Asian Studies

Archives, Special Collections & Primary Sources

The Asian Studies Program provides an interdisciplinary introduction to this region

Archives, Special Collections & Primary Sources

Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange from Nineteenth Century Collections Online
Contains U.S. State Department and British Foreign Office records, along with some missionary records, related to China, Japan, Korea and more that range from the mid-19th to early 20th century.

Border and Migration Studies Online This link opens in a new window
This global collection of documents, video and images addresses border control and disputes, refugees, undocumented migration, human trafficking and more in regions around the world. Materials in the collection cover the 19th century to present day. Border and Immigration Studies Online is cross-searchable with Human Rights Studies Online.
China, America and the Pacific This link opens in a new window
Explores the cultural and trading relationships that emerged between America, China and the Pacific region between the 18th and early 20th centuries. Includes manuscripts, rare printed sources, visual images, objects and maps from multiple US and Canadian archives and libraries.
China: Trade, Politics and Culture, 1793-1980 This link opens in a new window
Sources from the School of Oriental and African Studies and the British Library, London, provide a wide variety of original materials detailing China's interaction with the West from Macartney's first Embassy to China in 1793, through to the Nixon/Heath visits to China in 1972-74.
Colonial Period Korea Online This link opens in a new window
The present collection brings together three distinct groups of publications dating from this colonial period. It includes Japanese publications on Korea, Western (mostly English) early impressions of Korea, and Korean colonial-period literature. The publications included here cover a broad range of subject matter, from art and archaeology to the sciences, and including education, natural history, religion, rural conditions, and more.

David Parry Southeast Asian Map Collection
Downloadable maps from the 15th to 19th centuries accessible through the National Library Singapore

Digital National Security Archive (DNSA): The Philippines: U.S. Policy During the Marcos Years, 1965-1986 This link opens in a new window
This collection documents U.S. policy during the 20-year rule of Ferdinand E. Marcos; in effect, a case study of U.S. policy toward a Third World country that it deems politically, economically and strategically vital. Part of the Digital National Securities Archive available through ProQuest.

Digital South Asia Library
Digital library of images, maps, reference sources and more, supported by the University of Chicago and CRL
East, South East, and South Asian Collections
The East Asian Collection from the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections includes historical images that present a visual archive of 20th century East Asian cultural heritage. Also see SouthEast Asian Images and Text Project; South and Southeast Asia Video Archive; South Asian Periodicals Index

Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan This link opens in a new window
Events covered include independence and partition, the Indian annexation of Hyderabad and Goa, war between India and Pakistan, tensions and war between India and China, the consolidation of power of the Congress Party in India, military rule in Pakistan, the turbulent independence of Bangladesh and the development of nuclear weapons in the region.
Foreign Office Files for Japan This link opens in a new window
1931-1945, This collection of digitized Foreign Office Files from the National Archives, UK, documents Anglo-Japanese diplomatic relations and Japanese history. The current collection contains the module: Japan, 1931-1945: Japanese Imperialism and the War in the Pacific. Documents include memoranda, reports, correspondence and assessment of events and speeches.
Human Rights Studies Online This link opens in a new window
Human Rights Studies Online provides documentation, analysis, and interpretation of major human rights violations and atrocity crimes worldwide. The collection includes text and video that give voice to the countless victims of human rights crimes in the 20th and early 21st centuries committed during the Holocaust, and in Armenia, Cambodia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, Darfur, and other locations.

Japan Center for Asian Historical Records
Digital collection of Japanese government records pertaining to foreign relations, some records are available in English

KRpia This link opens in a new window
KRpia is a full-text searchable database of both primary and secondary source materials relating Korean history, literature, art and culture. Primary sources provide original images, transcriptions, and translations.
Revolution and Protest Online This link opens in a new window
Revolution and Protest Online explores the protest movements, revolutions, and civil wars that have transformed societies and human experience from the 18th century through the present. This growing collection offers video, images, documents, reports and select books.

South Asia Open Archives (SAOA)
A a free open-access resource for research and teaching - a rich and growing curated collection of key historical and contemporary sources in arts, humanities and social sciences, from and about South Asia, in English and other languages of the region. SAOA's collection contains hundreds of thousands of pages of books, journals, newspapers, census data, magazines, and documents, with particular focus on social & economic history, literature, women & gender, and caste & social structure.
SouthEast Asia Digital Library
Drawn largely from the collections of universities and individual scholars in this region, the SEADL contains digital facsimiles of books and manuscripts, as well as multimedia materials and searchable indexes of additional Southeast Asian resources. Nations represented in the collection include Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
World Digital Library
The World Digital Library is a Library of Congress project sponsored by UNESCO. Items in this digital library, including books, manuscripts, photographs, maps and sound recordings, are individually described and searchable in seven languages. Most countries and regions around the world are represented.

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Asian Studies

Archives, Special Collections & Primary Sources

Archives, Special Collections & Primary Sources