NLC to Enter into Alliance with Overseas Institutions to Preserve the Minguo Documents
THE NATIONAL Library of China has recently announced a plan to be fulfilled this year with regard to preservation and conservation of the historical documents of the Republic of China Period (1911~1949) in partnership with a number of foreign partners, such as the Stanford University, the National Archives of the United States and the British Library.
This announcement was made together with the ‘2012 Working Plan for Protection of the Historical Documents of the Republic of China Period’ that was adopted at a workshop attended by directors of the nationwide public libraries at the provincial level on February 24 which envisioned strengthened cooperation with overseas institutions.
The NLC has finalized its initial survey on the ‘Minguo’ literatures that are currently deposited abroad, such as in North America, Europe, Japan and Russia, and is now organising a field investigation and research later this year in these locations. A major event for this year will be the ‘International Seminar on Protection and Research of the Minguo Period Historical Documents’, which is scheduled in June and is being co-organised with 12 libraries and rare collection custodians in North America.
Cooperative projects will be conducted in 2012 aiming to: the Chinese revolutionary historical documents held by the East Asia Library of the Stanford University; the audiovisual materials of the Minguo period and the ‘Dixie Mission’ archives of the National Archives of the United States; the manuscripts and the early CPC and KMT archives kept by the Harvard-Yenching Library; the oral historical materials and the Republic of China celebrities’ archives of the Columbia University; the archives of the Chinese modern economic, trade, territory and Tibet affairs housed by the British Library’s Oriental and India Office; and the Minguo archives of Chinese Customs, commerce, foreign affairs and churches held by the School of the Oriental & African Studies of the University of London.
Programmes prioritized by the working plan also include, among others, the establishment of a national union catalogue system for the Minguo historical materials, a nationwide document census, formation of the standards and guidelines of preservation and conservation, selection of the first libraries where the pilot preservation projects are to be implemented, development of a unified investigation platform and a well-defined multi-level investigation mechanism, and the establishment of the evaluation framework for the participating libraries.
This announcement was made together with the ‘2012 Working Plan for Protection of the Historical Documents of the Republic of China Period’ that was adopted at a workshop attended by directors of the nationwide public libraries at the provincial level on February 24 which envisioned strengthened cooperation with overseas institutions.
The NLC has finalized its initial survey on the ‘Minguo’ literatures that are currently deposited abroad, such as in North America, Europe, Japan and Russia, and is now organising a field investigation and research later this year in these locations. A major event for this year will be the ‘International Seminar on Protection and Research of the Minguo Period Historical Documents’, which is scheduled in June and is being co-organised with 12 libraries and rare collection custodians in North America.
Cooperative projects will be conducted in 2012 aiming to: the Chinese revolutionary historical documents held by the East Asia Library of the Stanford University; the audiovisual materials of the Minguo period and the ‘Dixie Mission’ archives of the National Archives of the United States; the manuscripts and the early CPC and KMT archives kept by the Harvard-Yenching Library; the oral historical materials and the Republic of China celebrities’ archives of the Columbia University; the archives of the Chinese modern economic, trade, territory and Tibet affairs housed by the British Library’s Oriental and India Office; and the Minguo archives of Chinese Customs, commerce, foreign affairs and churches held by the School of the Oriental & African Studies of the University of London.
Programmes prioritized by the working plan also include, among others, the establishment of a national union catalogue system for the Minguo historical materials, a nationwide document census, formation of the standards and guidelines of preservation and conservation, selection of the first libraries where the pilot preservation projects are to be implemented, development of a unified investigation platform and a well-defined multi-level investigation mechanism, and the establishment of the evaluation framework for the participating libraries.
(Source: Chinanews.com)