A Profile of the East Asian Collection


painting of sunset over mountains

East Asian Collection


John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library
10 Prospect Street
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912

The East Asian Collection is a distinctive branch component of Brown University Library, which currently holds nearly 200,000 East Asian language books and a large number of serials and other materials, as well as eresources. Located on the third floor of the Rockefeller Library, it is effective in supporting teaching, research, and learning in East Asian Studies and relevant disciplines for Brown academic communities and scholarly partners worldwide. With the increasing strategic importance of area studies particularly in East Asia, it plays an emerging key role in the Library's global vision and cross-cultural exchange.

History

black and white portrait of a seated white man with a moustache, wearing a three-piece suit
Charles S. Gardner (1900-1966)

The East Asian Collection was developed from "the Gardner Collection." The Library began building major Chinese resources in 1961, when the noted Harvard Sinologist Charles Sidney Gardner donated to Brown University approximately 35,000 volumes of his personal library, which was regarded as the best private Sinological collection in the United States. The majority of the books were in Chinese, including a large number of classical texts, along with Japanese and English materials. The Gardner Collection, as it was first known, has grown from that nucleus. It became a cornerstone for both the Library's collections and the academic programs of Chinese and East Asian studies at Brown. As Gardner remarked in the 1944 article The Future of Chinese Studies in America, “The Chinese Library of the University will be the indispensable instrument of scholarship.”

For more information on Gardner’s life and scholarship, and his contribution to the Library, see a recent article on Charles S. Gardner and Brown University Library Chinese Collection.

In 1965, a federal grant led to the formal establishment of Brown University's East Asia Language and Area Center, which has since become the East Asian Studies Department. Library acquisitions for the Chinese collection supplemented the Gardner Collection, and in 1980, a grant from the Japan Foundation funded the beginnings of the Japanese Collection. A Korean Collection, built through special donations and a memorial fund, has since been added. With the introduction of Japanese and Korean holdings into the Gardner Collection in the early 1980s, the collection was renamed the East Asian Collection.

For more information about the history of the Collection, see this Bibliofile article on the East Asian Collection (2001), and the Brown Chinese Collections brochures (English and Chinese versions).

Current Status

As the Brown East Asian Collection progressed into the twenty-first century, many of its research facilities, as well as the Collection itself, underwent significant expansions. As of June 30, 2023, it holds a total of 203,636 volumes of East Asian language print books, including 162,961 volumes in Chinese, 30,628 volumes in Japanese, and 10,047 volumes in Korean, in addition to a large number of print serials, maps, audio-video materials, electronic resources (e-books, e-journals, and databases) and other formats. Its contents cover humanities and social sciences such as linguistics, literature, history, philosophy, religion, art, archeology, economics, sociology, political science, and education. Most books are located in the C-J-K open stacks, the East Asian Reference Area, as well as the Gardner Room on the third floor of the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library. There is also a good number of Western language materials on East Asian studies in the general book stacks of the Rockefeller Library. It has been one of the most distinguished mid-size East Asian libraries in North America.

For more information on the recent development of the East Asian library collections at Brown and other libraries in North America, see this press interview with China Library Weekly.

Distinctive Collections

wooden panels with East Asian lettering and a sign in English reading 'The Charles Sidney Gardner Collection'
Chinese traditional bookcases in the Gardner Room

The original Gardner gift was especially rich in works on Chinese history and literature, especially the Qing dynasty history, which was Professor Gardner's specialty. It includes approximately 250 titles (7,500 volumes) of Chinese classical books from the Ming and Qing dynasties, with some dating as early as the sixteenth century, and 590 titles (5,300 volumes) from the Republican period. There is a total of 840 titles (12,800 volumes) of thread-bound Chinese books, accounting for more than one-third of the entire Gardner Collection. Nine thousand volumes are housed in a traditional engraved wooden bookcase in the Gardner Room, which is the only one of its kind outside China.

Besides the Chinese rare books in the Gardner Collection, the East Asian special collections also include a good number of special materials, such as the Chinese Writers’ Signature Collection and the Kim Koo Korean History Collection. Furthermore, the Library’s Special Collections at the John Hay Library, such as the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, History of Science Collection, and Orwig Music Library, also contain various rare East Asian language texts and artworks, as well as Western language materials related to East Asia.

Access Services

bookshelves, chairs, and worktables with fluorescent lighting
East Asian reference area at the Rock

Most East Asian materials have been cataloged with the OCLC CJK system, and searching in both Romanization and the vernacular language scripts is available in BruKnow, the Brown Library online catalog, as well as WorldCat, the world's library catalog. Some records cataloged before 1984 can be accessed by using card catalogues located on the third floor of the Rockefeller Library near the East Asian book stacks. Current East Asian newspapers and reference works are located in the East Asian Reference Area near the main book stacks; the other current periodicals are on the second floor of the building. Bound periodicals are in main open stacks at the Rockefeller Library or may be requested from the Library Collections Annex.

Research Guides and Resources

The Library’s online research guides include these particular guides for East Asian Studies:

In addition, Brown East Asia Resources (BEAR) provides an introduction to the research, teaching, and learning about East Asia that takes place at diverse places around the Brown academic communities and its partners.

Public Services and Contacts

Public services, reference, and research consultation are provided by Dr. Li Wang, Curator, and Toshiyuki Minami, Senior Library Expert, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., in Room 311, the Rockefeller Library. Services are also available via email and online chat through Ask a Librarian. Tours are available. Inquiries and donations are also welcomed.

Header image taken from the holdings of the East Asian Collection