asian Treasures The Asian Collections at the Library of Congress The Asian Division February 2018
Sharing the Asian Treasures
The Asian Collections
at the Library of Congress
The Asian Division
February 2018
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Introduction
» Asian reading room
Provides public access to aroud 4 million physical items in over 130 Asian languages
Covers East, Northeast, Southeast and South Asia
Researchers can use collection materials in print, microform, and digital formats and confer with reference librarians to answer research questions
» Asian Division is a custodial division managing Asian collections and Asian reading room services
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Asian Reading Room
Thomas Jefferson Bldg.
LJ-150
Monday – Friday8:30 – 5:00
www.loc.gov/rr/asian
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Asian Collections in Other Divisions
» Asia-related materials in other formats are housed other divisions in the Library in collaboration with the Asian Division. These divisions are: Main reading room
Law Library
Geography and Map Division (G&M)
Prints and Photographs Division (P&P)
Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS)
Music Division
Manuscript Division (MSS)
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Area Studies Collections
»The Asian Division, founded in 1928, is one of four Area Studies divisions in Library Services’ Collections and Services directorate: African and Middle Eastern Division
Asian Division
European Division
Hispanic Division
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Asian Collections
Chinese
Japanese
Korean
(South and North)
Mongolian - Tibetan
South Asian
Southeast Asian
Sharing the Asian Treasures
The Beginning …
Charles Wilkes
(April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877)
Exchange of Publication Act, 1867.
LC Annual Report 1928, Appendix II, p. 271
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Size of Asian Collections
AD Collection at the end of FY2017
Monograph
Volumes
Journals
Titles
Inactive
Journals
Microfilm
Reels
Microfiche
Sheets
Journals
Issues
China 1,177,773 6,104 10,826 21,693 4,649 205,472
Japan 1,215,375 8,039 9,451 14,657 21,828 110,837
Korea 317,351 2,367 5,598 5,098 345 97,418
Mongolia 10,726 78 99 168 3,919 1,181
South Asia 331,879 1,601 2,120 19,080 337,231 66,968
Southeast Asia 260,120 2,736 8,462 14,124 187,778 68,845
Tibet 13,397 59 37 823 14,763 538
Total 3,326,621 20,984 36,593 75,643 570,513 551,259
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Building Asian Digital Resources
» In the digital age, the Asian Division is moving ahead in supplementing its physical collections by acquiring a growing body of electronic resources, including e-books, e-journals, e-newspapers, and electronic databases, both digitized from printed materials or born digital.
» On going digital projects on all Asian collections
Sharing the Asian Treasures
The Chinese Collections
» LC started the Chinese collections in the 1860s
» The collection has since then grown to over 1,100,000 volumes as of 2016.
» Special Collections
Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing dynasties (960-1911) editions (4,000 + titles)
• Rare books
• Local gazetteers
• Buddhist Sutras
South Manchurian Railway Company Collections
Gamble Collection
Pre-1958 Collections (40,000 + titles) now searchable through LC online catalog
Sharing the Asian Treasures
The Chinese Herbal and Materia Medica (A 1655
edition)
Gamble Collection
Special Collections
Greetings of the Chinese to the Americans
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Chinese Electronic Resources
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Crosby Stuart Noyes Kanichi Asakawa Shiho Sakanishi
1875
The Japanese Collection
19c
20c
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Japanese digital collectionfor example …
• Illustrated Tale of Genji (1654) and Tale of Genji manuscript book (ca. 17c).
• Japanese four rare books in the Digital Nara Ehon collection (Shizuka, Shigure, Soga monogatari, and Homyodoji).
• 2,000 prints from the Ukiyo-e collection from the Prints and Photographs collection.
• The complete set of 207 large-scale maps of Japanmade by Inoh Tadataka (1816-1819).
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Japanese Censorship Collection
Digitized materials in the Japanese Censorship Collection are currently available for viewing onsite, with the collection’s public domain materials also accessible from offsite. The collection contains over 1,000 marked-up copies of government censored monographs and galley proofs from Japan’s imperial period, mainly from the 1920s and 1930s.
Sharing the Asian Treasures
The Korean Collection
The Library began to collect the Korean materials in 1950 when the Korean War broke out .
The collection is now one of the largest and most comprehensive collection outside of East Asia.
As of today, the Library has over 317,350 volumes in the Korean language , as well as about 21,000 Japanese and 10,000 English language books on Korea with over 7600 periodical titles and 250 newspapers dating from the 1920s to the present.
It includes 550 rare titles (3,500 volumes) of rare books, many of which were obtained in the 1927.
Sharing the Asian Treasures
The North Korean Collection
Contains the biggest collection of North Korean serials that disappeared during the Korean War (1950-1953).
The North Korean materials have been vital to scholars and government officials trying to understand policies related to North Korea.
Provides users with greater access to old and new North Korean materials in the same place.
There is a high demand from readers for access the Library’s North Korean collection.
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Special Collections at the Korean Collection
NK Children’s Books
NK Serials
Sharing the Asian Treasures
The Mongolian Collection
» The Mongolian Collection also began with gifts from William W. Rockhill in 1899.
» It contains many original blockprints and manuscripts acquired in the early 20th c.
» In 1992 the Library renewed efforts to acquire current publications. Currently the collection contains nearly 10,000 monograph volumes and 4,000 microfiche sheets.
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Selected Samples in the Mongolian CollectionThe Sutra of the Great Liberation, 18th c.
Sharing the Asian Treasures
The Tibetan Collection
» The first Tibetan books arrived at the Library in 1899 as gifts from William W. Rockhill.
» The rare collection now has 3,600 volumes, including several sets of the Kanjur and Tanjur.
» The Library’s Office in New Delhi began acquiring Tibetan books in the 1960’s and currently acquires them from Bhutan, China, India, and Nepal.
» The cataloged collection, famous worldwide, has about 17,000 Tibetan volumes in both traditional and Western format.
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Selected Samples in the Tibetan CollectionVajrapani Thang-ka – A unique form of Tibetan art
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Selected Samples in the Tibetan Collection The Tibetan Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom, 18th century
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Tibetan Oral History and Archive Project (TOHAP)
» A digital archive of oral history interviews documenting the social and political history of modern Tibet
» Gift from Dr. Melvyn C. Goldstein
» https://www.loc.gov/collections/tibetan-oral-history-project/about-this-collection/
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Naxi Manuscript Collection
3,342 manuscripts collected by Joseph Rock, Quentin
Roosevelt II, and Virginia Harrison
Pictographic language of the Naxi people of Yunnan
Acquired between 1920’s and 1940’s.
185 digitized at
http://international.loc.gov/intldl/naxihtml/naxihome.html
Sharing the Asian Treasures
The South Asian Collection
» 1904 = Start of collection with purchase of German Indologist Albrecht Weber’s library
» Establishment of overseas offices in India (1962) and Pakistan (1965)
» Materials from 7 countries in 100+ languages
As of 2016, approx. 309,000 monographic vols.
15% Hindi, 14% Urdu, 9% Bengali, 7% Tamil
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Strengths of South Asia at LC
» Material in classical languages: Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit
Manuscripts in South Asia rare books collection
» Vernacular language material, viz. books, journals, newspapers (after 1962)
See research guide: www.loc.gov/rr/asian/saguide.html
» South Asia Literary Recordings Project
See website: www.loc.gov/acq/ovop/delhi/salrp/
» Databases and e-resources
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Sample of South Asia Databases
» Primary sources – colonial India
British Online Archives, East India Company, Empire Online, South Asia Archive
South Asian Newspaper Collection
ProQuest Historical Newspapers (Times of India)
» Primary sources – contemporary South Asia
Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan 1947-1980
Archives Unbound collections
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Southeast Asia Collection
• U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842
Top five collections by size:
• 1865: Books from the Malay world
became the first Asian collection in
LC.
Bahasa
Indonesian
52%
Thai
20%
Vietnamese
15%
Malaysian
7%
Burmese
6%
• Establishment of Jakarta’s office:
Materials collected from mainland
and insular SEA, via vendors, sub-
offices in Bangkok, Manila, and
Kuala Lumpur, and acquisition trips.
• As of 2017• 260,120 monograph volumes
• 2,736 serial titles
• Number of languages represented in
the Southeast Asia Collection: 11
countries in 41 languages.
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Mainland Southeast Asia
Number of monographs
(volumes)
Pre-1975 collectionBurmese WW2 collection Thai manuscripts
Special collections: 0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
45000
Thai Vietnamese Burmese Lao Khmer
Mainland
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Insular Southeast Asia
Number of monographs
(volumes)
Inscribed bamboo Balinese lontars Farquhar Letters
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
Indonesian Malay
(Malaysia)
Philippines Malay
(Brunei)
Tetum
(Timor Leste)
Insular
Special collections:
Sharing the Asian Treasures