This week's post is written by Nicholas Martland, the British Library's Australia & New Zealand Curator.

The Institute of the Malay World & Civilisation (ATMA) at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (National University of Malaysia) is holding a conference on science and technology in the Malay world - what is now known as insular or maritime Southeast Asia. 

One of my interests is in the history of natural history of Australia and Southeast Asia, and I am presenting a paper at the conference, titled "Early records of the natural history of the Malay world: resources in the British Library's India Office Records."

After the conference I have been asked to run a workshop about locating, accessing and researching material of Malaysian/Indonesian interest found in UK institutions. 

Although the Malay manuscripts in the British Library's Oriental Collections and material at the SOAS Library are relatively well known by Malay studies researchers, other collections within the British Library with a Malaysian or Indonesian connection (such as material deposited with the Endangered Archives Programme) and small collections on Malaysia and Indonesia hidden away in specialist collections such as the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; the National Maritime Museum and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, are less well-known. The workshop is being run to alert Malaysian academics, post-graduate researchers, librarians and archivists to the breadth of Malaysian -and Indonesian- related material held in UK institutions.  

The workshop will also be an opportunity to alert researchers to the work of the EAP. A wide selection of Malay and Indonesian materials have been digitised across a variety of EAP projects, such as: EAP144 The digitisation of Minamgkabau's manuscript collections in Suraus;

 
EAP144 Image from Nahwu Sarf, The Arabic Grammar. 

EAP153 Riau manuscripts: the gateway to the Malay intellectual world;

 
EAP153  Image from Kitab Sifat Dua Puluh dan Panjelasannya

and EAP276 Documentation and preservation of Ambon manuscripts.

Nicholas Martland, the British Library's Australia & New Zealand Curator, has worked in libraries in Southeast Asia and in UK libraries with Southeast Asian collections, and maintains an interest in the region, particularly in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

Work continues on cataloguing EAP001: Faces and Places in Iran, and as promised here are some more photographs from the project:

 

Woman spinning. Photographer unknown, late 19th-early 20th century. Taken from the Tahami collection, Arak.

 

 

Image taken from the Morad Salimi collection, Kordestan. We do not have any information about this photograph - can you help?

 

 

Image taken from the Parisa Damandan collection, Esfahan. Again, nothing is known about this photograph's provenance, context or subject.

 

Alex

 

This month has been somewhat unusual for the EAP, as we haven't received any new material from our projects. This isn't to say that we haven't been busy though; we are still working through our backlog of uncatalogued material, advising projects on their descriptive lists and on how to capture high quality digital images, and administering ongoing grants.

November 5th saw the deadline for receiving new applications this year, and we are pleased to report that we've received over 100 preliminary proposals. Those proposals will now be studied, and a selection will be invited to submit more detailed proposals, to be considered by the EAP International Advisory Panel in April. Details of all the projects funded to date can be found on our Grants pages.

Alex

We are pleased to announce that the catalogue for the digitised material produced by the project EAP205 Endangered Manuscripts of Western Sumatra: Collections of Sufi Brotherhoods is now available to view via the British Library's search pages.

Dr Irina Katkova conducted a survey of collections held by Surau - Islamic study centres guided by a teacher of a Sufi brotherhood - and private individuals in Western Sumatra. 15 collections were surveyed, primarily material dealing with Islamic education, and Sufi teachings and rituals.

The images below are taken from Akal dan Kelebihannya [The Consciousness and More], a manuscript detailing the doctrine of Tariqah Naqshabandiyah. The manuscript is dated 17 Rajab 1320H [November 1902], and can be ordered in our reading rooms through the reference EAP205/1/1:

 

 

The image below is taken from Nahwu, a work on Arabic grammar. This copy dates back to the 18th century, and the image clearly shows the fragile condition of the original manuscript, which suffers from insect and mould damage, and tearing (reference EAP205/4/2):

 

Alex

 

Work continues on cataloguing EAP001 Faces and Places in Iran: Iranian Photography, and as promised here are some more photographs from the project:

 
Child at the Javid Carpet Weaving Company Ltd, Isfahan. Glass plate negative, photographer Minas Patkerhanian Machertich, [n.d]

 

 

Imported industrial machinery for use in textile factories, Isfahan. Glass plate negative, photographer Abolghasem Jala [1940s]

 

 

Rooftops of Mashad, Iran. Photographer M. Khan, 1300 AH [1882/1883]

Alex