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Library of Congress Research Guides

South Asian Collection: Asian Collections at the Library of Congress

Materials in Other Reading Rooms

In addition to the Asian Reading Room, the Library of Congress has over 20 reading rooms and research centers that provide space and guidance for users to interact with collection items based on subject (e.g., law) and format (e.g., maps, photographs). This page highlights the materials pertaining to South Asia in other reading rooms. Links to titles of publications and collection items on this page will retrieve fuller bibliographic information from the Library of Congress Online Catalog. For assistance using the Library's collections, use the Ask a Librarian service to contact a reference librarian.

Image of a cover page of a lithographed book with Persian text in black and white with floral borders.
Muḥammad Akbar Ibn Muḥammad Shāh Arzānī. Mīzān al-ṭibb. 1883-1884. Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division.

The African and Middle Eastern Reading Room is the gateway for accessing materials in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Pushto, and other languages, including all materials from South Asian countries in these languages.

A significant and relevant digital collection is the Persian Language Rare Materials, which contains more than 300 manuscripts and lithographs. This freely available collection includes many items originating from India, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the regions under Ottoman rule, in addition to the native Persian speaking lands of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. Items in this digital collection comprise many disciplines, but historical and literary works are dominant. A number of these items are exquisitely illuminated anthologies of poetry by classic and lesser known poets, written in fine calligraphic styles, and illustrated with miniatures. Included in this collection are many Persian manuscripts created in India during the late Mughal and early British colonial periods. There are also many lithographs published in Lucknow, Kanpur, and Mumbai (Bombay), among other South Asian locales.

Below is a representative sample of publications from South Asia that are available in the African & Middle Eastern Reading Room. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

The American Folklife Center is one of the largest archives of ethnographic materials from the United States and around the world. Browse the geographic finding aid for AFC's South Asia collections for materials pertaining to poetry recitations, folk songs, and regional musical traditions. Collections are organized by country: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. See also the following research guides on AFC's South Asian collections:

Below is a representative sample of the South Asian materials available through the American Folklife Center. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Image of an old map of India with red, white, and white areas showing the location of different states and regions during the Mughal Empire.
Matthaeus Seutter. Imperii magni Mogolis sive Indici Padschach, juxta recentissimas navigationes. 1735. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.

The Geography and Map Reading Room provides researcher access to the world's largest cartographic collection. Available in the reading room are historical and contemporary atlases and different kinds of maps (e.g., political, relief, topographical, guide) of South Asian countries and cities. Their holdings include many maps produced by the Survey of India and Survey of Pakistan, as well as an exquisite and rare nineteenth-century map of Kashmir. Some South Asian materials are available through the online collections, including maps of South Asia as a geographic region as well as maps of individual countries, both historical and contemporary. One such example is the digitized and freely available Manuṣyaloka, a late nineteenth-century map from western Rajasthan showing the Jain understanding of the human realm.

Below is a representative sample of some historical South Asian maps available in the Geography and Map Reading Room. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

The Law Library is the world's largest legal collection. It has rich holdings of government publications and legal materials for the different countries of South Asia, both in English and South Asian languages. The Law Library's rare book collection has a number of interesting South Asian items, such as one of 1,000 photolithographic reproductions of the Constitution of the Republic of India and a copy of the printed record of the Mahatma Gandhi murder case, which originally belonged to Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Vinayak Godse. Additional resources from the Law Library include:

Below is a representative sample of South Asian materials available through the Law Library. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Image of the Library of Congress Main Reading Room from above showing the circular arrangement of desks and marble architecture.
Carol M. Highsmith, photographer. Main Reading Room. View from above showing researcher desks. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. 2009. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

The Main Reading Room is the principal point for access to the Library’s general collections. Most English-language and European-language publications about South Asia are part of the Library’s general collections and accessible in the Main Reading Room. Publications in two or more languages—such as Sanskrit and English, for example—are also likely to be found in the Main Reading Room. When browsing the Library of Congress Online Catalog, see the Item Availability section at the bottom of a catalog record. Items available in the Main Reading Room will be identified by the location, “Jefferson and Adams Building Reading Rooms.”

Below is a representative sample of publications about South Asia available in the Main Reading Room. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

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. All researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting, as many collections are stored offsite and advance notice is necessary to retrieve these items for research use.

Below is a representative sample of collections with materials related to South Asia that are available in the Manuscript Reading Room. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

The Microform and Electronic Resources Center, or MERC, is the point of access for the Library’s general microform collection of some 8.9 million items. MERC contains a number of materials on microfilm and microfiche pertaining to South Asia, including multipart titles, monographs, and serial publications. The majority of these materials will be in English. Notably, MERC has several large collections especially useful for research British colonialism in South Asia, some of which are highlighted on this page.

Below is a representative sample of the South Asian materials available in MERC. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

The Moving Image Research Center, which is part of the Library’s Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS), provides access to one of the largest collections of motion pictures in the world, including selected productions from South Asian countries. For example, "A Selected List of Indian Films and Videos in the Library of Congress" is a compilation of 90 feature films and 100 short films made by Indian filmmakers, with selected films representing India's parallel cinema. Since the publication of this guide in 1992, the Library has continued to receive video content from the New Delhi and Islamabad field offices. Browse the Library of Congress Online Catalog for films, television programs, and documentaries, and contact Moving Image reference staff with questions regarding the availability of certain titles. Before visiting, researchers should contact the Moving Image Research Center to schedule a viewing appointment two weeks in advance.

Below is a representative sample of the South Asian materials available through the Moving Image Research Center. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

The Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room provides access to English-language newspapers and periodicals from around the world, including the countries of South Asia. Most of these titles are only available on microfilm. There are also some issues of several older newspapers in their original format, such as:

Below is a representative sample of English-language newspapers from South Asia that are available in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room. See the Item Availability section at the bottom of each catalog record for information on issues held by the Library of Congress. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

The Performing Arts Reading Room provides researcher access to materials such as published musical scores along with books and periodicals on music-related subjects. The Library-assigned call numbers of this material typically contain Class M, including M, ML, and MT, which provide an idea of their subject matter.

Below is a representative sample of South Asian materials available in the Performing Arts Reading Room. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Image of painting of Taj Mahal with moon at night, green trees, and blue river flowing behind the Taj.
Charles W. Bartlett, artist. Taj-Mahal, twlight. ca. 1920. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The Prints and Photographs Reading Room provides public access to more than 15 million images, which include photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. The collections are international in scope. Browse the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog to discover digitized materials, as well as many more non-digitized items and collections available onsite in the reading room. Please note that some digitized images are freely available online, others are only available onsite at the Library of Congress and may be described as a "group" of images.

Below is a representative sample of materials with South Asian content that are available in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room.

Image of a folio of Latin book with color illustrations of port cities and ships in the water.
Georg Braun, et al. Civitates orbis terrarvm. 1612-1618. Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Today, the Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room provides access to nearly 800,000 books, broadsides, pamphlets, theater playbills, title pages, prints, posters, photographs, and medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. In this reading room, researchers will find pre-1801 printed works about India and the rest of South Asia in English, German, and other European languages. For example, this reading room has a number of important works in the history of print in South Asia, such as Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg’s Grammatica damulica (1716) and Nathaniel Halhed’s Grammar of the Bengal Language (1778). Among its more than 100 separate collections, the reading room also has the writings, papers, and other materials of British author Rudyard Kipling, which includes correspondence from his years as a journalist in British India.

Below is a representative sample of South Asian materials available in the Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

The Recorded Sound Research Center, which is part of the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, has nearly 3.5 million recordings, with new acquisitions averaging from 75,000 to 100,000 yearly. The collection includes most musical genres as well as radio broadcasts. Audio recordings from South Asia range from popular music and film songs to religious recitations and performances in concert. To search the Library's audio recordings, please use both the Library of Congress Online Catalog and also Recorded Sound's inventory catalog SONIC. Before visiting, researchers should contact the Recorded Sound Reference Center to schedule a listening appointment at least two weeks in advance.

Below is a representative sample of materials available through the Recorded Sound Reference Center. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Subjects: Asian Studies
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