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Sharing the Asian Treasures
The Asian Collections at the Library of Congress
The Asian DivisionJune 2019
Sharing the Asian Treasures
Introduction
» Asian Reading Room Provides public access to aroud 4 million physical
items in over 197 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
Using the Asian Reading Room www.loc.gov/item/webcast-8696/
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Using reading room
Rare book policy
Fellowship
Databases
Research Guides
Digital Collections
Ask a Librarian
www.loc.gov/rr/asian/
www.loc.gov/rr/asian
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Need help finding materials? Have a question about the Asian collections?
Submit your questions to Ask-a-Librarian on the Asian Reading Room website:
www.loc.gov/rr/asian
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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)
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International Divisions»The Asian Division, founded in 1928,
is one of four international divisions at the Library of Congress: African and Middle Eastern Division Asian Division European Division Hispanic Division
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Asian Division Organization in 2019
Dongfang ShaoChief, Asian Division
Administrative Services):
Chandell Butler (Admin. Officer)Tien Doan (Special
Assistant to the Chief/AutomationOffice Coordinator)
Scholarly Services SectionHead: Qi Qiu Collection Services Section
Head: Sabrina Hsu
Ref. Specialists:Eiichi Ito
Sonya LeeSusan Meinheit
Yuwu SongJeffrey Wang
Ref. Librarians:Charlotte GilesJoshua Kueh
Jonathan LoarCameron Penwell
Technicians:Sayaka BerkleySatish BindraRuijing ChenRann Chrouk
Juli HanSe Ling Lin
Jianjing Zhang
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Asian Collections Chinese Japanese Korean
(South and North) Mongolian - Tibetan South Asian Southeast Asian
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The Beginning …
Charles Wilkes (April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877)
Exchange of Publication Act, 1867.
LC Annual Report 1928, Appendix II, p. 271
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Size of Asian CollectionsAD Collection at the end of FY2018
MonographVolumes
JournalsTitles
InactiveJournals
MicrofilmReels
MicroficheSheets
JournalsIssues
China 1,188,624 6,104 10,826 22,313 4,661 210,392
Japan 1,221,185 8,039 9,451 14,721 21,828 119,118
Korea 324,254 2,367 5,598 5,200 345 102,219
Mongolia 11,637 78 99 168 3,919 1,961
South Asia 345,219 1,601 2,120 19,407 337,704 109,909
Southeast Asia 269,814 2,736 8,462 14,669 187,778 100,026
Tibet 13,836 59 37 823 14,763 605
Total 3,374,569 20,984 36,593 77,301 570,998 644,230
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FY 2018 Acquisition by Collection
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NEW Digital Collections
Chinese Rare Book Digital Collectionwww.loc.gov/collections/chinese-rare-books/
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NEW Digital Collections
Japanese Censorship Collectionwww.loc.gov/collections/japanese-censorship-collection/
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NEW Digital Collections
North Korean Serials Indexhttp://memory.loc.gov/diglib/asian/html/nksip/nksip-home.html
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NEW Digital Item
Gandhara birch bark scroll (approx. 1st century BCE)View the scroll at: www.loc.gov/item/2018305008
The ancient kingdom of Gandhara(today’s Afghanistan and Pakistan)is the source for the oldest SouthAsian manuscripts in the world, aswell as the world’s oldest Buddhistmanuscripts. Only several hundredare known to scholars.
Acquired in 2003, the Library’sGandhara scroll roughly datesbetween the first century BCE andfirst century CE. This date meansthat the scroll comes from theheyday of Gandhara as a majorcenter of Buddhist art, architectureand learning. Its language isGandhari, a derivative of Sanskritin the Indo-Aryan branch oflanguages, and the script isKharoshthi, which is read right toleft and has its origins in Aramaic.
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Social Media
Subscribe!blogs.loc.gov/international-collectionsLike and follow!facebook.com/libraryofcongressinternationalcollections
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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
Yongle Encyclopedia (1562-1567) (41 volumes, cataloged and being digitized)
South Manchurian Railway Company Collections Gamble Collection Pre-1958 Collections (40,000 + titles) now searchable through LC
online catalog
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The Chinese Herbal and Materia Medica (A 1655
edition)Gamble Collection
Special Collections
Greetings of the Chinese to the Americans
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Chinese Electronic Resources
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Crosby Stuart Noyes Kanichi Asakawa Shiho Sakanishi
1875
The Japanese Collection
19c
20c
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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).
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Japanese Censorship CollectionDigitized 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.
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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.
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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.
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Special Collections at the Korean Collection
NK Children’s Books
NK Serials
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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.
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Selected Samples in the Mongolian CollectionThe Sutra of the Great Liberation, 18th c.
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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.
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Selected Samples in the Tibetan CollectionVajrapani Thang-ka – A unique form of Tibetan art
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Selected Samples in the Tibetan Collection The Tibetan Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom, 18th century
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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/tibe
tan-oral-history-project/about-this-collection/
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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
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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
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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
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South Asian rare book collection
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Southeast Asia Collection• U.S. Naval Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842
Top five collections by size:• 1865: Books from the Malay world
became part of the first Asian collection in LC.
Indonesian52%
Thai20%
Vietnamese15%
Malaysian7%
Burmese6%• Establishment of Jakarta office:
Materials collected from mainland and insular SEA, via vendors, sub-offices in Bangkok, Manila, and Kuala Lumpur, and acquisition trips.
• At the end of FY2018• 269,814 monograph volumes• 2,736 serial titles
• Number of languages represented in the Southeast Asia Collection: 41 (11 countries)
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Mainland Southeast AsiaNumber of monographs(volumes)
Pre-1975 Vietnamese collection Burmese WW2 collectionThai manuscripts
Special collections: 0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
45000
Thailand Vietnam Myanmar Laos Cambodia
Mainland
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Insular Southeast AsiaNumber of monographs(volumes)
Inscribed bamboo Balinese lontars Farquhar Letters
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Brunei Timor Leste
Insular
Special collections:
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