“Amazing! Diaries, photos, maps, SOAS history – absolutely wonderful!” “The range of material is a real testament to the collections SOAS holds” “Useful to see the range of the collection so I can promote it when training students and speaking to staff” “I have a far less abstract idea of the archives and special collections now and feel increased confidence in visiting” Just some of the great feedback from our
This week’s blog looks at one of SOAS Library’s most treasured manuscripts, Chōsen shisetsu gyōretsu zukan or Procession of Korean Ambassadors, currently on display at the School’s Brunei Gallery. It also features on an episode of the BBC Antiques Roadshow, hosted from the University of London’s Senate House, which screened on Sunday 22nd October 2017 – part of the School’s Centenary celebrations. This handscroll painting, over 12 metres in length, captures the pageantry surrounding
This week’s blog has been written by Rosa Vercoe, Projects and Operations Manager at LCSS, London Centre for Social Studies, and co-ordinator of the recent Training Programme on Ottoman and Archival Studies, which took place in London and Oxford, and included a visit to SOAS Archives on 5th August. The LCSS Ottoman Programme is designed to fill the gap for so much-needed short-term courses to help researchers and Master’s /PHD
Our guest blogger this week is Angelica Baschiera of the Centre of African Studies who recently led a workshop on Swahili manuscripts held in the SOAS Archives. As part of this year’s SOAS Summer School ‘Understanding Africa’ organised by the Centre of African studies and convened by Dr Seraphin Kamdem, a workshop was dedicated to the SOAS Swahili manuscripts collection on 21 July 2015. Ms Angelica Baschiera, Manager of the
This week’s blog is from Dr Farouk Yahya in the Department of the History of Art and Archaeology at SOAS, and describes his recent hands-on workshop in SOAS Archives for students studying the half-unit MA course Illustrated Manuscript Cultures of Southeast Asia. The course is concerned with the arts of the manuscript in Southeast Asia, including those from Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and covers the artistic,
On 8th October 2014, SOAS Archives opened its’ doors to all SOAS staff and students for the second Open Day of this year. Aimed particularly at reaching out to those who are new to SOAS, the Open Day followed fast on the heels of Welcome Week and saw 60 visitors who came on behind-the-scenes tours of the archive store rooms and took the opportunity to see the extensive display of
Today we continue our celebration of Black History Month 2014 by taking a closer look at some of the manuscripts by the leading Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, which are available at SOAS Archives as part of the Heinemann Educational Books Ltd collection. These include prepublication annotated typescripts of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s famous novels ‘Weep Not, Child’, ‘A Grain of Wheat’, ‘Devil on the Cross’ [translated version of Caitaani mũtharaba-Inĩ],
In May 2014, a group of 12 postgraduate students from the Kent Law School visited SOAS Archives as part of their ‘Legal Treasures Tour’, with course tutor, Professor Amanda Perry-Kessaris. Amanda, who has been developing the Legal Treasures Tour for some years, had previously brought a class to us in 2013. After a general introduction to the service and a tour of our archive store, the group were left free
This year SOAS is running a unique three-week summer school on Jawi and the Malay Manuscript Tradition, convened by Dr Mulaika Hijjas and Dr Ben Murtagh from the department of South East Asia at SOAS. Jawi is the adapted Arabo-Persian script used from the sixteenth century to the early twentieth century across Indonesia and the Malay world. Materials written in Jawi include indigenous chronicles and romances, Sufi poetry, letters between rulers of
A new and exciting exhibition in the Foyle Special Collections Gallery of the Brunei Gallery, entitled The Arts of Southeast Asia from the SOAS Collections, is now running until 2 July 2016. The exhibition highlights the breadth of the region’s cultures as represented in the SOAS collections. It demonstrates the long-term engagement of SOAS Staff and Alumni, whose research and travels have brought this variety of objects to the School. Curated
