The Rise of Southeast Asian Collections and the Donn V. Hart Collection at Northern Illinois University

Chalermsee Olson

A university or research library provides information services for its academic programs at every level and stage. In order for such a library to play a fruitful and competent role, it should be closely associated with the planning and development of those academic programs. Any new courses, research projects or disciplines will put new demands on any library. Therefore, the relationship between a library and its parent institution must be supportive in terms of growth. Before the rise of Southeast Asian collections can be discussed, the development of area studies, called Southeast Asian studies programs, must be traced and investigated first.

Southeast Asian Studies

Southeast Asian Studies programs came into existence in American higher education during the post-World War II era when area studies (either geographical or cultural areas) were developed.

Following the war, systematic efforts to improve area research and training were made by the universities, aided in many cases by foundation grants.¹

These programs aim to prepare specialists for deep and comprehensive understanding of the language and cultures of such areas as South, Southeast, and East Asia; the Near East; Africa;

Latin America; and the Soviet Union and East Europe, which have hitherto been relatively neglected in American scholarship.²

Shortly after World War II, only a few institutions attempted to start and maintain interdisciplinary Southeast Asia programs. According to Echols, Yale University, the University of California at Berkeley and Cornell University were pioneers.³ Several years later, the University of Michigan, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Northern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University, Ohio University and the University of Wisconsin at Madison either established programs in Southeast Asian Studies or were beginning to head in that direction. The initial courses of study that received the most attention were history, geography and government at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The other disciplines, such as anthropology and sociology, art and literature, economics, philosophy and religion, as well as interdisciplinary area courses, received less attention.⁴ The three decades after 1950 saw increasing development of Southeast Asian studies in the United States.⁵ Centers for Southeast Asian Studies at different universities were also producing an increasing number of publications.

Southeast Asian Collections:
A Historical Background

The establishment of area studies programs made a special impact on and created special problems for libraries, particularly university and research libraries.

Not only do those [libraries'] previously neglected areas of interest require extensive library support but the interdisciplinary approach of area studies is at variance with traditional American practices of organization, administration, and services.⁶

The materials in vernacular collections were often in different formats or on different media from those in Western languages. For instance, old Buddhist teachings or texts were recorded on fragile palm leaves. When books were printed in Asia, acid-free paper was rarely used and the quality of such paper was often no better than newsprint. Exposure to the tropical climate did not help the condition of materials that were received by collections in the United States. The channels of the book trade were also different. Naturally, all these matters had to be considered in the

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course of acquisition, processing, preservation and circulation.

In the beginning, many foundations and government projects offered a great deal of financing to support the enhancement of these collections. In 1953, Cornell University, one of the first universities where Southeast Asian Studies was established, joined the Farmington Plan, a collaborative effort of U.S. government research libraries. This plan divided responsibility for collecting publications throughout the world among selected U.S. universities. Public law 480, introduced in 1964, permitted Cornell to join other universities and the Library of Congress in collecting, processing and preserving all relevant research materials from Southeast Asia.⁷ Yale joined the Farmington Plan and was responsible for Burma; they, therefore, have good holdings of newspapers, both in English and Burmese, as well as periodicals.⁸

The major problems that Southeast Asian collections commonly encountered in their early years (and continue to encounter today) are as follows:

1. Acquisition—According to Oey, in the pre-WW II era, the Southeast Asian indigenous book trade was in its infancy.⁹ After the war, many countries went into the development of their political, social, economic, intellectual and cultural dimensions. This naturally affected the book trade in those countries. Even so, it has been said that the book industry is still underdeveloped due to socioeconomic conditions. Low literacy and low income levels are the main factors involved.¹⁰

There are many small publishers, but the book trade is poorly organized and tends to suffer from a lack of capital and experience.¹¹ Editions are produced in small numbers because of the small demand for books. Therefore, print runs are usually short and publications can go out of print very quickly.¹² It was very difficult to obtain any publications published outside the major cities because of the lack of adequate communications and transportation.

In early days (and, again, even now) when faculty members or graduate students go to Southeast Asia, they strategically purchase materials to take back to the United States to put in their own collections. This, however, does not solve more fundamental problems related to acquisition if organized buying missions or cooperative acquisition programs are not more permanently established.

Currently, many of the problems concerning the acquisition of materials from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, which were quite serious a few decades ago, have for the most part been alleviated. These problems have largely been solved by a consortium of American libraries with a field office in Jakarta operated by the Library of Congress.¹³ Many universities take part in this program, including Northern Illinois University; even though this program seems expensive to some, it is cheaper than attempting such acquisitions on one's own.

The acquisition of materials from the Philippines and Thailand is much less difficult. An increasing number of modern book dealers have come into existence. For the Philippines, two dealers even have American branches.¹⁴

The countries that continue to pose problems for those trying to obtain vernacular materials are Burma (Myanmar), Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (Kampuchea). According to Oey in Burma, "all trade including exports of books is centralized under the Myanmar Export and Import Corporation (MEIC). No Burmese book dealer can trade directly with foreign customers."¹⁵ It is impossible to purchase books from Burma because no book dealer is willing to deal with the bureaucratic "red tape" of the government. Furthermore, any books purchased by foreign visitors have to pass government inspection. How do libraries obtain books from Burma? Some, including the Library of Congress and Cornell University's Olin library, have been able to acquire Burmese publications through interlibrary exchanges.¹⁶ Materials from Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos can be obtained but with difficulty due to the lack of organized agencies. Older materials produced before the Vietnam War and during the fighting have been destroyed. Therefore, any materials from these countries that are housed in foreign libraries are very valuable.

2. Cataloging—According to Echols, in the early days of collection development problems stemmed from a) the large number of languages in different linguistic families; b) the variety of scripts and transliteration systems (the transliteration systems of various languages had to be established, and this required a lot of work on the part of linguists who are experts in those languages and native speakers); and c) the entry of personal names.¹⁷ In Western culture, a person's last name is typically the first choice for use as the main entry. In Southeast Asian cultures, first names and ranks serve as the focus. People tend to recognize authors' names by their first, given name, not the family name.

From discussions with May Kyi Win, curator of the Donn V. Hart Southeast Asian Collection at Northern Illinois University, it is clear that problems concerning the transliteration of Southeast Asian languages still

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exist. Since the transliteration of some languages have been revised several times by the Library of Congress, materials cataloged using a previous system of transliteration are often inaccessible.¹⁸ Many times these revisions have focused on word division, and this has also caused special problems.

Another problem related to cataloging is the catalogers themselves. In the early days, Echols recommended three suggestions for cataloging: 1) the use of American catalogers trained in one or more languages (an unlikely prospect unless special funds were made available and the work was made attractive enough); 2) the use of librarians from Southeast Asia problems with visas and work status arose, and these people tended to be committed to such work for only short periods of times); 3) cooperative cataloging between an American cataloger and a native speaker of the language (in most cases, such native speakers came to the United States as temporary students).¹⁹ Some collections have tried to follow all three of the above suggestions, but the last suggestion has been the most popular among universities.

The Donn V. Hart Southeast Asian Collection at Northern Illinois University

A comprehensive collection of materials on Southeast Asia at Northern Illinois University was first founded in 1963. At the early stage, there were only a few hundred titles primarily in the English language. This early collection was located in the Swen Parson Library, now housed in Founders Memorial Library.

The collection was named in honor of Donn V. Hart, an anthropologist specializing in the Philippines and the first director of the University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies. The essential goal of the collection was to support the teaching, research and future research of faculty and students at Northern Illinois University as well as at other institutions throughout the country.

Principle users of the collection include the departments of Anthropology, Art (Art History), English (TESOL), Foreign Languages and Literatures, History, Music, Political Science and Sociology. The History and Political Science Departments offer Ph.D degrees, while the others offer master's degree programs with concentrations in Southeast Asian Studies. Even though the use of the collection is mainly for scholarly research and courses, certain parts of the collection, such as serials, periodicals and newspapers, serve as sources of information and entertainment for the members of Northern Illinois University and the general public, including several hundred Southeast Asians.

The Donn V. Hart Collection houses materials both in print and nonprint formats, primarily in the social sciences and humanities, written in Western and vernacular languages. The current holdings are approximately 70,000 volumes: Indonesia 21,000, Thailand 15,000, Malaysia 8,200, the Philippines 7,400, Burma 3,900, Singapore 2,250 and Vietnam 2,200.

The strength of the main collection now is its holdings in Indonesian, Thai, Malay and Philippine materials. The acquisition of Indonesian, Malay and Singaporean materials has been through the National Program for Acquisitions and Cataloging. The collection, therefore, has been receiving such materials on a regular basis. The Thai materials have been purchased through book dealers or faculty, students and alumni who travel to Thailand as tourists or field researchers and purchase materials for the collection. Therefore, the acquisition of the Thai materials has not been as consistent as Indonesian materials. Most Burmese materials have been received through donations, gifts and exchange programs, particularly from other Southeast Asian collections in the country.

Holdings of the Donn V. Hart Collection

The collection of resources related to Buddhism/ Theravada Buddhism in Thailand, Burma, and Southeast Asia is quite extensive. There are many texts dealing with history: Dhamma (Buddhist teachings), Vinaya (discipline of both Buddhist monks and lay people) and meditation. Another unique aspect of this collection is the abundance of "cremation volumes," booklets handed out freely at Thai funerals in memory of the deceased. Such publications are very limited and ephemeral. The volumes contain biographies of the deceased, excerpts and articles in various subjects.²⁰ The other Thai language resources are the Khurusapha edition of the Prachum Phongsawadan, the chronologies of Thai history and neighboring countries.

Resources in Indonesian, Javanese and Dutch are extensive as well. "Eleven typescript volumes of the trials of Indonesians (M.S. Supardjo, Omar Dani, Subandrio, Sudisman and Utomo Ramelan) involved in the attempted coup of 1965"²¹ are housed in the Rare Books and Special Collections. The Malay holdings include the publications of the "De-wan Bahasa dan Pustaka (The government Language and Literature Agency) as well as the Borneo Literature Bureau."²² Another valuable aspect of the collection is its holdings of Filipino American newspapers and periodicals. The materials constitute "indispensable sources of information on Filipinos in America, as well as on the current trends in expatriate Filipino thoughts."²³

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Noteworthy is the collection of rare books and palm-leaf manuscripts housed in the Rare Books and Special Collections. Most rare books are about the history of different countries, the missions of missionaries and Buddhism. The Memoir of George Dana Boardman, Late Missionary to Burmah was published in 1835. Another interesting book is Siam 250 Years Ago: A Description of the Kingdom of Siam, which was written in 1636 and published in 1889. The unique and very valuable palm-leaf manuscripts are treated as national antiquities in Southeast Asia. They were mostly housed in Buddhist temples where education was taught before secular schools were established. The manuscripts tend to contain Buddhist texts, Buddhist history and stories that were cited to teach ethics and values. They were written in Burmese, Lao, Lanna Thai (Northern Thai), Pali and Sanskrit. The texts were inscribed on palm leaves with a stylus; these leaves were then rubbed with dark ash to make the letters stand out, and they are encased between two colorful and decorative boards.

Conclusion

The Donn V. Hart Southeast Asian Collection has been in existence for more than 30 years. It is a very unique collection, the only one of its kind in the state of Illinois. The collection struggled a great deal in the first two decades to establish itself. It has had problems with acquisitions and cataloging materials in vernacular languages, but these are currently not as serious as in its early days. There are about 10 Southeast Asian collections in the United States. They continue to cooperate and participate in resources sharing. One collection might focus on certain areas more than another. For example, Ohio University at Athens emphasizes Malay language materials over other areas. Northern Illinois University wants to focus on Indonesian, Thai and Burmese materials. No collection can expect to have complete holdings in each geographical region. Resource sharing should be encouraged.

The Donn V. Hart Collection has not only supported the instruction and research for the students, staff and faculty at Northern Illinois University, but it has served other scholars and people who are interested in this region throughout the country and internationally as well. Its contribution was obviously important during the Vietnam War, and it is beginning a new surge of interest due to the current economic status of some countries in this region. Singapore and, more recently, Thailand have been dubbed "newly industrialized countries," the trade sanctions against Vietnam were lifted by the United States, and so many people are increasingly turning to the resource of these collections to gain new insight into this growing part of the world. A Southeast Asian collection such as the Donn V. Hart Collection can help in securing that knowledge and understanding.

End Notes

1. Wendell C. Bennett, Area Studies in American Universities (New York: Social Science Research Council, 1951), 6.

2. Tsuen-Hsuin Tsien. "Introduction." In Area Studies and the Library (Chicago: the University of Chicago Press, 1966), 1.

3. John M. Echols, "The Southeast Asian Program and the Library." In Area Studies and the Library (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1966), 39.

4. Barbara S. Dohrenwend, Courses Related to Southeast Asia in American Colleges and Universities, 1955-1956. (Ithaca: Cornell University, 1957).

5. Giok Po Oey, "Southeast Asia." In Selection of Library Materials for Area Studies: Part I (Chicago: ALA, 1990), 36.

6. Tsien, "Introduction," 1.

7. John Badgley, "Introduction." In The Book in Southeast Asia (Ithaca: Cornell University 1990), 3.

8. Echols, "The Southeast Asia Program and the Library," 46.

9. Oey, "Southeast Asia."

10. Lim Pui Huen, "Library Needs for Southeast Asian Studies." In A Colloquium on Southeast Asian Studies (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1981), 155.

11. Judith A. D. Baskin, "Procurement of Library Materials for Southeast Asia: The National Library." In Symposium on Southeast Asian Library Resources. (Canberra: Australian National University, 1973), 42.

12. Huen, "Library Needs for Southeast Asian Studies," 147.

13. Oey, "Southeast Asia," 45.

14. Oey, "Southeast Asia," 46.

15. Ibid.

16. Oey, "Southeast Asia," 48.

17. Echols, "The Southeast Asia Program and the Library," 43.

18. I want to thank May Kyi Win for her help with materials and information.

19. Echols, "The Southeast Asia Program and the Library," 43.

20. See Grant A. Olson, "Thai Cremation Volumes: A Brief History of a Unique Genre of Literature," Asian Folklore Studies 51:2 (1992), 279-294.

21. A Guide to the Southeast Asia Collection, (DeKalb, IL.: The Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 1972), 5.

22. Ibid.

23. The Donn V. Hart Southeast Asian Collection, (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University 1985), 13.

* Chalermsee Olson, Catalog Librarian, Founders Memorial Library, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb.

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