LibGuides: History Resources: Asia

In addition to consulting the resources listed here, visit Tredway Library's research guide for Asian studies.

Primary Sources for Asian History

Asia for Educators
"An initiative of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University, Asia for Educators (AFE) is designed to serve faculty and students in world history, culture, geography, art, and literature at the undergraduate and pre-college levels." Includes timelines, primary sources, and other resources.
Chinese Propaganda Posters
"Over 2,750 Chinese propaganda posters are shown on this website, with information about their history, background and design." The posters are from "the collections of Stefan Landsberger (Leiden University, University of Amsterdam), the International Institute of Social History (IISH, Amsterdam, Netherlands), and an anonymous private collector."
East Asia Image Collection
"The East Asia Image Collection (EAIC) is an open-access archive of digitized photographs, negatives, postcards, rare books and slides under the general editorship of Paul D. Barclay, Associate Professor of History at Lafayette College, in partnership with staff at Digital Scholarship Services and Special Collections & College Archives." Scroll down to find a search box; scroll further to find collections of images related to various topics.
International Military Tribunal for the Far East
"The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), informally known as the Tokyo War Crimes trial, lasted two and a half years, from April 29, 1946 to November 12, 1948. … Established to try Japanese officials involved with perpetrating World War II, the IMTFE set a greater precedence for international law than Nuremberg yet is relatively under-studied in comparison." From the UVA Law Library and the Virginia Historical Society, "these roughly 7,000 documents consist of personal papers from members of the prosecution and defense sections, official IMTFE records, newspaper clippings, photographs, and other related trial materials."
MIT Visualizing Cultures
Focusing primarily on Asia, "Visualizing Cultures weds images and scholarly commentary in innovative ways to illuminate social and cultural history." From the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
PRCHistory.org
From the PRC History Group, this page links a large variety of documents, a number of them in English, related to the People's Republic of China.
Virtual Cities Project
The Virtual Cities Project works with images and spatial information to advance historical research about urban areas. Links in small print on the top of the page point to collections of maps, images, media, and texts. A list on the bottom of this page links the various cities, many of them in China, included on the site; the portion on Shanghai is the best-developed.
World Digital Library
Digitized primary source documents, images, and more from libraries and cultural heritage institutions from across the globe. "Launched in 2009, the World Digital Library (WDL) was a project of the U.S. Library of Congress, with the support of UNESCO, and contributions from libraries, archives, museums, educational institutions, and international organizations around the world."

Asian News Sources

Chinese Newspapers (1832-1953) This link opens in a new window
What's included?
*Full coverage related to Chinese political and social life from 1832 to 1953
Jerusalem Post (1932-2008) This link opens in a new window
What's included?
*Full coverage from 1932 to 2008
Korean Times (1956-2016) This link opens in a new window
The oldest of three English-language newspapers published daily in South Korea.
South China Morning Post (1903-2001) This link opens in a new window
The South China Morning Post is renowned for its authoritative and influential reporting on Hong Kong, China and all of Asia. Founded in 1903 by Alfred Cunningham and Tse Tsan-tai, a key figure in the Chinese revolt against the last imperial Qing Dynasty at the turn of the 20th century, the newspaper became a platform for advocating the reform movement in China.
Times of India (1838-2011) This link opens in a new window
The oldest English-language newspaper in India, and the second-oldest Indian newspaper still in circulation, with its first edition published in 1838.
NewspaperArchive This link opens in a new window
NewspaperArchive is a collection of smaller newspapers from around the world. Most global papers are in the local language (not English). To limit to papers from Asia, click "Go to Advanced Search" then use the "Narrow by Location" feature.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni provides full-text access to over 15,000 news, business, and legal sources, including access to international news. To narrow your news results to sources from a particular country, go to the grey sidebar on the left of your search results. Under "location by publication," select "international," then the continent/region, then the name of the country.

OnlineNewspapers.com: Asian & Middle Eastern Newspapers
This website collects various Asian newspaper sources. Click the name of the country you are researching to find a list of newspapers with links to their websites. The language(s) of each paper is indicated.
Historical Worldwide Newspapers Online: Asia
This LibGuide from Bowling Green State University links historical Asian newspapers that are free online.

Other Major English-Language News Sources

Globe and Mail (1844-2020) This link opens in a new window
What's included?
*Full coverage from 1844 to 2020
Guardian and the Observer (1791-2003) This link opens in a new window
What's included?
*Full coverage from 1791 to 2003
Historical Chicago Tribune (1849-1997) This link opens in a new window
What's included?
*Full coverage is from 1849 to 1997
*For more recent coverage, go to US Newsstream
Historical New York Times (1851-2017) This link opens in a new window
What's included?
*Full coverage is from 1851 to 2017
*For more recent coverage, go to US Newsstream
Toronto Star (1894-2021) This link opens in a new window
What's included?
*Full coverage from 1894 to 2021
US Newsstream This link opens in a new window
What's included?
*Full coverage from national and international newspapers from 1980 to present
*Newspapers include, but limited to:
1. Boston Globe
2. Chicago Tribune
3. Denver Post
4. Los Angeles Times
5. New York Times
6. Washington Post
7. Wall Street Journal

The following books collect major primary source documents, translated into English, from countries/regions of Asia. They're a great place to start for the most important primary sources related to the topic you are researching.

Sources of Chinese Tradition by Wm. Theodore de Bary, Irene Bloom, and Richard Lufrano, eds.
Call Number: DS703 .D4 2000 vol. 1 & 2 (3rd floor)
Publication Date: 1999
Consult the table of contents for volume 1 (From Earliest Times to 1600) and volume 2 (From 1600 through the Twentieth Century) on Google Books to determine whether the collection includes sources on your topic.
Sources of Japanese Tradition by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Yoshiko Kurata Dykstra, eds.
Call Number: DS821 .S68 2001 vol. 1 & 2 (3rd floor)
Publication Date: 2001
Consult the table of contents for volume 1 (From Earliest Times to 1600) and volume 2 (1600-2000) on Google Books to determine whether the collection includes sources on your topic.
Sources of Tibetan Tradition by Kurtis R. Schaeffer, Gray Tuttle, and Matthew T. Kapstein, eds.
Call Number: DS785 .A37 2013 (3rd floor)
Publication Date: 2013
Consult the table of contents on Google Books to determine whether the collection includes sources on your topic.
Sources of East Asian Tradition by Wm. Theodore de Bary, ed.
Call Number: DS509.3 .S677 2008 vol. 1 & 2 (3rd floor)
Publication Date: 2008
Consult the table of contents for volume 1 (Premodern Asia) and volume 2 (The Modern Period) on Google Books to determine whether the collection includes sources on your topic.

Tredway Library and I-Share have a large variety of books--both print and electronic--that you may wish to consult as primary sources. In OneSearch (below), begin at the Advanced Search screen and limit to "Library holdings only" for books at Augustana or "All I-Share libraries" to search across Illinois.

Search by author to find a book by a prominent historical figure. Example:

Screenshot of a search at the Advanced Search screen. "Gandhi" is typed in the top box. "Author/Creator" is selected in the first drop-down menu.

To find an edited collection of primary sources on a historical topic, search the topic in one box (keep the topic broad!) and the word "sources" as a Subject in the other box. Example:

Screenshot of a search at the Advanced Search screen. "Japan" is typed in the top box. "Sources" is typed in the box below; "Subject" has been selected in the second drop-down menu to the left.