(The following is a post by Charlotte Giles, South Asia reference librarian, Asian Division.)
Valuable pieces of ephemera trace shifts in ideas, issues of importance, and the diversity of views in society at the time of their distribution. Because these materials are widely distributed to the public, they often create a meaningful and lasting snapshot of important issues in the public and private lives of peoples in South Asia. These are also the materials that are most likely to disappear.
The South Asia Ephemera Collection consists of many themed subcollections with materials like pamphlets, booklets, newsletters, reports, and newspapers. These items fall under the category of ephemera, materials produced for a specific, short-term use and often printed on cheaper paper to allow for greater distribution. Due to the quality of the paper, these items disappear quickly and are rarely saved. Prior to the age of digitization, photographing these materials and preserving them on microfiche was among the best ways to ensure the longevity of ephemera collections.
The majority of the subcollections and their parts feature an index within the corresponding microfiche. These indexes have recently been digitized and made accessible as PDF files via a link found in the bibliographic record. Details for items provided in the indexes vary greatly but may include title, author, publisher, language, publication location, subject, and date of creation. Most of the indexes are between one and three pages, while some are as long as 80 pages. Wherever possible, indexes have been saved as searchable PDF files. Regrettably, some subcollections lack an index altogether; in other cases, the quality of the microfiche image of the index is not legible.
The contents of the South Asia Ephemera Collection go beyond the pamphlets and newsletters distributed to the public. Subcollections include a variety of materials, such as rare publications from Kashmir, annual reports, Urdu novels, government and non-profit organization reports, publications from major religious organizations, magazines and almanacs, conference proceedings, and much more, dating from the mid-19th century to 2015. Ephemera in this collection are in most major South Asian languages, such as Hindi, Urdu, English, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali, as well as lesser-known languages like Kurukh, Santali, and Bodo.
In addition to these digitized indexes, a series of seven thematic research guides will be published to enhance the researcher experience of this over-2,000-part collection: Politics and Government; Religion; Science and Technology; Art, Language, and Literature; Education and Research; Economy, Development, and Industry; and Society and Culture. The first two of these, Politics and Government, and Religion, have recently been published.
Each thematic research guide is divided into subject pages (i.e., “Communism,” “Local government,” and “Movements and uprisings” in the Politics and Government guide), which are then organized by tabbed subcollection and location of publication where applicable. For example, under the “Kashmir” page, there are four tabbed sections: “Human rights in Kashmir,” “Kashmir Dispute,” “Kashmir Question (Pakistan),” and “Kashmir Question (India).” Each of the tabbed sections lists the records of multiple parts of a subcollection (i.e. “Human rights in Kashmir Part 1“) and provides a link to the corresponding index.
A second example with a slightly different organization is the “Political parties” page. Under this page there are multiple sections highlighting materials from a country and a specific party or cluster of parties. For example, under the “India – Hindu nationalist political organizations” section, each tab focuses on a particular group, such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS). Under these tabs are subcollections and parts related to each of these groups. In the case of the BJP, this includes groupings like Bharatiya Janata Party Parts 1-5 and Bharatiya Janata Party publications Parts 1-10. This organization allows researchers to narrow down their search to country, subject, then political party, listing all related subcollections.
The materials in the South Asia Ephemera Collection come from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan, and the United States, as well as the South Asian diaspora in Mauritius, Trinidad, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Many of the subcollections cover South Asia as a whole. One example is “Disaster planning and relief Part 2,” without the specification of a particular place.
Another unique aspect of this collection is the coverage of specific events and conflicts, with materials that would have been difficult to collect and preserve. Examples include the gas leak at the Bhopal Union Carbide Plant in 1984, the Bengal famine of 1943, the occupation in Kashmir, the Civil War in Sri Lanka, and peasant uprisings in India.
Another cluster of materials are those related to a broad topic. Examples of this type of subcollection include “Textbooks from India Part 1,” “Medicine and Public Health in Bhutan,” and the “Leather Industry in India.”
A third grouping of materials are works produced by organizations, such as the Forum for Free Enterprise, Bombay and the Indian Council of World Affairs. A fourth type of grouping, albeit a smaller one, is focused on publications by and about a specific person, such as Rabindranath Tagore, Indira Gandhi, and Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi.
A complete list of all South Asia Ephemera Collection indexes may be accessed through this link.
For more information about or assistance with this collection, please contact the Asian Reading Room through Ask a Librarian.
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