Collections : [C.V. Starr East Asian Library]

The Coins and Paper Currency of Tibet collection of the C.V. Starr East Asian Library at Columbia University comprises a small representative sample of historical coinage and paper currency circulating in Tibet and contiguous areas in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The core items in this collection originally belonged to the Kyaping family, who lived in the heart of Lhasa until the final occupation by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) in 1959. It is noteworthy that the family's holdings included coins minted in Sichuan as well as Nepal, as well as paper currency printed in Tibet. The bulk of the collection was probably issued from approximately 1870 through 1940.

The Collection of China's spring 1989 democracy movement (六四前后中国民主运动资料汇集) documents the legacy of the democracy movement in China during 1989 as well as events leading up to the Tiananmen Square Incident and its aftermath, dating from 1988 to 1997, and with the bulk of the materials dating from 1989 to 1990. The collection holds the originals and the photocopies of over 300 ephemeral posters, leaflet/handbills, newsletters, open letters, and petitions created and distributed in 1989, including those issued by the Peking Workers Autonomous Association (北京工人自治联合会), student groups from various universities, the "Hunger Strike Newsletter" and other unofficial news bulletins, intellectuals' petitions to the government, cartoons, and poetry. The collection also comprises over 200 photographs depicting demonstration banners, big character posters, petitions and letters to the leaders. The collection also contains 15 eye-witness reports by Asians and Westerners, reports of human rights organizations, as well as books, miscellaneous news magazine articles and newspaper clippings. Related materials in the collection also include Spring 1989 issues of the banned intellectuals' journal "Eastern Record"; 147 slides of work shown at the Peking National Gallery's avant-garde exhibition; and a video tape of interviews with artists and performance art at the February 5, 1989 opening of that exhibition. Other items are several VHS, audiocassettes, floppy disks, fragments of wall posters, a T-shirt, and commemorative envelopes. A large fabric banner prepared by Chinese students at the University of Michigan which was sent to Peking where it was displayed at Tiananmen Square in May 1989 and later returned to the U.S., is also included in the collection.

The Ephemera collection on Chinese science, technology, law, and society (中国科技法律社会汇集) contains over 800 items published in China, dating from circa 1906 to 2010, with its bulk dating from 1931 to 1981. Materials include pamphlets, handbooks, picture books, posters, lantern slides, literacy flash cards, etc. The subject areas of the materials include science, technology, agriculture, personal hygiene, economy, culture, law, society, and politics, etc. The collection also includes works that reflected social, political, industrial transformation in China.