Skip to Main Content

Southeast Asian Collection: Asian Collections at the Library of Congress

Newspapers & Periodicals

This collection comprises many newspapers and other periodical publications, including magazines, journals, and reports in various languages, which are accessible in the Asian Reading Room. Please note that English-language newspapers and periodicals are available through the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room.

Overview of the Southeast Asian Newspaper & Periodical Collection

Chart showing newspapers and periodicals at the Library of Congress by national languages of Southeast Asian origin

The Southeast Asian collection at the Asian Division has a strong collection of newspapers & periodicals from across the region dating to the the medium's origins in Southeast Asia in the nineteenth century, including Burmese, Indonesian, Khmer, Lao, Malay, Tagalog, Thai, Vietnamese and other languages. Newspapers on microfilm alone consist of over 630 individual titles on 14,000 reels of microfilm from every country in the region and in many Southeast Asian languages (see further the Southeast Asian Serials on Microfilm guide). There are also bound volumes of newspapers as well. The Asian Division also holds Southeast Asian newspapers created within the United States in various Southeast Asian languages.

Beyond the Asian Division, the Newspaper and Current Periodicals Reading Room holds Southeast Asian newspapers in English, French, Spanish and other European languages. It also holds some titles in Southeast Asian languages. The graphic here depicts a breakdown of newspapers & periodicals in Southeast Asian languages throughout the Library by language including the seven largest languages: Indonesian (8,916), Thai (1,945), Vietnamese (1,494), Malay (740), Burmese (592), Khmer (152), and Lao (110). Some languages falling within the "other" category include Tagalog, Javanese, Sundanese, Austronesian, Iloko, Kachin, Batak, Balinese, Hiligaynon and many others. There are titles in many other languages besides those listed here.

In total, the Southeast Asian collection at the Asian Division, plus Southeast Asian material throughout the Library, includes 27,754 newspapers & periodicals as of October 2020. This includes 11,843 titles at the Asian Division, 2,558 in the Newspapers & Periodicals Reading Room, 1,170 in the Law Library and 10,178 titles in the General Collections. Please note the graphic pictured here does not include works in English or other European languages. It represents a smaller subset of all Southeast Asian newspapers and periodicals at the Library highlighting just those works in a Southeast Asian language.

Selected Newspapers in Southeast Asian Languages

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 & Current Periodical Reading Room is located in the Madison building. Please contact Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room staff ahead of time to ensure access to the material you wish to use. For more information, please see the Materials in Other Reading Rooms section of this guide.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Learn More About Southeast Asian Newspapers & Periodicals

The following publications provide more information about using the Southeast Asian language periodical collections at the at the Library of Congress.