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Posted by: Anchi Hoh
(The following is a post by Tien Doan, Special Assistant to the Chief, Asian Division.) The history of European interaction with Vietnam can be traced back to “The Travels of Marco Polo,” which records, in the late 1280s, the noted Italian explorer’s experiences traveling through the area, that is modern Vietnam. More than one-hundred versions …
Posted in: Asian Division, Southeast Asia
Posted by: Anchi Hoh
(The following is post by Jonathan Loar, South Asian Reference Librarian, Asian Division) In 1938, the Library of Congress received a three-year grant from the Carnegie Corporation to establish a project for the development of Indic studies, which was the Library’s first initiative to collect South Asian materials systematically. This grant enabled the project’s director, …
Posted in: Asian Division, South Asia
Posted by: Cameron Penwell
(The following is a post by Cameron Penwell, Japanese Reference Librarian, Asian Division) On a shelf in the Japan rare book cage sits a small, unassuming wooden box next to a carefully preserved and tightly rolled scroll. Unfurled, the scroll reveals a hand-written Japanese text alongside fanciful images of anthropomorphic animals that together portray the …
Posted in: Asian Division, East Asia