>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford: Hello,
and welcome to today's webinar,
an Introduction to the
Southeast Asia Collection.
My name is Ryan Wolfson-Ford,
and I'm one of your presenters.
I am a Southeast Asia Reference
Librarian, and my main areas
of specialization are
Laos and Thailand.
I also cover Southeast Asia
and Buddhism in the region.
>> Joshua Kueh: Hi, my
name is Joshua Kueh.
I'm your other presenter
for today.
I'm also a Southeast
Asia Reference Librarian.
My areas of responsibility
include materials to do
with Island, Southeast Asia,
namely Brunei, Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore and Timor-Leste.
I also handle questions
pertaining
to Islam in Southeast Asia.
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford:
Today's webinar looks
at the Southeast Asia Collection
at the Asian Division and Asia,
Southeast Asia material
throughout the Library.
It also serves as an
orientation to researchers
and patrons interested
in visiting
or using the Southeast
Asia Collection
at the Asian Division,
Library of Congress,
located in Washington,
DC, in the United States.
During this webinar, we
will discuss the following:
an overview of the Library of
Congress, accessing the Library
of Congress, Southeast Asia
materials at the Library
of Congress, and
a Q&A at the end.
Please note this
webinar is being recorded
and will be posted
online at a later date.
Please type any questions in the
Q&A box, and they will be saved
so we can answer
them at the end.
You can upvote questions
you like.
Also note that links that appear
in today's presentation will
be sent out to participants.
Check the chat box.
In order to understand the
Southeast Asia Collection
and how to access it, a general
understanding of the Library
of Congress or LC for
short, is necessary.
While the Southeast Asia
Collection is housed
at the Asian Division, Southeast
Asian materials can be found
in many other parts
of the Library.
So we will first
provide a broad overview
of the Library of Congress.
We will tell you about the
Library's different Divisions
and reading rooms and what you
can expect to find in them.
Next, we will discuss
ways to access
and use Library materials.
We will conclude by discussing
in detail the Southeast
Asia Collection itself
and highlight some Southeast
Asian materials throughout
the Library.
>> Joshua Kueh: For
any research-
or collection-related queries,
you can reach us directly
through our email addresses
on the presentation.
Or you can access us through the
Ask-a-Librarian forum accessible
via ask.loc.gov slash Asia.
Remember, we are
your one-stop shop
for all things Southeast Asia
at the Library of Congress,
and are here to do our best to
provide you with what you need
in your search of Southeast
Asian materials at the Library.
While Ryan and I are based
at the Asian Division,
we also serve as points
of contact when it comes
to Southeast Asia material held
in other parts of the Library.
For more information on
Southeast Asian material
at the Library, please visit
our forthcoming Southeast Asian
Collection Research Guide,
which addresses
collection-related topics
in today's webinar
in more detail.
In addition to stay updated on
Southeast Asian-related matters
at the Library, as well as
other international collections
topics, I would like to draw
your attention to a couple
of social media resources.
Since 2016, the Library's
international collections have
joined together to produce
two social media resources,
the Four Corners of the
World Blog, and the Library
of Congress International
Collections Facebook page.
Both resources feature
contributions from the Asian,
African and Middle
Eastern, European,
and Hispanic Divisions.
The blog features longer
form writing on subjects
and stories told
through our collections.
Recent posts on Four
Corners have looked
at [inaudible] ladders
at the Library,
the Japanese Rare Book Digital
Collection, Arabic, Persian
and Ottoman calligraphy sheets
at the Library, a collection
of Trans-Siberian
railway postcards,
and Latina Luminaries.
New blogs are typically
published every week.
The Facebook page is updated
more frequently with both news
of upcoming lectures,
orientations and webinars
like the one you're
currently attending,
exciting new acquisitions
and digital resources.
Both the blog and the
Facebook page are good ways
to keep current on
what's happening
with the Library's
international collections.
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford: The
Library of Congress has
over 20 different Divisions,
each with its own Reading Room
or Research Center, which are
referenced in service points
for the Library's collections.
In broad terms, the Library's
collections are divided
into International Collections,
Special Format Collections,
and General Collections.
The Southeast Asia Collection
is based at the Asian Division,
which is one of four
international Divisions.
The other three are the African
and Middle Eastern Division,
the Hispanic Division,
and the European Division.
Each of these Divisions
has its own Reading Room,
which is the place to access
material and languages
of the respective region.
For example, Asian language
materials are for the most part
in the care of the Asian
Division, and users can request
such items at the
Asian Reading Room.
The hours of the
Asian Reading Room
under normal circumstances
are listed in this slide.
As a reminder, the Library's
buildings are currently closed
to the public due to
the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, you can keep up to date
on the Library's
operating status
by bookmarking the
website loc.gov.
Updated information
will appear at the top
of the website when available.
For more information on
the Asian Reading Room,
please visit the newly
redesigned Asian Reading
Room website.
And also check out a video on
how to use the Reading Room.
Despite being the US Congress's
Library, over 50% of items
in the Library's catalogs are
in languages other than English.
The Library's mission is
to provide a universal
and enduring source of
knowledge and creativity.
It is not just the Library of
the United States but the world.
You might be surprised
at what there is
to find from Southeast Asia.
>> Joshua Kueh: In addition
to international collections,
the Library also has
Divisions with reading rooms
that are access points
for material
in special formats or subjects.
Each reading room
has specialized staff
with unique expertise.
For example, most prints and
photographs at the Library are
in the care of the Prints
and Photographs Division
and can be requested
at the Prints
and Photographs Reading Room.
Maps can be viewed at a
Geography and Map Reading Room.
Film and sound recordings are in
the care of the Motion Picture,
Broadcast and Recorded
Sound Division.
This Division oversees
two Reading Rooms,
the Moving Image Research
Center, which is for films,
and Recorded Sound Research
Center, which is for audio.
The Music Division has published
musical scores and books
and periodicals on
music-related subjects,
and these holdings are available
at the Performing
Arts Reading Room.
Another division to
note is the Rare Book
and Special Collections
Division,
which has its own Reading Room.
The collections at this Division
are in various languages
and include a variety
of formats.
What defines these holdings
is their designation as rare.
The Manuscript Reading Room is
the place to go if you would
like to request manuscripts.
Some of the holdings available
at this Reading Room are
historical private papers
of important persons,
presidential collections,
as well as papers to do
with cultural history
and non-governmental
organizations.
This is not a comprehensive list
of special format
divisions and reading rooms.
To see the full list,
please consult the following
page: loc.gov slash rr.
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford: Beyond
special format collections
and international collections,
most other Library
material can be found
in the Library's
general collections.
For instance, European language
material either produced
within Southeast Asia or by
Southeast Asians is not held
in the Asian Division but in the
General Collections accessible
in the Main Reading Room.
There are over 70,000 titles
primarily in European languages
from Southeast Asia in
the General Collections.
While the Main Reading Room
is the access point for books,
pamphlets, and bound
non-current periodicals
for most European
languages, there are a couple
of exceptions, including law
material, all K call numbers,
and newspapers and
current periodicals.
To request Southeast Asian legal
material regardless of language,
you have to go to
the Law Library.
To request newspapers
and current periodicals
from Southeast Asia
and European languages,
like the English language
Straits Times from Singapore,
you need to go to the Newspaper
and Current Periodical
Reading Room.
We will talk more about how
to access the different
reading rooms and what each has
for Southeast Asia later on.
But hopefully this gives
you the big picture of where
to find Southeast Asia
materials throughout the Library
of Congress.
Language and format are
important to determine
where something is held.
But regardless of
where it is kept,
we are your contact persons
for Southeast Asia material
at the Library of Congress.
>> Joshua Kueh: Before we talk
about Southeast Asian material
at the Library of Congress,
we would first like to talk
about how to access
Library items,
whether in person or remotely.
In this section, we will
cover Reader Registration,
the Florence Tan Moeson
Fellowship, Kluge fellowships,
how to search LC books,
journals, films et cetera,
and Romanization and how to
copy or request items remotely.
Let's begin with
Reader Registration.
To access any Library materials
or reading rooms in person,
you will need a registered
reader card.
In order to obtain a reader's
card you need to register
in person at the Library.
This is a straightforward
process.
Introductory letters are not
needed, and visitors from abroad
or from the US can
obtain a reader's card.
You just need to complete
a registration form
and present a valid
driver's license
or state-issued identification
card
or passport when registering.
Researchers must be at
least 16 years of age
at the time of registration.
For more information on this see
the Using the Asian Reading Room
page, Please also check out
the Reader Registration page
for the most up-to-date
information
on obtaining a reader's card.
Please note there is a financial
support available to visit us.
The Asian Division
offers travel grants
through an annual
Fellowship Program,
the Florence Tan
Moeson Fellowship
to those pursuing
research in the area
of Asian studies
using the collections
of the Asian Division and
the Library of Congress.
The fellowships are for a
minimum of five business days
of research at the
Library of Congress.
The grants may vary from $300 to
$3,000 and are used to and are
to be used to cover travel
to and from Washington,
overnight accommodations as
well as other research expenses.
In a typical year, the Asian
Division accepts applications
for this fellowship
between September
and the first weekend
of January.
However, due to limited
researcher access
to Library services
since March 2020,
Asian Division is not
accepting applications for 2021.
For information of
submitting applications
for the 2022 Florence
Tan Moeson Fellowship,
please visit the link listed
in the slide in September 2021.
Graduate students, independent
scholars, researchers
and librarians will need,
with a need for fellowship
support are especially
encouraged to apply.
Besides travel grants,
the Library also provides
longer term opportunities
to conduct research using
the Library's collections
through the John W Kluge Center.
The Kluge Center accepts
applications from doctoral
and postgraduate scholars for
research in an array of subjects
that can be supported by
the Library's collections
and digital resources.
There are also internship,
fellowship
and partnership opportunities
for undergraduate
and graduate students.
For more information
on the Kluge Center,
please visit the sites listed
in the PowerPoint presentation.
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford: To search
for Southeast Asian material
at the Library, please visit
the Online Public Access Catalog
or OPAC for short
at catalog.loc.gov.
This web page allows you
to search not only the entire
Southeast Asia Collection
but all Library holdings
in one convenient place.
There are various search
strategies to employ
when looking for
Southeast Asian material.
One good way is to limit
search results by country
or by language, or both.
Another way is to use the
subject search feature.
For more information please see
our forthcoming Southeast Asia
Collection Research Guide.
In order to search
catalog records for items
in languages written
in a non-Latin script,
please note that these
items have been Romanized
in the catalog according to
LC's own transcription system,
which often differs
from what is used
in many other cases,
like in academia.
In order to find results in
Thai, Burmese, [inaudible],
LAO or other Southeast
Asian languages written
in a non-Latin script,
please consult the LC
Romanization Tables
for each language.
You won't be able to find
optimal results for items
in those languages unless you
search using the Library's
Romanization Tables.
To save OPAC records, you can
print or email any record.
To return to the
same record later,
make sure to save the
permalink rather than what is
in the URL box of
your web browser.
To see the holdings
record for each item,
just click on item availability
to see where it is stored.
Some holdings records
will indicate Fort Meade
or Kevin Branch or Landover.
These are Library off
site storage facilities.
In order to ensure your
material is available
when you come visit
us, please be sure
to request it ahead of time.
This requires a reader's card.
If you have obtained a reader's
card, which has to be done
in person, you can request items
in the catalog remotely via
the Library's online catalog.
To access rare materials, please
keep in mind that you need
to make your request at least
five days in advance to ensure
that material is available
on time per the Asian
Division's Rare Book Policy.
>> Joshua Kueh: For those-- .
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford: Oh.
For those who are not able to
visit the Library in person,
you can request to borrow
items via the Inter-library
Loan System.
This request has to be made
through your own library
and be approved by LC.
You can request books,
journals, film,
audio recordings,
or even microfilm.
Another way to use
something remotely
if Inter-library
Loan does not work is
to have a copy made
using the Library's
photoduplication service.
From their website, you
can find a list of prices
or how to make an order.
Keep in mind the
photoduplication service is
limited by copyright
restrictions.
The service can send scans
to your email as a PDF,
as well as hard copies
to your address.
You can even copy a
microfilm reel if permitted.
>> Joshua Kueh: Having given an
overview of the Library and ways
to use Library materials,
let us now turn our attention
to Southeast Asian
materials at the Library.
This part of the presentation
is divided into four sections,
an overview of Southeast
Asia material at the Library
of Congress, Southeast Asia
material at the Asian Division,
Southeast Asian material
at other reading rooms,
and digital material.
Let's start with
the big picture.
Library wide, there are
over 370,000 Southeast Asian
items in different formats.
Books, journals rare books,
manuscripts, maps, newspapers,
music scores, films, and sound
recordings to name a few.
The bulk of his Southeast
Asia material is
at the Asian Division,
around 62%.
The rest is distributed
throughout the Library
with significant chunks
in General Collections
which are accessible at
the Main Reading Room
and also at the Law Library.
Here is another infographic
that shows the composition
of Southeast Asian material
at the Library by languages
that originate in
Southeast Asia.
We have selected eight
national languages
from Southeast Asia
for this infographic.
I should note that we have
not included data on many
of the other holdings we have
in Southeast Asian languages
like Javanese, [inaudible],
and [inaudible].
With that caveat,
please note that items
in the Indonesian language
make up the largest part
of the Southeast Asian
materials at the Library.
This is followed by
Thai, Vietnamese,
Bahasa Malaysia, and Burmese.
[Inaudible] and Kenai and
Lao language items make
up a much smaller
percentage of holdings.
Having said that, I should
mention that we have more
than 2500 [inaudible] items
and about 1700 combined
in Lao items.
The acquisition of the bulk
of Southeast Asian
material is overseen
by the Library's Overseas
Office in Jakarta.
The staff in Jakarta
acquire publications
from all Southeast Asian
countries in various formats,
monographs, serials,
maps, photographs,
films, music, et cetera.
There are also some offices
in Thailand, Malaysia,
the Philippines and more,
most recently in Myanmar.
The Jakarta office also serves
many US libraries seeking
Southeast Asian publications.
From its opening
in 1963 to 2018,
the Jakarta office acquired
200,000 titles for the Library,
and 2.1 million issues of
magazines and newspapers.
In the same period, it
acquired two million books
and 22 million issues
of magazines
and newspapers for US libraries.
In 2018 alone, the
Jakarta office acquired
over 10,000 books, maps and
movies and over 33,000 issues
of magazines and newspapers.
The work of the Jakarta
office is essential not only
to the Library's
Southeast Asian collection,
but to the US East
Asian Studies community.
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford: The
Southeast Asia Collection is one
of seven collections housed
at the Asian Division.
The other collections are the
Chinese, Japanese, Korean,
Tibetan, Mongolian and
South Asian collections.
The Division is home to many
experts who have a wealth
of knowledge about their
area, and they are happy
to assist researchers
and the public.
The Southeast Asia
Collection includes works
in over 100 different languages.
There are 86 languages
unique to the region,
and 18 transregional languages
such as English,
Chinese and Sanskrit.
The Southeast Asia Collection
includes the first Asian
language works acquired by
the Library of Congress.
In 1866, the first Asian texts
were transferred to the Library
from the Smithsonian
Institution.
These were a collection of
[inaudible] texts acquired
by the Wilkes Expedition which
traveled to different parts
of Southeast Asia
including Singapore.
The Wilkes Expedition or
the US Exploring Expedition
which lasted from 1838 to 1842,
was an early US scientific
mission to the Pacific.
It was led by Lieutenant
Charles Wilkes,
who some say was the inspiration
for the literary
character Captain Ahab
in Herman Melville's Moby Dick
due to his rough disposition.
The expedition reached Singapore
in 1842, and acquired Malay
and [inaudible] texts
with the help
of American missionary
Alfred North.
These included the [foreign
language] published in 1840
by the Singapore mission, the
[foreign language] written
by [foreign language], one
of the pioneers of Malay,
modern Malay literature,
and a collection
of nineteenth century
Malay letters,
mainly from Malay rulers to
the first British resident
of Singapore that make
up the Library's
William Farquhar
correspondence collection.
But it was not until
after World War II
that the Southeast Asia
Collection developed rapidly.
It grew especially
during the Cold War
and post-colonial period, as the
US government sought knowledge
about Southeast Asia
and became concerned
about rising communism
in the region.
There are over 327,000 Southeast
Asian books at the Library.
The vast majority of these
works, over 218,000 titles,
are held by the Asian
Division, but many works
in European languages are held
in the General Collections,
which is accessible by
the Main Reading Room.
The Law Library also holds over
29,000 Southeast Asian titles.
At the Asian Division,
the Southeast Asian
Collection contains works
on many subjects spanning
ethnology, literature, religion,
society, language,
gender, and many others.
The collection is particularly
strong in the fields of history,
economics, and government.
Its works on some
lesser-known languages
of Southeast Asia are
an important resource
on the diverse cultures
and peoples of the region.
Southeast Asia works produced
in the global diaspora
are another growing part
of the collection, and
the single largest part
of the collection is the
Indonesian collection.
There are over 27,000
Southeast Asian newspapers
and periodicals throughout
the Library.
Users will be able
to find every country
from the region represented
in this collection.
As with other material, the bulk
of Southeast Asian newspapers
and periodicals can be
found at the Asian Division,
though a large part of the
collection can be found
in the General Collections,
the Newspapers
and Current Periodicals Reading
Room, and the Law Library.
This slide shows
the distribution
of Southeast Asian newspapers
and periodicals Library wide.
There are a large number of
Southeast Asian newspapers
at the Asian Division on
microfilm totaling more
than 630 titles on
over 14,000 reels.
We are currently cataloguing
newspapers on microfilm
that are already in
the online catalog.
This is an ongoing project,
so please feel free to check
with us if there's a particular
title you are seeking.
We may have it even if it is
not in the online catalog.
The Asian Reading Room has
microfilm readers ready for you
to view microfilm and
scan at no charge.
To save scans you need to bring
your own thumb drive you can
print to for a fee.
There are many interesting
and historic newspapers
at the Library.
This includes the first
newspaper in Thailand,
the Bangkok Recorder, the
first newspaper in Singapore,
the Singapore Chronicle, and a
long run of the colonial era,
Burmese newspaper, The Sun.
There are also newspapers from
the Philippines Revolution
like El Heraldo de
la Revolution.
Some of those newspapers
are accessible
at the Asian Reading Room,
and others at the Newspaper
and Current Periodicals
Reading Room.
The location of these
papers is indicated
in the online catalog record.
As a general rule, Asian
language newspapers are
at the Asian Reading Room,
and European ones are
at the Newspaper and Current
Periodical Reading Room.
>> Joshua Kueh: There are
over 1500 unique items
in the Southeast Asian
Rare Book Collection
at the Asian Division.
The collection includes
works in a variety of formats
such as Buddhist and
Balinese manuscripts,
early printed books,
Colonial, World War II,
and Cold War materials and
Christian missionary works.
Not all items have
been cataloged.
The largest part of
the collection is made
up of roughly 800 manuscripts,
including 500 Balinese lontar
or palm leaf manuscripts,
and 300 [inaudible]
of Buddhist manuscripts.
Of these manuscripts,
the Balinese lontar
constitute the largest part
of the Rare Book Collection.
One highlight of the Southeast
Asian Rare Book Collection
at the Asian Division is the
William Farquhar correspondence
and other Malay letters
collection, a unique
and important collection
of 46 Malay letters written
in the [inaudible] script, an
adaptation of the Arabic script
for writing the Malay language.
This correspondence is mainly
from Malay kings and notables
to William Farquhar,
a key figure
in the founding of
modern Singapore.
Having worked in a Malay
Archipelago as an Officer
of the British East India
Company for more than 20 years,
Farquhar had forged
close relationships
with local society.
When he was appointed as the
first resident of Singapore,
which was the top British
political post on the island,
Farquhar called upon these ties
to further British interests.
Letters in the collection
speak to this dynamic.
In addition to correspondence
of Farquhar,
the collection also holds a few
letters between Malay notables
and businessmen, Chinese among
them, and thus allows a glimpse
into the inter communal
connections
that formed a larger context
of the world in which Farquhar
and Malay rulers operated.
Beyond this, the letters
also showcase examples
of original nineteenth
century Malay letter writing,
and hence afford
users the opportunity
to appreciate not only
the nuances of language
in Malay letter writing,
and the nuances of languages
in Malay letter writing, but
also the importance placed
on visual presentation, such
as the position of impressions
of seals, calligraphy,
layout, design,
and folding of the letter.
This fascinating collection is
now accessible online and comes
with an accompanying
[inaudible] and research guide.
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford: Another
unique collection is the Tai
Manuscript Collection.
This collection of 105
manuscripts contains works
in several related
Tai languages,
including Thai, Lao,
[inaudible].
Texts are also in Pali
language of Theravada Buddhism.
They are written in
several unique scripts,
like [inaudible],
and [inaudible].
The texts are written
on traditional materials
either palm leaf manuscripts
or accordion-style manuscripts.
Some highlights from Tai
manuscripts include illustrated
versions of the [inaudible]
and [inaudible],
astrological works showing
protective diagrams,
medical texts, and a
missionary text which may be one
of the earliest printed
texts in Tai scripts.
For more information on the
Tai Manuscript Collection,
please visit the Tai
Manuscript Research Guide.
There are many more items
in the rare collection
than can be mentioned here.
For other highlights in
the Rare Book Collection,
please see the forthcoming
Southeast Asian Collection
Research Guide.
Before moving on, please
note two important points.
When searching in OPAC,
you can tell if an item is
in the Rare Book Collection by
looking at the holdings record
and whether it indicates
it is part
of the Rare Book Collection.
And in order to use the
Rare Book Collection,
please contact us at
least five days in advance
by Ask-a-Librarian
for all requests.
>> Joshua Kueh: As
previously mentioned,
beyond the Asian Reading Room,
Southeast Asian material is
to be found in other
reading rooms at the Library.
Because there are quite
a few reading rooms,
we will only highlight
a few that hold the bulk
of Southeast Asian material
outside the Asian Division
and point you to the forthcoming
Southeast Asia Collection
Research Guide for
further details.
Let us begin with the
Manuscript Reading Room.
The manuscript Reading Room
provides access to more
than 12,000 separate
collections, including some
of the greatest manuscript
treasures of American history
and culture, several collections
of papers of organizations
or individuals relating
to Southeast Asia.
There is substantial material
on the Philippines and Vietnam.
The Philippine material
mainly covers the period
of American rule,
such as the papers
of the Philippine military
commander Emilio Aguinaldo,
but there are also
manuscripts related
to the period of Spanish rule.
Material in Vietnam
is primarily related
to the Second Indochina War,
also known as the Vietnam War.
There are also many other
Southeast Asian works
like the personal correspondence
of King Mongkut of Thailand,
or the private diaries
of the post-colonial Lao Prime
Minister Souvanna Phouma.
In general, most items at the
Manuscript Division related
to Southeast Asia
are in English,
but there are a few
manuscripts in Burmese, French,
Spanish, Lao and Tagalog.
Let us now move to another
Reading Room, the Newspaper
and Current Periodicals
Reading Room.
This Reading Room
provides access
to English language
newspapers and periodicals
from around the world, including
the countries of Southeast Asia.
Newspapers and periodicals
related to South East Asia
and other European languages
Dutch, French, Portuguese
and Spanish are also
available in this reading.
These tend to be
colonial-era newspapers,
like the Spanish language
newspaper, [foreign language]
from the Philippines, and
the nineteenth century Dutch
language newspaper, [foreign
language], published in Batavia
or Jakarta, but there are
also current periodicals
from Southeast Asia
like the Straits Times
and The Philippine
Daily Inquirer.
Thinking big picture, the
general rule of thumb is
that newspapers and periodicals
related to Southeast Asia,
in languages originating outside
of the region, like English
or Portuguese, can be
found in this reading room.
On the other hand,
newspapers and periodicals
in languages originating in
Southeast Asia like Indonesian,
or Thai are to be found
at the Asian Reading Room.
Let's shift our attention
now to the Rare Book
and Special Collections
Reading Room.
Today, this Reading
Room provides access
to nearly 800,000 books, broad
sights, engravings, pamphlets,
theater play bills, title pages,
prints, posters, photographs,
and Medieval and
Renaissance manuscripts.
In this rich collection,
researchers will find hundreds
of items related to Southeast
Asia covering a range of topics
such as linguistics, religion,
mapping, fiction, ethnology,
botany, church reports
and history.
There are more than 40
titles in the catalogue
in languages from
Southeast Asia.
Among them, Burmese, [foreign
language], Indonesian, Malay,
Tagalog, Thai and
[foreign language].
In addition, researchers
will find that there are more
than 160 titles in European
languages, mainly Dutch,
English, French,
Latin, and Spanish.
One of the most significant
items
in the collection is
the Doctrina Christiana,
published in 1593 in
Spanish and Tagalog,
is the earliest known book
printed in the Philippines.
Another item of note is
Alexandre de Rhodes' Catechism.
The Catechism was
published in Rome in 1651,
with the assistance of
the [foreign language].
Together with the Dictionary
of [inaudible], Portuguese
and Latin, the Catechism was the
first Vietnamese printed work
in the new [inaudible] script.
It represents a landmark
in the process
of Romanizing the
Vietnamese language.
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford: The
American Folklife Center is one
of the largest archives
of ethnographic material
in the world.
Despite its name, this center
holds oral histories, folk songs
and regional music traditions
from all over the world,
including Southeast Asia.
The most convenient way to
find Southeast Asia material is
to consult American
Folklife Center Finding Aids.
Highlights from the American
Folklife Center include music
recordings from 1941
Indonesia, palace music
from 1950's Cambodia,
and a linguistic survey
recording 29 languages
from Myanmar.
The Geography and Map Division
holds the world's largest
collection of maps.
It has many rare
and historical maps
on Southeast Asia going back
to the sixteenth century.
Some of these maps
have been digitized
and are fully accessible online.
Highlights from geography maps
include seventeenth century
Portuguese navigational
maps, Ming Dynasty maps,
and a Western map of the
region created around 1600.
There are also many
interesting maps
from the nineteenth century
related to Western colonialism.
The Law Library is the world's
largest legal collection.
It contains 2.8 million
volumes in many languages
from around the world,
including Southeast Asia.
Every item in the catalog
starting with the letter K
and its call number will be
found in the Law Library.
The Law Library also has helpful
online legal resources specific
to Southeast Asia.
Highlights from the Law
Library include the recently
rediscovered Malay Code
of Law, which was acquired
by the Wilkes Expedition.
This nineteenth century text
includes maritime codes used
by the Sultans of
Johor and Malacca.
The Prints and Photographs
Division has
over 16 million items including
photographs, prints, drawings,
posters, and architectural
and engineering drawings.
The Prints and Photographs
Division has its own online
catalog to search,
loc.gov slash pictures.
Searching from this site
will yield the best results.
Highlights from the Prints
and Photographs Division
include photochromes
of colonial Singapore,
photographic collections
of 1890's Thailand, and
1930's French Indochina,
as well as iconic images
from the Vietnam War.
For more information
about these reading rooms,
please see the forthcoming
Southeast Asia Collection
Research Guide.
And remember, before visiting
any reading room at the Library
to conduct research, please
contact Reading Room staff
about your plans beforehand,
as it takes time to pull items,
some of which are off site
and may take a day
of so to retrieve.
>> Joshua Kueh: In
addition to physical items,
there are also digital
materials in Southeast Asia,
the Library of Congress.
Some of these that we would
like to highlight are
research guides, databases
and web archives
and digitized items.
Let me start with
research guides.
There are several research
guides available online
to help users learn more
about Southeast Asian material
at the Asian Division, and also
other parts of the Library.
Examples of research guides
already mentioned are the Tai
Manuscript Guide and the William
Farquhar Correspondence Guide.
Another guide is the Southeast
Asian Studies E-resources Guide
that describes Southeast
Asian e-resources available
at the Library.
The most important
guide for the purposes
of this webinar is the
forthcoming Southeast Asian
Collection Guide.
This guide covers many
of the topics touched
on in today's webinar
and will give an overview
of Southeast Asia materials
at the Asian Division,
as well as suggest
possibilities for research
in other parts of the Library.
When it is available, this
guide would be a good place
to start your exploration
of Southeast Asian
materials at the Library.
In terms of search
strategies to look for guides
in Southeast Asian material
or other parts of Asia,
just navigate to
guides.loc.gov slash Asian
and select the guide
that interests you.
Do check periodically for
future research guides.
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford:
The Southeast Asian Collection
also includes many databases
and web archives.
Keep in mind some databases
are accessible only on site.
These are subscription
databases,
which can only be accessed using
an LC computer or on LC Wi Fi.
Recently acquired databases are
especially valuable for research
on the Second Indochina
War, and [inaudible].
Please check back as we add
new databases in the future.
Besides subscription databases,
some databases are
accessible from anywhere.
There's a list of free
e-resources and databases
for Southeast Asia available
in the Asian Studies'
Subscription Databases
and Free Electronic
Resources Research Guide.
In addition to databases,
web archives are another
important resource
on Southeast Asia.
Web archives contain web pages
that have been preserved
from the Internet.
The Jakarta office has been
collecting Southeast Asian
websites since 2009.
And there's a strong collection
of Southeast Asian elections.
Other archives focused
on a theme or event
such as the Thai King
Bhumibol's funeral or COVID-19.
Information on how
to access the web,
these web archives is available
in the forthcoming Southeast
Asia Collection Research Guide.
Lastly, the Southeast Asia
Collection includes a growing
number of items that
have been digitized.
Recently digitized collections
include the William Farquhar
Correspondence Collection.
Other digital items include
the oldest printed work
from Southeast Asia
held by the Library,
the Doctrina Christiana.
We also have completely
digitized works
like a nineteenth-century
Javanese Islamic manuscript,
and an eighteenth-century
Burmese Buddhist manuscript.
Other items from
the collection are
in the process of
being digitized.
This concludes our presentation.
We hope you learned
something useful,
either an interesting item from
our collection or a new way
to search our collection.
Please remember to visit our
forthcoming Southeast Asia
Collection Research Guide,
which goes into depth
about many topics covered today.
And please do contact us
with any questions you may
have regarding Southeast Asia
materials at the Library.
These materials are truly
an untapped resource,
and we hope you will come to
use it to make new discoveries,
advance your research
in the field
of Southeast Asian Studies.
Now we would like to open up
for questions from the audience.
Thank you.
>> Jonathan Lohr: Hi, everybody.
My name is Jonathan Lohr.
And I'm a South Asia
reference librarian
in the Library's Asian Division,
and I'm going to be helping
out with the Q&A portion
of today's webinar.
And as a reminder, please enter
your questions in the Q&A box
at the bottom of your screen.
Some of your questions have been
answered during our webinar,
please see the Q&A box's column
labeled Answered for those.
We unfortunately don't have
time to get to all questions,
but we will answer as
many as we can today.
Afterwards, we would encourage
you to reach out to Joshua
or Ryan through their Library
email addresses or contact us
through Ask-a-Librarian.
So I'll start with the first
question here for you guys.
Can you speak a bit more
about the Balinese manuscripts
and the Southeast Asian
Rare Book Collection?
>> Joshua Kueh: Yes, definitely.
Thanks for that question.
So there are more than
500 Balinese manuscripts
at the Library of Congress
and these are housed mainly
in the Southeast Asian
Rare Book Collection
at the Asian Division.
And these manuscripts
cover a range of topics.
Among them are illustrated
stories
such as [foreign
language], the Balinese story
of [inaudible] One
Thousand and One Nights,
and they're also texts
concerned with magic,
such as one called
[foreign language].
And this manuscript is a guide
to access the unseen power
of a mythical female figure
called [foreign language].
It provides the reader
with mantras and spells
for different situations,
as well as ways in which
to ward off curses
in dark beings.
And the illustrations of
symbols and mythical creatures
with explanations
also fill its pages.
So it's a really
interesting text.
In addition to that, we
also have magical texts.
These are your manuscripts
containing traditional,
and also manuscripts
that contain traditional
Balinese recipes as well.
An example of such manuscript
is Dharma [foreign language],
and it contains recipes
for [foreign language],
which is a pork dish or [foreign
language], which is a spice
and aromatic herb
preparation for fish.
So as you can see the
Balinese Manuscript Collection
at the Library's I think a
potentially rich resource
for researchers.
But having said that,
I should say that many
of the Balinese manuscripts are
currently minimally catalogue.
And it would be great
to work with researchers
with linguistic expertise
to create fuller descriptions
of these manuscripts.
So if you have some Balinese
expertise, yeah, please do reach
out to us via the
US librarian forum,
or maybe send us an email.
I hope that answers
the question.
>> Jonathan Lohr:
Great, thank you, Joshua.
So we got another question here.
To protect and preserve
the collection,
what are some precautions
that you follow?
Are the books, articles and the
like, copied into microfilm?
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford:
Sure, yeah.
Library staff in various
Divisions work together
to protect and preserve
the collection.
Reference Librarians perform
regular collection checks
and identify items
that need treatment.
Coordinating with Library
conservation staff,
these items are evaluated,
and necessary steps are
then taken to conserve them.
For example, some books
might need housing,
or detached covers might
need to be reattached
or even reconstructed.
Reference Librarians also worked
with the Library's digital team
to digitize collections.
Besides making items
more accessible,
digitization also
helps preserve items
by minimizing the
need to handle them.
And microfilming
items is another way
to preserve the Library's
collections, newspaper
and ephemera like pamphlets
are often microfilmed.
In addition, Library
staff are ready to respond
to emergencies such
as water leaks.
The Library of Congress has a
water incursion response plan
that includes a phone
number staff can call
to report incidents.
The Preservation Director also
has a team that is responsible
for assessing and validating
collections' conditions
and initiating recovery
activity if needed.
>> Jonathan Lohr: Great, great.
Thank you, Ryan.
So we have a couple questions
on a kind of similar theme here.
So one question is, will
there be a recording available
to registrants of you
guys' webinar today?
And could you send
the PowerPoints?
>> Joshua Kueh: Yes,
thanks for that.
So there will be a
web, we are recording.
And it'll probably take a
few weeks before we post
that on the Library website.
But I would check the, you know,
the Asian Reading Room page,
under News and Events.
That's one place to look,
but it'll take a few weeks.
And as for the PowerPoint,
it'll be available in the sense
that you will have
that web recording,
so you'll be able
to follow along.
Our PowerPoint will
be up there that way.
So hopefully, that
will address you know,
any questions you might
have concerning things shown
in the PowerPoint.
And also remember, we've
set up some of the links,
so you'll be able
to access pages.
>> Jonathan Lohr: Okay, great.
Thank you.
So we've got another
question here.
Where can we find government
publications from Southeast Asia
in the Library of Congress?
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford: Most
government publications will be
in the Serials Division.
And that will include
government publications
in European languages.
If it's a publication
in an Asian language,
a Southeast Asian
language, then it would be
in the Asian Division.
And it might also be
in General Collections.
But I think the best place
to start would be
the Serials Division.
And either Joshua or
I could certainly help
if someone would
like to contact us.
>> Jonathan Lohr:
Great, thank you, Ryan.
Another question here.
If we need several digital
pages of say, for example,
like a magazine, would you be
able to provide this service
to someone overseas via email?
And if so, how much
might it cost?
>> Joshua Kueh: So
yes, we do have a,
the Library has a
duplication service
that we did mention
during the webinar.
So I encourage you to
check out the link here
to duplication services,
and there's a schedule
of prices provided
for scans there.
And I'll say, keep in
mind that, you know,
copyright restrictions
do apply for such things.
And then for you know, those of
you who are not able, you know,
as I mentioned, we mentioned
earlier, you know, you know,
you can make requests,
sorry, scans of, you know,
even microfilm sometimes.
But one thing I would like to
also say is that, you know,
through Inter-library loan,
sometimes you can request
through your local institution,
you know, an article or so,
and we can help scan that.
And normally we can provide
up to I believe 25 exposures,
and I believe that's fair use.
So there are those possibility.
>> Jonathan Lohr:
Thank you, Joshua.
Question here about
ILL, Inter-library Lan.
And so the question,
is it possible
to do Inter-library
loan with libraries
in Southeast Asian countries?
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford: We do.
We do. We do take
Inter-library Loan requests
from international institutions.
We just want to take those
on a case-by-case basis
to see what the user is
asking us to lend, you know,
the duration and so on.
So we do, we do take those
requests internationally.
So we're happy to field
those, please send those.
>> Jonathan Lohr:
Great, thank you, Ryan.
So we have a question
here about,
like the unique collections
in the Southeast Asian Rare
Book Collection and so on.
So do you guys have a
listing of unique collections
that are available online,
similar to the Farquhar
Collection?
>> Joshua Kueh: Yes, we do.
This is Joshua, by the way.
So yeah, we do have those.
We're, Ryan and I
are actually working
on a Southeast Asia Collection
Research Guide, and we're trying
to pull together that
sort of information
on unique collections.
But, you know, another thing
you could do sometimes is
to just go to loc.gov.
And you can refine
your search results.
That way, if you click on
Available Online, you'll be able
to see items that
are available online.
And then you can, you know,
narrow down the search
by languages, et cetera,
place of publication.
In terms of, you know, special
collections, I think maybe one
that I should highlight
is our web archives.
You know, we do have
web archives
on various Southeast
Asian elections,
and those have been collected
for a good, I believe,
almost ten years now by the
staff at the Jakarta office,
and their ongoing efforts
to collect on elections.
So those are some of the,
you know, special items.
We're also working on upcoming
projects, and hopefully,
we will be able to also get the
[inaudible] digitally presented,
as well.
So there are definitely things
coming down the pipeline,
but they do take some time.
So I hope that answers
that question.
>> Jonathan Lohr: Great.
Thank you, Joshua.
Another question here.
Does the Library of
Congress have any archives
like the VOC archives
or the EIC archives?
>> Joshua Kueh: Well, we do
have subscriptions to databases,
we do have subscriptions
to databases.
And so, you know, we
do have say, you know,
Foreign Service files, sorry,
Foreign Office files, you know,
from the Colonial
Office of Britain,
we do have that on site.
But the manuscripts, you know,
the Manuscripts Division,
I suppose, would
have quite a few,
might have material
on that as well.
In general, I believe National
Archives, though, is the place
where you would find a lot
of the government material
or maybe State Department,
the Office of the Historian
might be another good place.
They do have items online,
but that's, of course,
not at the Library of Congress.
Ryan, do you have anything
else you want to add to that?
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford:
I would just add
that the databases
we have would be
in some cases subscription only.
So those are for access
when you're on site.
>> Jonathan Lohr: Great.
Thanks, guys.
Question here?
How many more pieces are there
in any format that reflect the--
I might be not pronouncing this
correctly-- the B-a-y-b-a-y-i-n,
Baybayin script in the Library
of Congress's vast collections?
>> Joshua Kueh: Oh, yes.
That's right.
Thanks, Jon.
Yeah, the Baybayin.
So currently, you know,
there was that image
in the flyer I suppose,
many of you have seen that.
And so that's actually part
of our [foreign language]
Collection.
And these are mainly the
[foreign language] scripts.
And these were assembled
by Major Fletcher Gardner
who was born in 1869.
This American doctor stationed
in the Philippines
from 1904 to 1905.
So, the Library acquired
in 1988, a collection
of 70 [inaudible] and
six full [inaudible].
So the slats the 70
slats were written
in the [foreign language]
script.
And they are mostly the work of
a woman identified only as Leon,
the wife of [inaudible],
and Leon writes about life
on the Spanish occupation of
the Philippines, love songs,
trial for case of wife stealing,
preparation of Arab poison,
rite of blood brotherhood,
you know, so it's a,
it's a very interesting
collection,
and then the [inaudible]
with the [inaudible] scripts.
And these offer a glimpse
into the [inaudible] society,
kinship relations, traditional
foods, burial customs,
hunting methods, and
there's a blog post actually,
by the Asian Division's
[inaudible]
on this particular
collection, so that's some
of the Baybayin stuff
that we have.
Another place to look is
the Rare Book Collection.
As mentioned in the
presentation,
there's the Doctrina Christiana.
And you know, it's that
[inaudible] is also rendered
in the Baybayin script.
And that's actually
available online.
You can get online right now
and actually just
access those images.
And you'll be able to see
the Baybayin script there.
So there are several places
where you could access Baybayin
material at the Library.
I'll be happy to provide
more details on that
if you send me a question
through Ask-a-Librarian,
or just email me and
I can provide a short,
provide a list for you.
Thank you.
>> Jonathan Lohr:
Great, thank you, Joshua.
Question here, actually
a couple of questions.
A lot of interest
in the upcoming Southeast Asian
Collection Research Guide.
Can you guys provide a
little more information
about a tentative
date of publication?
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford: It is in
the, it's in the review process.
But it's going to
cover you know,
Southeast Asian materials
in different formats.
There's a page for books and
for newspapers and periodicals.
There's a rare books page,
there's a digital collections
page, and web archiving page.
And I think it's a
helpful materials
and other reading rooms
page so you can find
out about Southeast Asian
materials in other parts
of the Library and not
just at the Asian Division.
I think that's really
an important thing
to know about the Library.
When you come in here, not all
of the Southeast Asian stuff is
at the Asian Division.
And so you know, if you don't
know that ahead of time,
you might miss something
in your research trip.
So you know, it's
very important to,
to understand all
the different places
in the Library you can find
it to get the maximum value
out of your visit
to the Library.
And, you know, you don't have
to figure it out yourself,
you can always just
contact either me or Joshua,
and we can help you find
what you're looking for.
We hope that the research
guide will be out very soon.
And we will hopefully be able
to communicate with everyone
who registered for the webinar
to let them know
when it's released.
But you can also watch
the Facebook page
for the Library's
international collections.
There's going to be
an announcement there.
And there's also.
Well, I think that would be
where we would announce it.
>> Jonathan Lohr: That's
great, thank you so much Ryan.
Question, a lot of questions
about how we access
different kinds of materials.
So one specific question, May
I ask who may be granted access
to view the Doctrina Christiana,
given that an appointment
is requested?
And of course when the
pandemic is behind us?
>> Joshua Kueh: Yes.
So as I mentioned earlier,
the Doctrine Christiana
has been digitized.
So I believe a link of
that might actually be
in the PowerPoint as well.
So if you want to, you
know, see that right away,
it's available online.
But if you actually want to
see the Doctrina Christiana,
the physical object itself,
you would have to communicate
with the Rare Book and
Special Collections curators.
And I believe this is Cindy
Rosenwald Lessing collection.
So I believe the curator
there is Stephanie Stillo,
and so you would have to,
you know, send a request
through Ask-a-Librarian, and
the curator would then make a
decision, you know,
concerning the request.
So that's, as far as I
know, in terms of trying
to view the Doctrina Christiana,
the physical object itself.
>> Jonathan Lohr: Great.
Thank you, Joshua.
I think we have time for
maybe one more question.
So we had a question here.
Thank you for the presentation.
I wonder if the Library
of Congress has any
material on Cham, C-h-a-m?
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford: We have.
We do have Cham material
in the Library.
We have material in, we have
material on the Cham language.
Some of that has been Romanized.
But we do not really
have anything
in our Rare Book Collection.
Unfortunately, we don't really
have any Cham manuscripts.
What we have are recent
scholarly publications
about Cham or in
the Cham language.
And sometimes it's in the Cham
language and in another scripts.
Although we do have some works
in the Cham script as well,
but unfortunately, we do not
have any rare manuscripts
that are Cham manuscripts.
>> Jonathan Lohr: Great.
Thank you, Ryan.
And that brings us
to about 7:30.
So I'll turn this over,
back over to both
Joshua and Ryan here.
>> Ryan Wolfson-Ford: Thank
you so much for coming.
Please keep in touch
and please take a minute
to do the survey
after the webinar.
>> Joshua Kueh: Yeah, thanks.
This has been hopefully
helpful and fun for everyone.
I know some people have
stayed up late or woken
up really early, depending on
where you are around the world.
So we really appreciate
you joining us today.
And I hope you will
keep in touch with us.
Our emails are there
and Ask-a-Librarian,
the link is there as well.
So thank you, everyone, and
have a good day or evening,
depending where you are.
Thank you.