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The following subscription and free electronic resources are recommended for researching the subject of South Asian Studies. Additional assistance is available in the Asian Reading Room.
Subscription databases and e-resources marked with a padlock are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.
Free databases and e-resources are freely accessible online. While this list is not exhaustive of all free resources, it highlights the breadth and depth of what is available today.
Module II: India Office Records, G: Factory Records for South Asia and Southeast Asia, 1595-1830. The second module of the East India Company collection consists of the records of the East India Company’s ‘factories’ (trading posts) from south and southeast Asia, principally what is now India and Indonesia. These records were returned to London from the factories as evidence of their activities and complement the centrally produced records of classes A to D in module I. Document types include correspondence, political and military consultations, Ledgers and the Proceedings of governors' councils and courts.
Module III: India Office Records, G: Factory Records for China, Japan, and the Middle East, 1596-1870. Module III consists of the sub-classes of Factory Records which were not published in Module II, covering the Company’s activities in China, Japan, Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, St Helena and South Africa. It includes correspondence relating to Napoleon Bonaparte’s exile to St Helena and Sir Harford Jones, envoy to Persia.
Module IV: India Office Records, E: Correspondence: Early Voyages, Formation, and Conflict, 1599-1947. Correspondence between the East India Company, the Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India, the Company’s various settlements, and European houses of agency.
Module V: India Office Records, E: Correspondence: Domestic Life, Governance and Territorial Expansion, 1699-1858. The second module from India Office Records E features correspondence with the Bombay and Madras Presidencies and British government departments, interspersed with petitions, memorials and letters from individuals and lobby groups covering a diverse range of subjects.
The South Asian Newspaper Collection is comprised of searchable 19th and 20th century newspapers from South Asia. Featured are titles from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
The Center is dedicated to research dissemination. Included on the website are conferences, e.g., Annual Himalayan Policy Research Conference, workshops, e-seminars, and publications, as well as two peer-reviewed academic journals. The Himalayan Journal of Development and Democracy (HJDD) focuses on policy research issues related to the Himalayan Region and countries in South Asia. The Liberal Democracy Nepal Bulletin (LDNB) focuses on non-technical policy pieces related to governance, democracy, conflict, and social justice issues of SAARC countries. The Himalayan Research Papers Archive, the Centers open access research repository initiative, is designed to showcase academic research work on the Himalayan Region and countries in South Asia.