Primary Sources - East Asian Studies
Primary sources provide firsthand evidence of events. These include published materials, such as diaries, images and newspapers, and unpublished materials, such as manuscripts, oral histories, declassified documents and images. In contrast, secondary materials synthesize and interpret primary materials. These sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to the actual historical event or time period. They reflect the evidence left behind by participants or observers.
Primary sources in East Asian Studies can take many different forms. They can include newspapers, diaries, letters, images, music, prose, poetry, film and art.
Below are a few examples of materials, from the Bobst Library collection and freely available on the internet, which constitute primary sources in the field of East Asian Studies available through NYU. Keep in mind that the East Asian Studies collection is still growing so you should also visit other institutions, such as Columbia University's C.V. Starr East Asian Library, for additional, and more difficult to acquire, primary sources.
Documents
Although most documents are located in archives and special collections, increasingly they are being digitized and placed on the internet. However, many are also printed by commercial publishers. For example, the titles below contain documents on Chinese revolutionary history, feudal Japan, and early 20th century communism in Korea. These can be found in BobCat by conducting a keyword search for "china sources," "japan sources" or "korea sources" in the Subject Heading (LCSH).
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Newspapers and Journals
Newspaper articles reporting on the time period being researched and original research journal articles are also considered primary sources. The examples below include China News, the Journal of Peking University (included in China Academic Journals, to which NYU subscribes), and Choson Ilbo (NYU subscribes to the online archive going back to 1920). To find citations to Japanese articles, try the National Diet Library Newspaper Index or NYU's subscription to MAGAZINEPLUS.
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Autobiographies and Diaries
Autobiographies are another excellent source of primary materials. The images below are from Two Heroes of Cathay, and Tel Sono, The Japanese Reformer. Download these and other public doman (out-of-copyright) books from Google Books.
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Images
The following were found at the websites of Chinese Posters at the International Institute of Social History, the Ohara Institute for Social Research Poster Exhibition, and the Formosa Image Index at Reed College.
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Films
The examples below are posters for the films, Yellow Earth (dir. Zhang Yimou), Ugetsu Monogatari (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi), and Chunhyang (dir. Im Kwon-taek), which are available at the Avery Fisher Center (2nd floor of the library). Please note that these films would generally be considered to be secondary sources unless the films themselves are the focus of your research or were produced during the period being studied.
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Archival Material including the Bobst Microform Collection
The Bobst Microform Collection contains very little in terms of primary resources in East Asian Studies. Please also utilize the special collections of the Fales Library (3rd floor of Bobst) and Tamiment Library (10th floor of Bobst), as well as other research institutions and libraries listed in the next section of this page, or try searching ArchiveGrid and Archives USA (both NYU subscriptions) to search worldwide collections (you will have to arrange with the individual institutions to view their materials). Materials below can be found on Lower Level 2, except where noted otherwise.
American Civil Liberties Union Records and Publications, 1917-1989 (ACLU).
Tamiment, Film (148 reels) - incl. documents related to Japanese-American internment
Guide: Tamiment KF4742.3 .A5
China and India.
6th floor, Drawer 4 of Cabinet 3 (6 reels)
Guide: A Guide to OSS/State Department Intelligence and Research Reports. III. (request via ILL)
Chinese Biographical Archive (CBA) Chinesisches biographisches Archiv.
Bobst, Fiche MF 1387 (442,xi microfiche)
Guide: http://www.saur-wbi.de/ and Ref1 CT1821 .C45 2000
Confidential U. S. State Department Special Files: Southeast Asia, 1944-1958.
6th floor, Film 1921 (39 reels)
Guide: Ref6 IntlRef D1051 .C5 1982
Despatches from U. S. Ministers to China, 1843-1906.
6th floor, Film M92 (only 4 of 131 reels)
Diplomatic Instructions of the Department of State, 1801-1906.
6th floor, Film M77 (only reels 42-43--China, 1893-1906--of 175 reels)
Educational Reform in Japan, 1945-1952.
Bobst, Fiche MF 636 (461 microfiche)
Guide: LA1311.82 .E38 1990
The Emma Goldman Papers.
Bobst, Film 3648 (69 reels) - incl. Japanese government files and materials from China and Japan
Guide: Ref 1 & Tamiment HX843.7 .G65 E55 1995
Japan and Its Occupied Territories during World War II.
6th floor, Drawer 4 of Cabinet 3 (16 reels)
Japanese Camp Newspapers.
Bobst, Film 3567 (22 reels)
Guide: Japanese Relocation Camp and Assembly Center Newspapers.
Washington: Library of Congress Photoduplication Service, 1994. (request via ILL)
The Margaret Sanger Papers: Collected Documents Series.
Bobst, Film 4606 (18 reels) - incl. documents from the Family Planning Federation of Japan
Guide: HQ764.S3S354 1996
Papers of the U.S. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians.
Part 1: Numerical File Archive.
Law School, Film (35 reels)
Guide: Law School KN87 .U524 U6
Postwar Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia.
6th floor, Drawer 4 of Cabinet 3
Records of the American Council for Nationalities Service, 1921-1971:
Microfilmed from the Holdings of the Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Bobst, Film 1855 (26 reels) - incl. documents related to Japanese-American internment
Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs of Korea (Chosen), 1910-1929.
6th floor, Film 1708 (9 reels)
Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs of Korea, 1930-1949.
6th floor, Film 1709 (50 reels)
Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs of Korea, 1950-1954.
Guide Only: Ref6 Index DS917.65 .G8 1986
Sex Research: Early Literature from Statistics to Erotica.
Bobst, Film 2195 (120 reels) - incl. art books from China and Japan
Guide: Ref6 HQ60 .S49 1983
Collections at Other Research Institutions and Libraries in the U.S.
In New York City
Columbia University | NYPL | Asia Society | Japan Society | Korea Society
Selection of Out-of-State Institutions
Duke University | Princeton University | UCLA | University of Washington
Portal to Asian Internet Resources (PAIR)
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/PAIR/
(University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Minnesota, Ohio State University)
Selected Primary Text Collections on the Internet
Chinese
Academia Sinica
Classics Corpora
Japanese
Aozora Bunko
Denshi Toshokan
Japanese Historical Text Initiative (UC Berkeley)
Japanese Text Initiative (University of Virginia)
For additional information about these and other East Asian Studies resources, see the East Asian Studies research guide.
To find out more about Primary Sources in East Asian Studies, contact Dawn Lawson at dawn.lawson@nyu.edu.
