Public Programs and Collections at the Asian Division

In the video above, ethnomusicologist Dr. Andy McGraw and puppet master, musician, composer, and choreographer Gusti Sudarta, give a performance/lecture about experimental shadow theater in Indonesia. The program took place on October 18, 2017 at the Library of Congress. The program was sponsored by the Asian Division at the Library of Congress and the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Washington, DC, Education and Culture Section.

The Sound of Islamic Music: Women's Voices and the Indonesian Religious Soundscape by Dr. Anne K. Rasmussen
Published/Created: May 13, 2009
Video recording and photographs of a lecture delivered by Anne K. Rasmussen in the Mary Pickford Theater, Library of Congress, on May 13, 2009, as part of the Benjamin Botkin Folklife Lecture series sponsored by the American Folklife Center. Based on more than two years of ethnographic research in the Indonesian archipelago; Rasmussen discusses her book, Women, the Recited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia (University of California Press, 2010). She profiles both leading artists and grass-roots communities, focusing on the actions of women who work as ritual specialists and religious artists, from Qur'an reciters to recording artists.

Asian Division Collections

Pangkat-pangkat caritanipun serat babad ing Tanah Jawi sedhaya : awit Gusti Nabi Adam dumugi sapunika
Call Number: DS646.27 .B326 1862
Published/Created: 1862
Javanese illuminated manuscript on the history of Java and the spread of Islam by saints and rulers.
William Farquhar correspondence and other Malay letters
Published/Created: 1812–1832
Letters addressed chiefly to William Farquhar during his years as British Resident of Singapore from Malay kings and notables in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Malaya. Reflects his role in the founding of modern Singapore and his relationships with Malay rulers instrumental to the success of the East India Company's enterprise in Singapore. Includes several letters between Malay notables and businessmen, Chinese among them, allowing a glimpse into the intercommunal connections that formed the larger context of the world in which Farquhar and Malay rulers operated. Of note is a letter from Siti Fatimah binti Jamaluddin Abdul Rahman, Sultanah of Pammana, written as a reigning female monarch of the Malay-speaking world of that era.

For information on other Indonesian Collections in the Asian Division of the Library of Congress, visit this research guide.

American Folklife Center Collections: Indonesia

Public Programs and Collections at the Asian Division

Asian Division Collections