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

This collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, notes, slides, audio and video cassettes, negatives, transparencies, articles, books, ephemera, postcards and realia objects.

The Wan-go H.C. Weng film collection (翁萬戈影視收藏) consists of motion picture film materials from the collection of Weng Wango (1918-2020), the noted art historian, art collector, and filmmaker. The collection consists of approximately 739 individual film elements, almost all 16mm, dating from circa 1944 to 1980. In addition to the 16mm film, there are three 35mm films and 28 1/4-inch open-reel audiotapes. The materials in the collection primarily relate to films produced by Weng, including series of films on Chinese history, Chinese cities and towns, and Chinese art. The collection also includes materials were collected by Weng but were, presumably, owned by him or his production company. Included in the collection are a wide variety of different types of film elements, including original film, master picture and sound elements, projection prints, work prints, trims, and outs. While some of Weng's films have been made available through various avenues, including the educational film distribution circuit, DVDs, and online, this is almost certainly the most complete collection of Weng's work, containing master and original materials for many of his films.

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 Tharchin Collection consists primarily of correspondence, publications and drafts, photographs, daybooks and financial accounts, and autobiographical materials. The geographic coverage of the collection spans both sides of the Himalayas, in particular, the activities of intellectuals, officials, missionaries, and other historical figures in India, Sikkim, and Tibet.

This Japanese photograph and postcard collection is composed of five different groups: photographs and postcards collected by Samuel McCune Lindsay (Series 1); photographs and postcards collected by J. W. T. Mason (Series 2); photographs donated by Katharine Becke (Series 3); Japanese Subjugation of Rehe Sheng (China) "Public Relations Photographs" (Series 4); and other postcards and photographs (Series 5). The majority of items were created and/or collected during the 1930s in Japan; however, the collection includes items created throughout the twentieth century as well as originating in neighboring countries such as China and Korea.