Harvard-Yenching Library Collections


Basement-level Chinese stacks to be closed June 6 - September 14, 2008

Over the summer part of the compact shelving system in the basement-level Chinese stacks area of Harvard-Yenching Library will be replaced. 

From June 6 – September 14, 2008, the area will be off limits to patrons and to staff. 

Affected collections:

  • Chinese-language HY collection (100 - 9999 , including folio/oversize works)
  • Chinese-language LC collection from (C)A – (C)PL2680

            (LC = Library of Congress cataloging system; HY = Harvard-Yenching cataloging system)

The Korean and Vietnamese collections will NOT be affected.  Basement-level staff offices will also remain open.  See the Harvard-Yenching Library Map.

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we improve our facilities.  If there is anything we can do to facilitate your research given these limitations, please e-mail Access Services or the Reference Desk or call 617-495-2756.

Harvard-Yenching Library's collections stand at over one million volumes, including approximately 659,000 in Chinese, 296,000 in Japanese, 129,000 in Korean, 15,000 in Vietnamese, 47,000 in various Western languages, 4,300 in Tibetan, 3,500 in Manchu, and 500 in Mongolian. This year another 21,000 volumes were added to the collections.

In addition, the library subscribes to over 6,700 current periodicals and journals in the five distinct languages that the library is responsible for collecting, plus Chinese statistical yearbooks. The microform collection has grown to nearly 108,000 reels of microfilm or pieces of microfiche.

The Harvard-Yenching Library has become the third-largest library among all Harvard libraries on campus, after Widener Library and Harvard Law School Library.

In general, the collections share certain common characteristics in that for each country they provide comprehensive coverage of history, language and literature, philosophy and religion, fine arts, and sources for the study of the modern and contemporary periods in the social sciences. Each collection, however, has its own unique features.

Highlights of the library's collections include several hundred rare Japanese Buddhist scrolls; a group of Dongba (Naxi) manuscripts in pictographic script; an extensive collection of Chinese rubbings; a large set of Korean genealogies and collected writings; significant holdings of early Vietnamese newspapers; the archives of the Lingnan University Trustees (a missionary university in Canton originally known as the Canton Christian College) from 1884 to 1952; missionary works in Chinese, including translations of the Bible in different dialects; Manchu works of historical and literary interest; printings of 18th century Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhist texts; and collections of personal papers, including those of Hu Han-min, an early Kuomintang elder statesman; George A. Fitch, who was for many years associated with the YMCA and other missionary activities in China; and Joseph Buttinger, author and Vietnam specialist.

A Tiananmen Archive was established in the fall of 1989 that includes handbills, petitions, and pamphlets distributed by the demonstrators and the government, eyewitness reports, photographs, and videotapes. The library also holds the Hedda Morrison Photographs of China and the Rev. Claude L. Pickens, Jr. Collection on Muslims in China, as well as other sets of photographs from early 20th century Korea and China.