Brown University Library’s East Asian Collection provides over 200,000 print volumes in East Asian languages, including about 164,000 volumes in Chinese, 31,000 volumes in Japanese, and 10,000 volumes in Korean, in addition to numerous print and electronic serials, e-books, databases, and other formats. The East Asian Collection is mainly focused on the humanities and social sciences, with particular strength in linguistics, literature, history, philosophy, religion, art, archeology, economics, sociology, political science, and education.
The Library has significant holdings of rare and unique historic materials in both Rockefeller Library’s Gardner Room (311) and at the John Hay Library. The 256 Chinese rare books in the collection published before the end of the Qing dynasty (1912) are described in detail in An Illustrated Catalogue of Ancient Chinese Books in the Brown University Library by Dr. Li Wang, the Curator of the East Asian Collection.
Collection History
In 1961, Sinologist Charles Sidney Gardner (1900-66) donated 35,000 volumes from his personal library to Brown University. The majority of the books were in Chinese, including a large number of classical texts, along with Japanese and English materials. The Gardner Collection, as it was first known, was renamed the East Asian Collection in the early 1980s recognizing the significant growth of Japanese and Korean acquisitions.
Access the Collection
Most of the East Asian Collection’s physical materials are located on the third floor of the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library in the open stacks, the adjacent East Asian Reference Area, and in the Gardner Room. Western-language works related to East Asian studies are also available in the open book stacks. Current East Asian journals are located on the first floor.
Circulating and reference materials in the stacks are accessible when the Rockefeller Library is open (see Libraries and Hours).
The Gardener Room collections are accessible during regular staff hours Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., or by appointment.
BruKnow, the online library catalog, supports searching in both Romanized and original vernacular language scripts.
Research Services and Resources
Public services, reference, and research consultation for the East Asian Collection are provided by Dr. Li Wang, Curator, and Toshiyuki Minami, Senior Library Expert, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in Rockefeller Library room 311, and via email, and through live chat.