Stephen A. Schwarzman Building > Collections & Reading Rooms > The Asian and Middle Eastern Division

Research Level Collections

Subjects collected at a Research Level (R) are meant to support dissertation preparation and independent research. The Division's collections comprise grammars and dictionaries, a large number of periodical titles, scholarly monographs, encyclopedias, handbooks, the proceedings of learned societies, editions of texts in primary languages, excavation reports, and catalogs of other major Orientalist libraries. In most cases, we can offer a historical view of the development of the subject area, with large holdings of early (16th, 17th and 18th century) periodicals, grammars, scholarly monographs, travelers' accounts, early lithographs, etc. Intended users include authors preparing books, students writing PhD dissertations, university faculty members, and other advanced researchers.

Middle East Section

  • Islam
  • Arabic Language and Literature
  • Persian Language and Literature
  • Berber Language, Literature and Customs
  • Bahaism
  • Zoroastrianism
  • Egyptology
  • The Ancient Near East: Assyriology, Mesopotamian Archaeology, the Civilizations of Ancient Syria, Asia Minor, Iran.

South Asia Section

  • Hinduism
  • Jainism
  • Sikhism
  • Buddhism
  • Tibetan Language and Lamaism
  • Sanskrit Language and Literature
  • Tamil Language and Literature
  • Prakrit Language and Literature
  • Assamese Language and Literature
  • Archaeology, Anthropology and Folklore of South Asia

East Asia Section

  • Manchu Language and Literature
  • Tiananmen Archive
  • Islam in China
  • Buddhism in China
  • Japanese Archaeology
  • The Archaeology of Central Asia
  • Chinese Rare Books (Limited to the Division's holdings)
  • James Legge Materials
  • The Archaeology of South East Asia