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News about the projects saving vulnerable material from around the world

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46 posts categorized "Religious records"

01 October 2010

Rescuing Dongjing Archives in Yunnan, China

Over the past week I have started to catalogue project EAP012 Salvage and preservation of Dongjing archives in Yunnan, China: transcript, score, ritual and performance.

Dongjing refers to a body of Daoist and Confucian texts and traditional music scores. The songs can be performed unaccompanied or with instruments. As a practice it is thought to date back to the 15th century. Social, political and cultural factors have endangered the practice which is now mostly performed by communities in Yunnan province.

The collections copied by the EAP012 project contain a wealth of material including ritual texts, music scores and audio-visual recordings of Dongjing performances as well as oral history interviews. The following images are taken from Sanguan donging juan zhong, a sutra used during Dongjing activities, inscribed in 1911.

DYW_022_002bl 
DYW_022_004bl 
DYW_022_017bl 
Alex

Posted by Lynda Barraclough at 10:31 AM in Asia , China , Manuscripts , Oral history , Religious records , Song | Permalink | Comments( 0) | TrackBack( 0)

07 May 2010

April Accessions 2010

Last month we received only one set of new material - two collections of rare dongjing archives from Yunnan in China. This material was copied by the project Survey on surviving dongjing archives in Jianshu, Tonghai and Mengzi. Its arrival couldn't have suited us better. It came just in time to be catalogued by Thushari Perera, who is doing a placement with us as part of her degree in Archives and Records Management at University College London.

We should be able to announce the completion of this catalogue and its availability very soon. In the meantime, I can tell you that the project copied 23 manuscripts and other records belonging to Mr Li Chun and 10 manuscripts from the collection of Mr Wang Kaichao. Most of these documents are music scores, lyrics or texts associated with dongjing performances and rituals. Also included are records from dongjing societies, a biography of the Sacred Zhang and volumes used in worshiping the North God.

EAP209_music 

The image above is from a music score belonging to the Li Chun Collection. The image below comes from the Wang Kaichao Collection and belongs to a text that gives details of donjing performances that celebrate the God Taiyi rescuing the threatened. This powerful early Daoist god is thought to act of behalf of those suffering misfortunes.

EAP209_cover2 

Lynda
 

Posted by Lynda Barraclough at 11:40 AM in Asia , Manuscripts , Religious records | Permalink | Comments( 0) | TrackBack( 0)

05 February 2010

January Accessions 2010

Last month we received material from two EAP projects.

The project Preserving early print literature on the history of Tamilnadu is microfilming books and periodicals. It's actively seeking out libraries and private owners with collections most in need of preservation. Like many archival and library collections the contents of these vary in scope, themes and formats. Details are on their EAP Project webpage.

Normally at this point I would include an image from one of the copied books or manuscripts. Instead, below you'll see two photographs taken by the project team of libraries they're working with. These show the original materials where they live. These pictures are important to me as they provide a real-life background to the microfilm and digital copies we receive.

EAP183 MMA Library_Chennai 3 

EAP183 Cayabu Maraikayar Nulakam_Karaikkal 2 

The project Riau manuscripts: the gateway to the Malay intellectual world is copying material from private collections. The project hopes to expand the number of manuscripts available to scholars and thus allow wider research into the Malay-Muslim world. Many of the items are being copied from book sellers and antique dealers, meaning that texts not owned by public institutions will be made available for public use. Here is a page from one of these books.

EAP153 10_ 

Lynda

Posted by Lynda Barraclough at 5:41 PM in Asia , Manuscripts , Microfilm , Periodicals , Printed texts , Religious records | Permalink | Comments( 0) | TrackBack( 0)

03 July 2009

Records from Jamaica

This week we received material from another project copying records relating to slavery: Inventory of archival holdings in Jamaica. It seems appropriate to highlight this material, following on from my last post.

The project focused on undertaking a survey of endangered records, but also copied items from the Jamaica Archives and Records Department, the National Library of Jamaica, the Library of the University of the West Indies and the Roman Catholic Chancery in Kingston. All four institutions contain valuable material relating to the lives of enslaved Africans and free blacks in Jamaica during the period 1655-1800. The material chosen to be copied covers birth, death and marriage registers, manumission registers, indentures, correspondence and petitions. The surveys reveal many other records containing genealogical and historical information relating to slaves and slavery in Jamaica.

Here's a page from one of the Manumission Registers:

EAP148_JA_1B1165_002

These Registers were deposited with the Office of the Island Secretary of Jamaica. They contain certificates, or deeds, of freedom for free people of "colour", which included people with both black and mixed-race backgrounds. They're written in English and Spanish and give names, dates and other information. They're currently housed at the Jamaica Archives and Records Department.

While looking over this new accession I noticed the poor condition of some of the original records. Jamaica's tropical climate and warm temperatures provide less than ideal conditions for storing historical material long term. Paper and other materials suffer from heat and fluctuations in temperature due to their chemical make-up; and vermin and insects particularly like hot and humid climates, and can be very tenacious in discovering ways into archival stores. In this, the records of Jamaica have something in common with those from Tuvalu.

Posted by Lynda Barraclough at 4:59 PM in Americas , Government records , Religious records , Slavery | Permalink | Comments( 0) | TrackBack( 0)

22 June 2009

Records of the African diaspora in Matanzas, Cuba

In 2007 Britain marked the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. The same year saw the completion of the following EAP project: Pilot Project to Identify Endangered African Diaspora Collections at the Major Archives of the Province of Matanzas, Cuba.

Slavery wasn't legally abolished in Cuba until 1886. In colonial Cuba, the Province of Matanzas was an important centre for sugar production and thus a major destination for African slaves. The office of the Governor of Matanzas was responsible for regulating the slave trade and for supervising, or administering, issues relating to slavery. The Governor's office thus created and kept records documenting the activities of slaves, slave traders and slave owners.

These records cover topics such as slave revolts, runaways, the arrival of ships carrying slaves (both legally and illegally) and abolition. Some of the correspondence includes:

Communication to Don Ignacio de Acosta authorising him to land and transport African slaves on two [inappropriately named] American ships, the Liberty and the Friendship, March 1800 (EAP060/1/1/5)

Communication of the Matanzas Governor on a runaway slave found dead inside an empty house, May 1816 (EAP060/1/1/10)

Communication to Don Juan Tirry y Lacy on the expenses to protect white colonists from African slaves, October 1818 (EAP060/1/1/18)

Communications to Matanzas' Governor on measures to eradicate the African slave trade in Cuba, April 1826 (EAP060/1/1/26)

Draft of a communication to the Captain of Ceiba Mocha on two horses abandoned by two runaway slaves, June 1838 (EAP060/1/2/61)

Communication to Matanzas' Governor on the dissolution of a police battalion that failed to prevent slave revolts, July 1837 (EAP060/1/3/11)

Measures taken by O'Donnell to prohibit cockfighting among slaves, February-June 1844 (EAP060/1/3/47)

Here is a page from a communication by the Matanzas' Medical Officer noting that African slaves landed in Matanzas have been vaccinated (EAP060/1/1/19):

EAP060_1_1_19_page3

The project also copied registers of births, death and marriages for "blacks and coloured peoples" kept by the Matanzas Cathedral. These registers show how Cuban society divided itself according to colour and ethnic origin. The Cathedral organised its registers into three categories: Blancos (Whites), Indios (Natives) and Pardos y Morenos (Blacks). The project copied those registers recording births, deaths and marriages for the Pardos y Morenos.

The outcome of the project, including a full catalogue, can be found on the EAP webpages.

 

Posted by Lynda Barraclough at 11:26 AM in Americas , Cuba , Government records , Religious records , Slavery | Permalink | Comments( 0) | TrackBack( 0)

22 May 2009

The story of the Yi archives

Human beings use the spoken word and written texts to pass on knowledge. In keeping with the theme of story-telling, here as a part of knowledge transfer, I thought I'd point to the material copied by one of our completed projects: Preservation and digitisation of Yi archives in public and private collections in Yunnan, China. This material is endangered not only from the physical conditons of its storage but also from its history of neglect and unfriendly government policies. The Yi archives contain the history and culture, religious beliefs, etc of minority groups in China.

Texts from the Yi archives, originally, were written for a local audience. They preserve a body of knowledge that is peculiar to the Yi that informs and explains aspects of how they view the world and the afterlife. Their oral literature, as tales or fables, are embedded with traditional wisdom, their clan histories re-tell the past, relating it to the present, and their religious practices help them make sense of the world and their place within it. These stories, histories and rituals belong to the Yi socieites from which they grew. They contain knowledge that connects the generations to each other and to the world as they experience it.

Here is a page recording the beginning of a sutra to pray for fortune:

EAP081_sutra_for_praying_for_fortune

It is important to preserve what remains of these written records as this will save also the language they are written in. Preservation of the language will in turn allow further study of the Yi people and Yi culture. Texts copied by the project include almanacs, sutras and practices used in ritual, the histories of families and records of oral stories. Traditionally the Yi texts are kept by priests who have responsibility for recording, saving and using them. These records are fast becoming all that is left of the story of the Yi people. For this reason the Project had a strong focus on making them widely available, to facilitate and encourage further research.

This page is from an almanac:

EAP081_almanac_CXY_010_006

Posted by Lynda Barraclough at 1:44 PM in Asia , China , Digital images , Folk tales , Gods and Demons , Manuscripts , Religious records | Permalink | Comments( 0) | TrackBack( 0)

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