Welcome to my ever-expanding list of resources. It focuses on the areas of research and fields I participate in. It is by no means complete and I will continue to update this list of resources. Feel free to comment or make suggestions.
The sections of this page include:
Southeast Asian Studies
Dutch Colonial History
Portuguese Colonial History
Southeast Asian History
World History
Southeast Asian Studies
Research Centers and Southeast Asian Studies Programs
The United States currently has eight Southeast Asia National Resource Centers. These centers host graduate programs in Southeast Asian Studies, organize Southeast Asia research projects and programs, and attract scholars interested in the region as student and professors. The libraries of these center’s universities maintain extensive collections of Southeast Asia- related scholarship and sources. These centers are (alphabetically):
Cornell University
Northern Illinois University
University of California – Berkeley
University of California – Los Angeles
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
University of Michigan
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin – Madison
In addition to those eight NRC centers, other universities host centers, councils, and/or graduate programs in Southeast Asian Studies. These universities include namely Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, Arizona State University, and Ohio University.
Outside of the United States, a number of universities host well-regarded Southeast Asia research centers and programs. In Europe, there are centers and programs at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Oxford University, Leiden University, Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), and the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS). In Canada, University of British Columbia and University of Toronto have Southeast Asia-related programs. In Australia, Australia National University and the University of Sydney have centers as well. Kyoto University in Japan is seen as major international center of Southeast Asian Studies.
In Southeast Asia, a few universities have regional research centers. National University of Singapore has a well-established reputation as a center of Southeast Asian Studies scholarship. The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) is also located in Singapore. In the past two decades, Southeast Asia Studies programs and centers have spread across the region. In Thailand, Chulalongkorn University and Thammasat University have now established Southeast Asian Studies programs. In Indonesia, Gadjah Mada University and University of Indonesia have Southeast Asia Studies programs and centers. Additionally, in Jakarta, there is the Center for Southeast Asian Studies Indonesia. In Malaysia, University of Malaya has a Southeast Asian Studies program. And, in the Philippines, Southeast Asian Studies programs are found at Ateneo de Manila University and University of the Philippines – Diliman. This list does not include the numerous programs that exist within the countries of Southeast Asia that focus on their own countries (ie. Philippines Studies in the Philippines).
Southeast Asia Journals
Archipel
Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde
Contemporary Southeast Asia
Explorations: A Graduate Student Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
IKAT: The Indonesian Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
Indonesia and the Malay World
Journal of Asian Studies
Journal of Southeast Asia Studies
Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia Research
TRaNs: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia
Dutch Colonial History/East India Company
There is a terrific amount of online resources for scholars interested in researching the Dutch Colonial Empire, including the Netherlands East India Company or Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC).
Nationaal Archief (NA): The Dutch National Archives are physically located in The Hague. Yet, they maintain a substantial online inventory of their documents. Additionally, many of their primary sources have been digitized. All of their VOC items have been digitized. In 2020, the National Archives made most of their VOC archives available online. In 2021, an additional search tool for transcribed Dutch colonial documents was developed by a Leiden University lecturer.
Towards a New Age Partnership (TANAP): TANAP is a multi-national program that links the various archives in the Netherlands, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, South Africa, and the United Kingdom which hold VOC-related documents. They maintain a database of VOC documents and VOC inventories from the various archives.
Huygens ING: The Huygens Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis (Institute for the History of the Netherlands) is a research institute in the Netherlands that publishes primary sources and engages in the digital humanities. Their “Resources” page has links to their published primary sources, some of which can be downloaded as pdf.
Historici.nl (in Dutch): This website is designed for anyone interested in the history of the Netherlands. Their “Resources” page has links to many available digital resources from a great number of archives and institutes.
Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren (dbnl) (in Dutch): The Digital Library for Dutch Literature is a digital depository of Dutch language literature and texts. Many historically significant texts can be found at this site and downloaded. It is joint project between the Dutch Language Union (de Taalunie), the Flemish Heritage Libraries (de Vlamse Erfgoedbibliotheken), and the Royal Library in The Hague (de Koninklijke Bibliotheek te Den Haag).
Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde (KITLV): The Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies is a Dutch research institute that focuses on Indonesia and the “Dutch” Caribbean through its research projects, initiatives, and publications. KITLV’s extensive collections have been entrusted to the library of neighboring Leiden University.
Leiden University Library: The library of Leiden University in the Netherlands has also digitized a great amount of manuscripts from across the world and from Indonesia, specifically.
Sejarah Nusantara: Sejarah Nusantara is a project based at National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia, ANRI) which aims to make that archive’s VOC documents digitally available. The website includes diplomatic letters between the VOC and local polities and entries from the daily journals of Batavia Castle, among other items.
Atlas of Mutual Heritage: The Atlas of Mutual Heritage is a database with information, maps, drawings, prints, paintings, and photos of locations relating to the VOC and the West-Indische Compagnie (WIC). These images are plotted on an interactive map of the world which aptly visualizes the global presence of the VOC and WIC between the early 17th and late 18th centuries.
Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen: This digital collection includes items from the Netherlands’ Tropenmuseum, Afrika Museum, Museum Volkenkunde, and Wereldmuseum.
De VOCsite (in Dutch): The VOC site is a general information site on VOC history, forts, ships, personnel, and related works.
VOC Kenniscentrum (in Dutch): The “VOC Knowledge Center” is a general information site on VOC terminology, chambers, ships, provinces, and maps.
Portuguese Colonial History
There a quite a few sources on Portuguese colonial history online. Unfortunately, there are very few sources that are in English.
Portal Português de Arquivos (in Portuguese): This governmental website of Portugal offers a search engine for documents in the country’s numerous archives. If the search yields a result, the database provides information on which archive holds that resource.
Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo (in Portuguese): The National Archive of Torre do Tombo is the national archive of Portugal. You can access its database directly here. Photographs of some sources have been uploaded.
Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (in Portuguese): The Overseas Historical Archives maintains collections of sources which are primarily concerned with Portuguese international relations and overseas expansion from the seventh century up until 1975.
Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal: The National Library of Portugal website provides information on its collections. Its “Digital Library” page (in Portuguese) includes a great number of historically significant works of literature and manuscripts, including chronicles and reports concerning Portuguese overseas expansion and administration.
Portal de Archivos Españoles (in Spanish): The Portal of Spanish archives provides links and databases for the numerous archives in Spain. From 1580 to 1640, the Kingdom of Portugal and the Spanish Crown were joined in a dynastic union under Spanish Habsburgs. During this time, many documents relating to the Portuguese Empire were sent to archives in what is present-day Spain, including the General Archives of the Indies (Archivo General de Indias) in Seville.
Heritage of Portuguese Influence Portal (HPIP): Património de Influência Portuguesa is an interactive database of the historical heritage of the Portuguese Empire across the globe. The website contains overviews of regions that were colonized by Portugal or frequented by sailors, merchants, missionaries, and other individuals or groups affiliated with Portugal. It also includes images and description of particular sites of interest.
Early Modern Southeast Asian History
Southeast Asian Visions: Cornell University’s Southeast Asian Visions project provides access to its collection of European travel accounts of Southeast Asia.
DREAMSEA: The acronym DREAMSEA stands for “Digital Repository of Endangered and Affected Manuscripts in Southeast Asia”. This program continues to digitize and make publicly available manuscripts from the region. It is jointly run by State Islamic University in Jakarta and the University of Hamburg.
Researching Colonial History of the Malay World like a Millennial: Research Colonial History of the Malay World represents a bold attempt to catalog online resources related to the study of Maritime Southeast Asian histories. The site is primarily dedicated to the research of this region during the 19th and 20th centuries, but does include some links to resources from earlier periods.
Malay Concordance Project: The Malay Concordance Project is an online project that shares resources for the study of classical Malay literature. It features a search engine for words in the major pieces of classical Malay literature and bibliographic information on those pieces. Unfortunately, they are unable to provide full downloadable texts of those pieces of literature.
Southeast Asia Historical Maps: Southeast Asia Historical Maps is an online collection of maps of pre-1900s Southeast Asia. This project is present by Yale-NUS College in Singapore.
Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu: The Ming Shi-lu (明實錄) is the collective name for the successive reign annals of the emperors of China’s Ming Dynasy (1368-1644). This online resource is dedicated to the Southeast Asia-related entries in these texts and provides an English translation of the texts.
The national archives of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore (in alphabetical order) also hold documents and information that is relevant to my fields of research.
World History
World History, as a field, inherently overlaps with many fields of history. Yet, there are some defining characteristics. World History scholars analyze events, themes, and processes from a broad geographic perspective. They generally de-emphasize individual states, locations, and cultures. Instead, they observe and write histories of peoples, items, ideas, and consequences which travel across regions. There is a great introduction for what World History scholars seek to accomplish on the World History Association website.
World History Journals
Journal of World History
Journal of Global History
Benjamin L. Moseley 