Endangered archives blog

August has been another busy month for EAP with newspapers, manuscripts, books, and archival documents all being made available. Here is a summary of four of the most recent EAP projects to go online:

• Provincial Newspapers in Peru (19th-20th century) [EAP498]
• Rare Books in Grantha script from South India [EAP918]
• British Indian Association Archive [EAP922]
• Rare Medieval Manuscripts from Newari Settlements in Nepal [EAP1023]

EAP498 - Provincial Newspapers in Peru (19th -20th century)

This project digitised 176 different newspaper titles from five regions of Peru:

• EAP498/1: Cajamarca
• EAP498/2: Lambayeque
• EAP498/3: Tacna
• EAP498/4: Huancavelica
• EAP498/5: Ayacucho

Across the five collections, a total of 2,133 newspaper editions have been digitised and made freely available.

Dona Filo, 31 Agosto 1959 (EAP498/2/8/1); El Sol de Los Andes, 4 Abril 1889 (EAP498/1/13/5).

These unique collections offer important material that will help generate new research into the history of Peru, particularly the regions outside the largest cities. The Tacna collection, for example, includes important coverage of the the area's occupation by Chile between 1880-1929.

These collections contain a wide variety of topics, including satire, labour movements, literature, and education. 

EAP918 - Rare Books in Grantha script from South India

The EAP918 project team digitised ten collections owned by institutions and private scholars, containing a total of 1,112 books printed in Grantha script.

Srīraṅkanāta Pātukācahasram: uttarapākam, EAP918/1/13 (left); Āpastampa Kruhaya Sūtram, EAP918/5/12 (right).

Grantha script has mainly being used for reading Sanskrit in South India since the 6th century, but during the 20th century it became almost obsolete. Very few people use it and very few libraries continue to hold books written in Grantha script, which include accounts of topics including astrology, astronomy, history, philosophy, rituals, language and grammar, poetry, music, yoga, and society.

This digitisation project was therefore vital to help preserve this once widely used script and to make the knowledge it contains available to a new generation of researchers.

EAP922 - British Indian Association Archive

The British Indian Association, founded in 1851, was one of the earliest political associations of Indian colonial subjects. It was the first political body of the nation and can challenge the Indian National Congress for the title of the Grand Old Party.

The Association was largely composed of landholders who maintained a combination of conservatism and progress in their efforts to obtain freedom for colonial India.

Spanning the period 1851-1948, this collection contains a wealth of material relating to the British Indian Association and the wider political situation in India. The collection is divided into 11 series:

• EAP922/1/1: Annual Reports (1859-1948)
• EAP922/1/2: Booklets (1852-1947)
• EAP922/1/3: Journals (1936)
• EAP922/1/4: Minute Books (1864-1948)
• EAP922/1/5: Newspapers (1869 -1929)
• EAP922/1/6: Book (1909)
• EAP922/1/7: Felicitations (1926-1927)
• EAP922/1/8: Pamphlets (Early 20th century)
• EAP922/1/9: Manuscripts (19th century-Early 20th century)
• EAP922/1/10: Reports (1890-1938)
• EAP922/1/11: Documents (1859-1938).

Hindoo Patriot, 18 January 1892 (EAP922/1/5/11, image 24); Report on the Police Administration of Burma, 1890 (EAP922/1/10/9).

EAP1023 - Rare Medieval Manuscripts from Newari Settlements in Nepal

Building on the work of previous projects EAP676 and EAP790, this latest project digitised 28 collections of manuscripts located in Newār settlements in Rural Kathmandu and hill areas of Nepal.

These Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts range from the 12th-18th centuries and cover a wide range of topics including:

• Literature
• Medicine
• Music
• Rituals
• Epic stories
• Narratives
• Tantra
• Shashtra
• Iconography
• Glorification
• Eulogy
• Grammar
• Mahatmya
• Puja
• Indigenous Kiranta texts.

सन्ध्योपासना बिधि [Sandhyopasana Vidhi], 17th century (EAP1023/27/18, image 2)

They are written in a wide range of languages and scripts. Languages include:

• Kiranti
• Mara
• Nepali
• Newari
• Sanskrit
• Tibetan.

Scripts include:

• Bengali
• Bhujimol
• Devanagari
• Lepcha
• Limbu
• Newari
• Proto-Bengali
• Tibetan.

Follow us on Twitter @bl_eap to keep up-to-date with the latest new collections going online.

We will be uploading many more collections from all over the world in the coming weeks and months.