Endangered Archives Blog

EAP132 Catalogue Online

Recordings of North Indian Classical Music digitised as part of the EAP132 projecthave been catalogued and can now be searched through the Library's Search Our Catalogue Archives and Manuscripts (SOCAM) pages.

Led by a team from Jadavpur University, the project digitised material from the University and from a number of private collections. The recordings consist of Hindustani and a small number of Carnatic performances: vocal performances of Alap, Dhrupad, Dhammar, Khayal, Thumri, Dadra (and cognate forms) and Ghazal; and instrumental performances upon the sitar, sarod, veena, sarengi, santoor, harmonium, violin, esraj, tabla and pakhawaj. Overall the project digitised 2,700 tracks by 254 performers, resulting in over 1,000 hours of music.

The project team - with the help of performers, experts and collection owners - were able to record detailed information about most of the tracks. Where possible each track description notes the performer and accompaniment, their respective Gharanas, and the raga, rhythm (taal) and composition (bandish) of the track. Authority files were created for each performer, and these were linked to relevant tracks, making it possible to use one search to view all the material associated with an artist across multiple collections.

Using the Advanced Search function in the catalogue allows you to make the most of this detailed metadata. For example, the following search...

... returns 9 results for artists of the Gwailor Gharana playing in raga Kafi and Kafi Kanada.

The material is now available for access via the British Library reading rooms. If you would like more information or to leave feedback, please email us at endangeredarchives@bl.uk. You can also log into SOCAM and add your own descriptions to tracks with the tag feature.

Alex

December Accessions

Happy New Year! EAP will be having an early spring-clean in January, as we prepare to move office to be closer to our colleagues in the Collection Digitisation Strategy team. We will also be revisiting our old catalogue data to tidy up place, name and subject index entries, as well as processing material received at the end of last year, including material received in December:

Project EAP128 continued to submit material; details for this project can be found in our October Accessions post.

EAP264: Preservation through digitisation of rare photographic negatives from Mongolia

EAP264 digitised 10,089 glass plate negatives from the collections of the Archives for Cinema, Photography and Sound Recording in Mongolia, and also identified and treated 7,000 previously uncatalogued plate negatives.

1938, Ox-driven carts widely used for transporting goods. From the MSV Foundation Collection.

The Archives for Cinema, Photography and Sound Recording house over 160,000 photographic negatives covering a range of subjects, including the military, World War Two, public health, animal husbandry, industry, transport, archaeological surveys, and Mongolian peoples.

1930s, Communication line installers, Ulaanbaatar. From the MSV Foundation Collection.

1942, Square in front of the central department store, Ulaanbaatar. From the MSV Foundation Collection.

EAP180 Preservation through digitisation of the endangered Armenian rare books and making them accessible on the Web (phase 1)

The Fundamental Scientific Library of Armenia holds 4,200 endangered books and 190 titles of Armenian language newspapers and periodicals, one of the largest collections of early printed books and periodicals in the Republic of Armenia. The material is fragile, and unsuitable storage conditions present a threat to its long term survival and availability as a research resource. The EAP180 project digitised the collections and provided training sessions in preservation and digitisation for local staff.

Image from Houhan Pona Dzerpacu Yerkins, 1705

Alex

Highlighting Indonesian Manuscripts

Today's post is written by Annabel Gallop, the British Library's Lead Curator for Southeast Asian Studies.

When the EAP was launched in 2005 I was delighted when a project to digitise manuscripts from three pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) in East Java was amongst the first to be funded, and to date 12 projects from Indonesia have been successfully completed. I always knew that the long-term aim was to make the digitised images available online, but first many technological obstacles had to be overcome. Now, at last, the results from two projects in Sumatra have been mounted online by the EAP: manuscripts from Sufi brotherhoods in West Sumatra, in a project led by Irina Katkova, and manuscripts from private collections in Aceh, led by Fakhriati.

It is stunning to be able to browse through manuscripts which are still held in remote locations in Indonesia, and the research value of these collections for scholars all over the world is immediately obvious. To take just one example, a few years ago Jan van der Putten of the National University of Singapore had noted in a 17th century manuscript from Ambon, Hikayat Tanah Hitu, the regular presence of an Arabic word, balagha, used as a reading or editorial mark. Henri Chambert-Loir of EFEO had also noted this mark in a Malay poem, but no other examples had been documented. However, to these rare occurrances can now be added a manuscript on Arabic grammar held in the Surau Tuo Taram in Kecamatan Harau, Kabupaten Lima Puluh Kota, West Sumatra, which has balagha marked in red in the margins (EAP205/4/2: Nahwu).

Annabel Gallop, Southeast Asia Section

November Accessions

A little later than usual, but we have not forgotten our monthly 'Accessions' post. During November the Programme received material from three projects:

EAP128: Thai rainbow archives project: a digitised collection of Thai gay, lesbian and transgender publications

The EAP128 project digitised Thai LGBT publications and arranged for the original materials to be transferred to a local archive where they will be safely housed and made available for research. Further details about this project can be found in the October Accession post, or by clicking on the link above.

EAP164: Preservation, storage and accessibility for archives of pre-industrial rural society of the Ukrainian Steppe

This project is creating surrogate copies of written personal memoirs, diaries and other family archives as well as oral histories of inhabitants of the South and South-East Ukraine originally taped during 1994-2006.

EAP372: Preserving early periodicals and newspapers of Tamilnadu and Pondichery

EAP372 is copying endangered newspaper and periodical titles from South India.

Lynda

Making dongjing records available

This week images from EAP209 Survey on surviving dongjing archives in Jianshui, Tonghai and Mengzi were added to the EAP WebPages. The project visited three counties in South Yunnan and gathered information about surviving dongjing records in the area. It also copied 33 manuscripts from the collections of Li Chun and Kaichao Wang. These have made a substantial and important addition to the dongjing archives copied by an earlier EAP project: EAP012 Salvage and preservation of dongjing archives in Yunnan, China: transcript, score, ritual and performance.

Together these projects copied 100 dongjing manuscripts and approximately 36 hours of recorded material. The printed sources include music scores and lyrics, correspondence, a charter for the Dali dongjing society, guides and rules for conducting rituals and even seating arrangements for performances. The recordings are of performances and interviews. They provide an amazing amount of original material for students of dongjing culture, practices and belief and should be of particular interest to students studying dongjing music.

Interestingly, most of the original manuscripts digitally copied by EAP012 and EAP209 are themselves copies of earlier manuscripts. The texts and musical scores have been passed down, transcribed and re-copied by members of dongjing societies. In this way they have survived through centuries of political turmoil and social transitions. They contain the traditions of generations of dongjing practitioners.

Lynda

October Accessions

Last month the EAP received material from the following projects:

EAP128 Thai rainbow archives project: a digitised collection of Thai gay, lesbian and transgender publications

The EAP128 project is part of an attempt by Thai community organisations, working in collaboration with the Australian National University, to preserve materials that have not been collected by any Thai institutional archive.

The project digitised community organisation newsletters and commercial magazines which had been identified and collected by the Thai Queer Resources Centre, who then arranged for the original materials to be digitised and transferred to the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre Library in Thonburi, Bangkok. The Centre is still seeking Thai rainbow publications; details about donating material can be found at the Thai Rainbow Archive website, alongside digitised materials from the project. Material will also be made available in the British Library.

EAP191: Strategies for archiving the endangered publications of French India (1800-1923)

EAP191 aims to archive and digitise endangered periodical publications of French India, published in Pondicherry between 1800 and 1923 and currently held by the French Institute of Pondicherry. The collection includes the Bulletin des actes administratifs des Établissements français de l'Inde, the first French language newspaper to appear in French India, in 1823.

EAP427: Identify, relocate and digitise Native Administration records (1891-1964)

Project EAP427 will survey and digitise records created by Native Authorities in Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) between 1891 and 1964.

Native Authorities were established under British colonial rule, and brought the native chiefs into Government administration. The records are a lasting legacy of the impact of colonialism on the people of Malawi, and need to be professionally preserved in the National Archives of Malawi for wider public access.

A preliminary survey of two Native Authorities found that native chiefs still held administrative records, and that the records were delicate and vulnerable to further deterioration unless moved to an appropriate storage environment. Building on this, the project will survey 32 chiefs from different districts in Malawi’s northern region. Relevant records will be relocated to the National Archives of Malawi with the permission of the native chiefs, and a selection of records will be digitised. The project will also determine the feasibility of rescuing and digitising Native Administration records throughout other regions in Malawi.

Alex

September Accessions

During September the EAP received material from the following projects:

EAP368 Endangered images of ethnicity and religion in Western Siberia in the late 19th to early 20th centuries

EAP368 contributed to the identification and preservation of late 19^th and early 20^thcentury photographic collections depicting indigenous peoples in Western Siberia. The project conducted a survey of archives, museums, and private collections, catalogued materials and deposited them with the Tobol’skii istoriko-arkhitekturnyi muzei-zapovednik [Tobol'sk Historic-Architectural Museum-Resort's] (TIAMZ).

An additional outcome was the digitisation of 786 glass plates and accompanying metadata held at the TIAMZ, copies of which were deposited with the EAP.

 

EAP326 Buddhist archive of photography, Luang Prabang, Laos - major project phase II

This project builds on the work of the EAP086 and EAP177 projects, which discovered a large and varied body of Theravada Buddhist photographs taken and collected by the monks of Luang Prabang, Laos, from c1880 up to the present day.

Altogether a total of 33,933 photographs stored across 21 monasteries have been digitised and identified. The project team provided training in identification, preservation and digitisation of photographic materials to a select group of monks and novices in Luang Prabang. The team also prepared a short video about their work for the EAP177 project, which is available to view here (follow link and scroll down).

 

 

 Crossing the Mekong on the way to Vat Long Khun, 1952

We also received further accessions from EAP274 Digital archive of North Indian classical music: phase II (special collections) and digital archive of recorded Bengali songs.

Building on the work of project EAP132, EAP274 consists of two strands: digitising the work of under-represented artists from the Digital Archive of North Indian Classical Music at Jadavpur University, Kolkata; and digitising Bengali songs from 78 rpm shellac discs.

Alex

 

Research Grants 2011

So far this year the EAP has funded 8 pilot projects and 10 major projects, details of which are available on the awards webpages.

A diverse range of projects were funded, including:

• A survey of native administration records in Malawi
• Digitisation of records in Bolama, the first capital of Portuguese Guinea
• Preservation of parish records held in provincial archives in Brazil
• Photographic collections in Mali
• Early missionary records in the remote region of Mizoram, India
• Survey of Jewish archives in Hungary, scattered after World War II
• Digitisation of the national sound archives of Comoros
• Arabic manuscripts from Djenne, Mali
• Digitisation of provincial newspapers held in regional archives in Peru
• A survey of church archives in Botswana
• Preservation of notarial records from the peninsula of La Guajira, Colombia

The Programme is now accepting applications for the next round of funding - full details of the application procedure and documentation are available on our webpages. The deadline for submission of preliminary applications is 4 November 2011. Please pass on these details to any interested parties.

August Accessions

During August we received material from the following projects:

EAP276: Documentation and preservation of Ambon manuscripts

The EAP276 project aims to conduct a survey of privately-held manuscripts in the Ambon archipelago, particularly in the areas of the former kingdoms Kaitetu, Hitu, Hila, Laha, Banda, Halmahera and Seram. According to sources more than 200 manuscripts have been found in private collections around the Ambon archipelago, most of which are in a poor condition due to the effects of Ambon's tropical climate on the materials. Manuscripts which are located will be digitised (with the permission of their owners), and copies will be deposited with the National Library and University of Indonesia. 

 

EAP279: A rescue programme for the Matsieng Royal Archives, Lesotho

The royal family of Lesotho has been based in Matsieng since the 1858 war, when Matsieng was established by the second Lesotho King, Mohato (Letsie I). Since then Matsieng has been a hub for Basotho kingship and chieftainship, and a centre for administration, resulting in a large accumulation of documents of cultural, political, legal and economic significance.

 

The archives were kept in basic storage conditions at the Royal residence, and their condition deteriorated in December 2007 when the roof of the storage building collapsed. The University Archive arranged for an 'emergency repatriation' of the materials, and carried out conservation and preservation work in order to stabilise the collection. The EAP project team hope to digitise the materials where possible; it is estimated that 20% of the collection is too damaged to digitise. Additional funding sources will be sought to catalogue the material, and provide for its long term preservation.

EAP336: Preserving the lay bet andemta: the Ethiopian intellectual legacy on the verge of extinction

Project EAP336 has been discussed in detail before in our April Accessions and Easter Story posts.

 

Alex  

EAP and Digitised Manuscripts

In my last post I announced that the eight Collections copied by EAP012 Salvage and preservation of dongjing archives in Yunnan, China: transcript, score, ritual and performance have been catalogued. Four manuscripts from three of these Collections have now been added to The British Library's Digitised Manuscripts pages. From here, they can be viewed along side early medieval volumes dating back to the sixth century - some of the treasures of the Library. The Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts Blog provides updates on the Library's digitised manuscripts, information on the manuscripts themselves and the cultures and contexts from which they came, and images from some of the already-digitised items. Well worth a look.

The four manuscripts we have added are:

EAP012/2/1 [Dong jing pu], an anonymous music score from Qilin District, Qujing City

EAP012/5/1 Luliang dong jing yin yue zheng li chu gao, a booklet of Dongjing music scores from Luliang County

EAP012/7/15 Chuxiong Yi zhou dong jing gu yue, a score of archaic Dongjing music from Chuxiong in jianpu notation

EAP012/7/16 Min zu min jian gu yue-gong chi pu yi jian pu ben, a transcript of an archaic Dongjing music score written in gongche notation.

The Digitised Manuscripts viewer has easy to use navigation tools that allow you to move around the items, choose pages, view two pages at once, rotate the images, zoom in and zoom out etc.

Lynda