Asian Studies Research Guide: Websites/Digital Collections

The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History pairs essays and works of art with chronologies, telling the story of art and global culture through the Museum’s collection.

The Library of Congress' digitized collection of prints and photographs

The World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.

A collection of over 42 million freely usable media files in the public domain and freely-licensed educational media content.

Database of Asian-specific images that can be used for educational purposes.

Explore images of architecture in cities throughout Asia

"The East Asian Collection includes historical images that present a visual archive of 20th century East Asian cultural heritage. Currently, the collection consists of images that document early 20th century China including the the Sino-Japanese Conflict (1937-1945), a visual history of Buddhist practices and temples in China, and other images of daily life in both rural and urban China."

Searchable collection of over 7500 photographs.

Collection of over seventy CIA National Intelligence Estimates on China which span the pivotal period from the Chinese civil war and the consolidation of the Communist regime through the upheavals of the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. It chronicles the struggles within the top leadership, the buildup of the Chinese military, and the evolution of the Sino-Soviet split.

1940/50s-present
China Vitae is a resource of biographical information on more than 4000 Chinese leaders in government, politics, the military, education, business, and the media.

Full-text image database providing online access to pre-World War II issues of four major government publications, namely, Administrative Report, Hong Kong Sessional Papers, Hong Kong Hansard and Hong Kong Government Gazette.

The National DietLibrary's online exhibition "Birth of the Constitution of Japan" presents the major events and important documents involved in the framing and enactment of Japan's Constitution.

Provides access to official documents of the Japanese Cabinet, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the Army and Navy.

Truman Library's collection focuses on The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb. It includes documents totaling almost 600 pages, covering the years 1945-1964.

Searchable collection of over 7000 photographs.

Collection of Formosan images and information.