Digital Collections

This page features digital primary source materials from the Asian Division along with digital items and collections from the Library's over 20 centers. Links to digital items and collections are provided for further exploration.

Southeast Asian Digital Materials in the Asian Division

The Southeast Asian collection in the Asian Division features a growing number of digitized manuscript materials. Please see the following list which is being regularly updated as digitization projects are completed. The latest collection to become available is the newly digitized Mangyan bamboo collection.

Communism or Freedom series, USIA Cold War-era Thai collection
Published/Created: 1965-1968
Posters and comic books (1965 June 24-1968 July 18) produced primarily by the United States Information Agency (USIA) for distribution in Thailand. Eleven of the publications accompanied by an information sheet indicating where and when they were printed, in what quantity, and where they were distributed.
Mangyan bamboo collection from Mindoro, Philippines, circa 1900 to 1939
Published/Created: ca. 1900-1939
The Southeast Asian Rare Book Collection counts among its most unique items a collection of 71 bamboo slats and 6 cylinders from the island of Mindoro in the Philippines. These items are etched with either verse or prose in the Mangyan script—an Indic-derived writing system that pre-dates the arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippines and persists to the present.
Pangkat-pangkat caritanipun serat babad ing Tanah Jawi sedhaya : awit Gusti Nabi Adam dumugi sapunika
Published/Created: 1862
This Javanese illuminated manuscript discusses the history of Java and the spread of Islam across the island by saints and sultans. Pictured here is Image 132.
Siamese numerals, alphabet & alphabetic combinations, etc.
Call Number: SEA Tai Mss. 29 SEA cage
Published/Created: [1850?]
An early Siamese-English lexicon. Early example of Western style printing in Thai script.
Tāvatiṃsa, the heavenly abode
Published/Created: ca. 18th century
This manuscript is estimated to be from the 18th century. It is written in Burmese and Pali, the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism. The Southeast Asian Rare Book collection holds many more similar Burmese manuscripts.
[Thai manuscript on eye diseases and treatment]
Call Number: SEA Tai Mss. 20 SEA cage
Published/Created: [date of publication not identified]
Medical text on eye conditions with accompanying illustrations. The text discusses herbs used in curing various conditions.
[Thai Manuscript on skin disease]
Call Number: SEA Tai Mss. 19 SEA cage
Published/Created: [date of publication not identified]
Medical text on skin diseases with accompanying illustrations. In Thai and Thai Khom scripts.
William Farquhar Correspondence
Published/Created: 1812
Important collection of 46 Malay letters to William Farquhar, Resident of Singapore. Letters reveal founding of Singapore as well as affording insight into early 19th-century politics in Malay World. The collection includes a rare letter, one of the few extant letters written by a reigning female monarch in the Malay language.

Southeast Asian Digital Materials in Other Divisions

For more information and additional listed resources, please see the Materials in Other Reading Rooms section of this guide.

Rare Book and Special Collections Division

The Rare Books & Special Collections Reading Room is located in the Jefferson building. Please contact staff in advance to ensure access to the material you wish to use.

Doctrina Christiana en lengua española y tagala
Published/Created: 1593
The oldest extant work to be printed in Southeast Asia held by the Library, this text was printed in both Spanish and Tagalog in the Latin and Baybayin scripts. It is the only known copy in existence.
Arte y reglas de la lengua tagala by Francisco de San José
Published/Created: 1610
This major work served as one of the main models for subsequent colonial grammars of Tagalog. Its printing has been attributed to Tomás Pinpin, the first indigenous printer of importance known in the Philippines as well as the author of the first printed book written by a Filipino in the local Tagalog language, Librong Pagaaralan nang manga Tagalog nang Uicang Castilla.

Restricted Access Digital Materials

Stacks is a platform to access digital collections held by the Library which have rights restrictions that would otherwise limit their wider availability. To use Stacks you must be present in the Library and at a dedicated terminal.

Hanunuo-Mangyan poems ambahan session : from the collection of anthropologist Antoon Postma of Mangyan Research Center
Published/Created: 1994-2002
Audio recordings of Hanunuo Mangyan chanted traditional poetry in ambahan, urukay, and adahiyo song poems. These recordings are only accessible onsite via Stacks.

Geography and Map Division

The Geography & Map Reading Room is located in the Madison building. Please contact Geography & Maps staff ahead of time to ensure access to the material you wish to use.

Guang yu tu : er juan by Luo, Hongxian
Call Number: G2305 .L6 1558
Published/Created: [1588?]
Ming dynasty-era map of China. Covers Yellow River, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Southeast Asia, and the administrative divisions of China in Ming Dynasty.
Insulæ Indicæ cum terris circumvicinis.
Published/Created: [16--?]
Early Western map of Southeast Asia in Latin. Covers the East Indies including the Philippines, Malay Archipelago, and Ceylon.
Carte de l'Indo-Chine orientale by Rhins, J.-L. Dutreuil de (Jules Léon)
Call Number: G8005 1881 .R4
Published/Created: 1881
1881 map of French Indochina and mainland Southeast Asia. Includes "Traduction des principaux termes géographiques" in French, Annamites, Cambodian, Siamese and Laotian, "sauvage," Burmese, Chinese.

Prints and Photographs Division

The Prints & Photographs Reading Room is located in the Madison building. Please contact Prints & Photographs staff ahead of time to ensure access to the material you wish to use.

Photoglob Co., publisher. Singapore. Collyer Quai. [ca. 1890-1910]. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Photoglob Co., publisher. Singapore. Battery Road. [ca. 1890-1910]. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Propaganda flier .. education in Thailand: a teacher lecturing students under Communism, and students doing scientific experiments and math under freedom. [1966]. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Eleanor Butler Roosevelt, photographer. Wat Phra Keo or Temple of the Emerald Buddha Bangkok. [1948]. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Photographic Views of Thailand. [Between 1890 and 1923]. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Large group of workers dragging the funeral car of the daughter of the governor of Praa(?), Siam, to place of burning. [Between ca. 1894 and 1898]. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Ellen B. Mason, artist. Karen Female Institute, Tounghoo with the native board of managers in their hunting dresses from a photograph. [1861?]. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

More Digital Resources

Introduction to the Southeast Asian Collection
This webinar introduces the extensive southeast Asian collections available in the Asian Reading Room and other research centers at the Library of Congress. Learn about the unique collection of items the Library contains with over 370,000 titles consisting of southeast Asian books, newspapers, periodicals, films and more

Southeast Asian Collection: Asian Collections at the Library of Congress

Asian Studies: Ask a Librarian