Guide to the Asian Collections at the International Institute of Social History

Reflecting Asia’s enlarged role on the world stage the International Institute of Social History (IISH) decided to foreground Asia in its activities and in1996 established an Asia Department which deals with the social history and the history of progressive and emancipatory political movements in Asia. The IISH collections on modern Asian history comprise archive, library, and audiovisual materials. In the last decade the IISH has been able to acquire many unique documents from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Apart from the usual ways in which IISH collections are acquired, the Asia Department has been active in creating and preserving non-written sources. To this end, several oral history projects have been initiated. The interview projects on political exiles from Indonesia, the Naxalbari movement in India, mineworkers from Pakistan and progressive movements in Bangladesh/Bengal are examples.
This guide presents a survey of collections at the IISH with a substantial Asian interest and aims todirect researchers toward historical material on Asia, both in ostensibly Asian collections and in many others.