APSIG Newsletter [50] - November 2002

News and views

...from the National Library of Australia's Asian Collections

Marie Sexton's retirement

Marie took long service leave from 20 June prior to retiring after nearly 40 years at the library. She has been principal librarian in Asian Collections since August 1989. At the farewell morning tea in Asian Collections, the director-general Jan Fullerton paid tribute to Marie's long and dedicated service and her wide interest in promoting the good of the library as a whole. Gateways features an article on Marie's contribution to the library.

Asian Collections refurbishment

The Asian Collections Reading Room reopened on 23 May after a major refurbishment. The room, which had remained substantially unchanged since the building opened in 1968, has been modernised and upgraded to take advantage of new technologies and to provide a more attractive and welcoming environment for readers. New features include a long-term reader's room, a consultation room and a special room for access to online catalogues and other electronic resources. As part of these renovations the reference, newspaper and serial facilities were also upgraded. In addition the staff area has been refurbished.

Regional office, Jakarta

During April Oliver Mann attended the 10th Conference of Directors of National Libraries Asia and Oceania, followed by the World Library Summit in Singapore. Oliver returned to the library from 13 to 15 May for discussions with the Indonesian Unit staff, with International Relations, on budget matters and other topics.

Harold White Fellowship on Japan

Dr Keiko Tamura, a researcher at the Australian National University and the War Memorial began a five month Harold White Fellowship on 15 July. Keiko will be carrying out research on the interaction between Japanese and the foreign community in Japan, as reflected in the Harold S. Williams Collection at the National Library.

Harold White Fellowship on Burma

Colonial era Burma may evoke romantic images of pagodas and tropical seas as in Rudyard Kipling's famous poem The Road to Mandalay. A lecture on 2 May at the National Library painted a very different picture of Britain's treatment of Burma's people, Buddhist temples and royal palaces. In her Harold White Fellowship address Dr Penny Edwards graphically described how three wars and the desecration of key sites marked Britain's nineteenth century conquest of Burma.

Penny is a 2002 Harold White Fellow at the National Library. She has worked for the United Nations and Amnesty International, and is currently attached to the Centre for Cross Cultural Research at the Australian National University.

Following her lecture, Penny also gave a staff talk on 28 May and was farewelled on 31 May. Although she has now completed her Fellowship, she continues to be a regular reader in Asian Collections.

Additions to the Harold S Williams Collection

The National Library has just received 10 albums of photographs, which provide a fascinating insight into the life of the foreign community in Japan. They belonged to Harold S Williams (1898-1987) an Australian businessman, writer and collector, who spent most of his adult life in Japan. Williams developed an outstanding library of books, manuscripts, pictures, serials and other materials on the history of foreigners in Japan and the interaction between Japan and the West. He donated his collection to the National Library, and also established a trust in perpetuity for its maintenance and development. His wife Jean Williams (1909-1999) later donated further papers, pictures and books.

The photographs were taken between the 1920s and 1980s. They relate particularly to the Kobe area where Harold and Jean Williams lived for many years. In addition to photographs of family and friends, their houses and gardens, there are group portraits of staff from many nationalities at the companies with which Harold Williams was associated. Social activities included dinners, dance parties, sporting occasions and visits to the beach. Historical events such as the terrible Tokyo earthquake of 1923 are shown in graphic detail. The Williams family travelled extensively. The albums contain views from around Japan, East Asia and many other countries.

Peter Williams, son of Harold and Jean Williams, has donated these albums along with various papers by his father and a number of publications. Peter Williams has also passed on copies of the two-volume collection of writings by his parents West Meets East - the Foreign Experience of Japan, to be made available to any interested individuals or institutions.

Peter and his wife Mac Williams recently visited the National Library to present these materials. While at the library they met Dr Keiko Tamura, a researcher at the Australian National University and the Australian War Memorial, who will be undertaking a Harold White Fellowship from July 2002 on the Harold S Williams Collection. She was most interested in the detailed background to the collection that Peter and Mac Williams provided.

Special gift of Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru papers

Visitors to the Treasures from the World's Great Libraries exhibition will recall seeing an original letter written by modern India's most revered leader, Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948). The National Library of India lent this for Treasures. The recipient of Gandhi's letter was another major figure in the Indian independence movement, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru (1875-1949).

As it happens the National Library of Australia has just received an important gift of Sapru's papers and related materials from the eminent Australian scholar, Professor Anthony Low. The collection consists largely of photocopies of Sapru's correspondence. The originals are housed at the National Library of India in Calcutta. In Professor Low's words the Sapru Collection 'constitutes one of the major collections for the study of the Indian national movement for independence especially between 1920 and 1950.'

Sapru was India's most distinguished constitutional lawyer and played a major role in efforts to fashion constitutional reforms towards an independent India. Although he broke away from the main Indian National Congress in 1917 and disagreed with Gandhi's civil disobedience tactics towards the colonial rulers, he was greatly respected by Gandhi and other Congress leaders as well as by the British. He played a crucial role in mediating between the two sides between the 1920s and 1940s.

The original Sapru Papers in Calcutta run to 105 volumes in two series arranged by alphabetical order of correspondent. These volumes have also been microfilmed. Professor Low's gift consists of photocopies from the microfilm version reordered chronologically, as being a more useful arrangement for historians.

The donation also includes other Indian materials, in particular, copies of private papers from some of Sapru's Indian and British contemporaries and Low's own copies and notes for the period 1916 to 1944 from the records of the Home Department, Political Branch, which was the key colonial government department confronting the Indian national movement.

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