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Category: South Asia

What Were Pakistani Women Reading in the Sixties? A Glance at “Ak̲h̲bār-i k̲h̲avātīn”

Posted by: Ryan Wolfson-Ford

In this blog post, 2023 Junior Fellow Amina Malik discusses her project to inventory the Asian Division’s serials in South Asian languages. The post also offers insight into this collection by looking at the Urdu publication “Ak̲h̲bār-i k̲h̲avātīn,” a serial for Pakistani women on education, society, international news, and many other topics.

The Intersection between Texts and Textiles across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia: a Display and Talk at the Library of Congress

Posted by: Ryan Wolfson-Ford

On Friday September 29, the Asian Division of the Library of Congress will be hosting a partial day display and talk in the Thomas Jefferson Building (rooms LJ110/119) celebrating the diversity of the Library’s collections through textiles, in collaboration with the African and Middle Eastern, Prints & Photographs, Geography & Maps, and Rare Books and Special Collections Reading Rooms.

Thirty years of cataloging the South Asia collection: an interview with Shantha Murthy

Posted by: Ryan Wolfson-Ford

While staff work is what allows researchers to conduct research, their presence in the Library is foundational to the creation of the culture at the Library. This blog is an abbreviated version of a longer virtual interview with Shantha Murthy, a librarian and cataloger working in the Middle East and South Asia Section (MESA) of the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access (ABA) Unit, with a particular focus on serials (magazines, newspapers, etc.) from South and Southeast Asia.

Large metal hollow globe on a metal frame with metal orbit trails surrounding it

Varanasi, Jain Cosmology, Mica Portraits, and the 2,000-Year-Old Gandhara Scroll: More Highlights of South Asian Materials from the Library’s International Collections Facebook Page

Posted by: Ryan Wolfson-Ford

A photochrom (colorized image) of Varanasi, a map of Jain cosmology, portraits of a Hindu household on mica, and the Library’s ancient Gandhara scroll are featured in this blog with more South Asian highlights from Library of Congress social media.

Large metal hollow globe on a metal frame with metal orbit trails surrounding it

Hanuman, Planets, Princely States, and the “Arabian Nights” in Urdu: Highlights of South Asian Materials from the Library’s International Collections Facebook Page

Posted by: Anchi Hoh

A calligram of the Hindu god Hanuman, an 18th-century Nepalese astrological manuscript, documents from India’s princely states, and a rare edition of the “Arabian Nights” in Urdu are just some of the South Asian highlights from the Library of Congress International Collections Facebook page.