{"id":13854,"date":"2020-11-20T17:42:04","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T17:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/t-creative.com\/asiatic\/?page_id=13854"},"modified":"2026-03-11T23:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T23:09:12","slug":"library-archives","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/library-archives\/","title":{"rendered":"Library & Archives"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Collections<\/h1>\n

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The Royal Asiatic Society\u2019s collections were established with the founding of the Society in 1823. Many early members were generous benefactors, and throughout the Society\u2019s history additions have been made to the collections.<\/h4>\n

Today, the collections provide an important resource for anyone wishing to study and gain further understanding of Asian cultures and history.<\/p>\n

We have material, dating from the 12th century right up to the present, covering all of Asia and many allied countries, with Indian and Persian cultures being particularly well-represented. Our holdings include printed material, manuscripts, paintings, drawings, photographs, maps, and archives. Our archives incorporate the Society\u2019s own records as well as the personal papers of some of the most prominent British scholars of Asian history, languages, and cultures.<\/p>\n

All our collections can be consulted in our dedicated Reading Room in our premises in London during our opening hours advertised below. We also have a Digital Library<\/a> which provides free, worldwide online access to some of our most important and inspiring collections.<\/p>\n

Librarian: Edward Weech<\/strong>
\nContact: ew@royalasiaticsociety.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Archivist: James Liu<\/strong>
\nContact: jl@royalasiaticsociety.org<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”13681″ img_size=”500×600″ alignment=”center” css=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1760992545305{background-image: url(https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/landscape1.jpg?id=1875) !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1760992575815{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

Catalogues<\/h3>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text css=””]Most of our collections are searchable online. Our catalogued manuscripts, printed books, pamphlets, artworks, photographs and objects are described in our online Library catalogue, while our archival collections are described in the online Archive catalogue.<\/p>\n

Please contact the Librarian or the Archivist if you cannot find the material you require for your research, as some is still uncatalogued.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_btn title=”Search Library Catalogue” style=”outline-custom” outline_custom_color=”#666666″ outline_custom_hover_background=”#666666″ outline_custom_hover_text=”#ffffff” shape=”round” align=”center” i_type=”linecons” i_icon_linecons=”vc_li vc_li-search” css=”” button_block=”true” add_icon=”true” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fras.koha-ptfs.co.uk%2F|target:_blank”][vc_btn title=”Search Archive Catalogue” style=”outline-custom” outline_custom_color=”#666666″ outline_custom_hover_background=”#666666″ outline_custom_hover_text=”#ffffff” shape=”round” align=”center” i_type=”linecons” i_icon_linecons=”vc_li vc_li-search” css=”” button_block=”true” add_icon=”true” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Froyalasiaticarchives.org%2F|target:_blank”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Accessing the Collections<\/h3>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row content_placement=”top”][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text css=””]Anyone is welcome to visit our Reading Room to consult our collections during our opening times on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, from 10am to 5pm<\/strong>. Access is by appointment only. Please email the Librarian or the Archivist to make an appointment, and list the item(s) that you would like to consult. We may ask for an explanation of your research if you request to see particularly rare or fragile material.<\/p>\n

When you first visit the Reading Room, please bring physical photographic identification and proof of address. This is required to register as a reader and use our collections.<\/p>\n

The Reading Room is located on the first floor of our building and is wheelchair accessible. Our building is located just a couple of minutes from Euston, Euston Square, and Warren Street stations, or a fifteen-minute walk from King\u2019s Cross\/St Pancras. Please find a map\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Please note the Society will be closed for Easter on Thursday 2 April and Friday 3 April 2026.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1758838244893{background-color: #FFFFFF !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1758367691973{margin-top: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

Pay for Library Services<\/h4>\n
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Amount: GBP<\/div>\n

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Collection Highlights<\/h3>\n

Our collections contain only two reels of film<\/strong>\u00a0but they have been\u00a0digitised\u00a0and are also\u00a0viewable here<\/a>. They are of excavations carried our by\u00a0Reginald Campbell-Thompson in Iraq<\/strong>\u00a0in the early 1930s.<\/p>\n

Digitized versions of\u00a0the\u00a0Shahnama <\/em>of Muhammad Juki, copied in Herat between 1440 and 1445 and considered to be one of the finest Timurid manuscripts of the 15th century; the\u00a0Gulistan<\/em>\u00a0of the poet Sa\u2019di completed in 1583 in Fatehpur Sikri; and an autograph copy of\u00a0Kitab-i Mathnawiyyat-i Zafar Khan<\/em>\u00a0copied in Lahore in 1663 are also available online on the\u00a0Cambridge Digital Library Website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Thomas Manning Archive<\/strong> was purchased in 2015 with funding from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) and further support from the Arts Council England\/Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund; the Friends of the National Libraries; and numerous private donations. We are grateful for their support in enabling the material to be kept together and made available for research. The archive has been digitized and is available on the Society’s Digital Library here<\/a>, while the catalogue is now available on the Royal Asiatic Society archive catalogue.<\/a><\/p>\n

For detailed information about our collections, see the following links:<\/p>\n

Manuscripts<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Archives<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Printed Collections<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Art Collections<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Photo Collections<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][vc_media_grid element_width=”3″ css=”” grid_id=”vc_gid:1773270518320-f14fc89e-d515-8″ include=”17083,17081,17077,17076,15640,17079,17073,17071″][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1758318056722{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”] Collections [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1758314453745{background-color: #FFFFFF00 !important;}”][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text css=””] The Royal Asiatic Society\u2019s collections were established with the founding of the Society in 1823. Many early members were generous benefactors, and throughout the Society\u2019s history additions have been made to the collections. Today, the collections provide an important resource for anyone wishing to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-13854","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13854"}],"version-history":[{"count":213,"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24728,"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13854\/revisions\/24728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}