The Stanford East Asia Library contains unique concentrations of materials in the vernacular relating to the cultural, social and political movements of China and Japan in the twentieth century. As many scholars who have used these materials attest, considerable segments of these collections are likely to be unique or rarely held in North American libraries. Other preeminent East Asian collections in the US may have great strengths in earlier periods, but the concentration of materials on 20th century movements make these collections a unique research resource in the U.S.

Chinese Collection:
Examples of special materials covered deeply and richly, previously represented only by cards and in printed catalogs are:

• History of the Chinese Communist Party; one of the most extensive collections in North America
• Chinese Student Movement (1927-1937);
• Chinese Labor Movements (1919-1927); and strong holdings in rural markets, railroads, urban banks, and the leasing and renting of land in villages;
• Other areas of Chinese history covered in great depth are
• Hundred-day reform, 1898
• Boxer rebellion,1900
• Revolution,1911
• Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945
• People=92s communes, 1957-1959
• Cultural Revolution, 1966-1975
• Local history (Canton, Shanghai, others)
• Kuomintang,1912-1970
• Central Government gazetteers and journals, pre-1949 as well as academic journals pre-1949 (13,000 titles, reputed to be most comprehensive collection in US East Asian libraries);
• About 5,500 unique or rare titles that have been microfilmed on subjects such as:
  
  • Puppet Regime in the North, headed by Wang Ching-Wei
  • Student-Workers Program in Europe led by the CCP, 1919-1924
  • Military Campaigns, Civil War, 1946-1949
  • Chinese Women, 1910-1937
  • May Fourth Movement, 1919
  • Chinese Warlord Period, 1919-1930

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The Japanese collection:
Areas of particular strength here include, as does the Chinese collection, history, politics, law, economics, public finance, sociology, statistics, education, defense, industry, and agriculture. Listed below are some of the most important specialized collections existing as manual records. The first three listed may have up to seventy-five percents of their holdings in card format only.

• The EAL's holdings on communism, socialism and ultranationalism in the 1920s through the 1940s are known internationally for their depth and are probably the best in the United States; a collection of over 2,400 serial titles includes many left-wing journals of the 1920s and their right-wing counterparts of the 1930s and 1940s. Approximately 1,500 of these periodical titles are not represented online.
  
• Labor and tenant movements, especially during the 1910's and 1930's, are quite comprehensive and perhaps the best in the United States.
  
• Japanese colonies, 1895-1945
  1. The EAL is renowned for its comprehensive holdings on pre-war Sino-Japanese relations and Japan's colonial activities in China.
  2. Japanese occupation of Manchuria, including publications of the South Manchurian Railway Company in the 1920's and 1940's, and the puppet Manchukuo government.
  3. Other colonies such as Korea, Taiwan and Southeastern Asia.
     
• Comprehensive collection of biographical materials of prominent political figures in the modern period (mid-1860's +)
  
• Substantial holdings on postwar Japan, including white papers, journals, newspapers, and business histories
  
• Microfilm archives of leading Meiji statesmen as well as large microfilm sets dealing with Japan=92s social, economic and educational changes during the 1860=92s through the 1940=92s, all of which are currently held by only one or two other North American Libraries. Less than twenty percent (approximately 170 titles) of the microfilm collection is available online.
  
• Other areas covered in great depth, whose holdings may only be half online, are:
  
  • History
  • Meiji Restoration, 1853-1870
  • Meiji Period, 1868-1912
  • Taisho Democracy, 1920's
  • Showa Period, 1926-1989
  • Sino-Japanese Conflict, 1937-1945 Personal Narratives, Japanese
  • Local History, Central (especially Nagano Prefecture) and Northern Japan
  • National security, defense, and military history
  • Sino-Japanese War, 1894-1895
  • Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905
  • Sino-Japanese Conflict, 1937-1945
  • Okinawa Reversion, 1945-1970's
  • US military bases in Japan
  • Education
  • Educational policy
  • History of Higher Education
  • Elementary and middle school textbooks, 1860's, 1940's
  • Minorities
  • Buraku people
  • Koreans in Japan
  • Women's journals during the 1860's and 1940's
  • Small Business
  • Gray Literature (pre-1945 central and local government publications (most of which are rarely held by North American libraries; and held by only a few libraries in Japan.)

For more information contact:
Paul H. Thomas
Head, Area Studies Resource Group
Stanford University Libraries
Stanford, CA 94305-6004
(650) 723-2054
phthomas@sulmail.stanford.edu
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/asrg/eal.html


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