Felicity Shaw, Centre of Asian Studies The University of Hong Kong - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Felicity Shaw, Centre of Asian Studies The University of Hong Kong (fmshaw@hkucc.hku.hk)

• Bhutan’s first 5 year development plan

launched in 1961 with support from India

• National Library established in 1967 as part
• f a program to preserve & promote

Bhutan’s cultural heritage in the face of the modernisation process

• Core collection of around 120 religious texts

written in Choekey (classical Tibetan) first kept in a temple in the central tower of Trashichhodzong, the seat of government

• National Library moved to purpose-built

premises in 1984; Stack Building holding the books consecrated as a temple to provide appropriate environment for housing of religious texts

• By the 1990s a large collection of literary

treasures had been amassed & the principal works microfilmed; the Foreign Books collection (mainly works written in English) had grown a lot, too

Long-term twinning project between the National Library & the Royal Library, Denmark funded by Danish International Development Assistance (Danida)

Proje roject ct activities ivities to inc nclude lude

• compilation of online database
• scripture documentation survey
• research & translation projects
• conservation & restoration workshops
• study tours & staff training programs
• setting up a library network

Legal Deposit Act (1999) passed

National Library now had depository status as National Library & Archives of Bhutan

Archives Project coming soon . . .

National Archives are the identity of a country & must be made as comprehensive as possible to benefit the researchers and historians of future generations

An Another Da Danida ida-funded projec ject im impleme lemented by th the Royal L l Libr ibrary, , to to

• construct & fit out an Archives building to meet

international standards for storage of library & archival materials

• provide nominated staff with study tours &

professional & on-the-job training in archives management & related conservation activities

New building formally commissioned with a consecration ceremony in June, 2005

Stock transfer began only in March 2006, so as to allow time for the interior of the building to dry out & reach the humidity & temperature levels recommended for archival storage

Rare printing blocks moved to compact shelving Legal Deposit materials received daily (backlog 1999-2005 transferred in 2007) Choekey Collection reviewed & rarest works transferred Collection of letters of historical value begins 2006 Microfilm collection transferred 2006- 2007 (337 rolls comprising 1,250 rare works filmed since 1980s)

• Archivist surveyed the entire contents of the

Choekey Collection & transferred all very old &/or rare works to the Archives

• Some items were digitized too, including 14

serdrim (gold-letter manuscripts) dating from 12th to 20th century

Time line

• Mid-2006: Archivist began drafting the Act; several reviews

& revisions since then

• Late-2010: Drafting completed; text now undergoing fine-

tuning & final review

• Late-2011: Goal is to present National Archives Bill to the

second Parliamentary session of 2011

Mapping survey after Act passed

• Nationwide archival survey of all record-creating agencies

& repositories, including monasteries & temples

• Appraisal exercise to decide what records should be

collected up (or copied) for the Archives

Looking to the future

• Records Officers appointed in each division / ministry
• Archives staff train Records Officers to file & take care of

the records

• Guidelines drawn up concerning what kinds of records

should be retained for Archives once record is closed

• At later stages in development of the National Archives,

the majority of items will be secular in nature

Literary heritage conservation Archives policy

• Religious works to remain in their respective

monasteries, temples & private collections

• Archives staff to train caretakers in simple

conservation measures

• Valuable works to be digitized on site for Archives
• Works brought to Archives for conservation are to

be returned to their owners afterwards

• Valuable works to be transferred to Archives for

permanent safekeeping only if local conditions are clearly inadequate & no better arrangement can be made

• Any transfers to Archives to be made only with

consent of the local people

Long term aim is to maintain district archival centres

countrywide as foci for material to be collected up for the National Archives Symbolising the verbal body

• f the Buddha, the sacred

texts are very much treasured in their local communities

Four conservation workshops 2000-2009 under auspices of Danida Project

• Major workshops held 2005, 2007 & 2009 at the NLAB

Conservation Building, in 1st floor conservation studio fitted

• ut with Project funding – 15-20 attended each workshop
• Participants mainly from NLAB but also included staff from
• ther culture-related institutions, conservators from Dept of

Culture & several monks from monastic institutions

• As a result of the workshops, a core group has now gained

good insight into problems of preservation in general & also specifically for conditions in Bhutan Workshop facilitators suggested national preservation centre be established which would also be responsible for education in conservation & preservation in Bhutan

Assistant conservator has had specialised training

• Repair & conservation of archival materials (one month,

2007) in Conservation Section, National Archives of India

• Paper preservation (one month, 2009) in Department of

Preservation, the Royal Library, Denmark 2007 workshop participants

(photo Jonas Palm)

Transfer of old land records in 2010

Registers transferred from Home Ministry to Archives then digitized for both Home & the NLAB: 2 series: Digitizing was physically tiring & took a long time Records will be stored in a closed access section

• f the library server

Public will have limited access to the library’s digital records, with permission from Home on case-by-case basis

Marthram: survey of 1965-68, traditional plot size measurements Aethram: survey in 1970s-80s, plot size measured with a rope Marthram records

Restoration of Lhuentse serdrim

• Archivist initiated restoration of serdrim from Kilung Lhakhang,

eastern Bhutan; book digitized before conservation began

• Damaged parts of leaves were scraped away & replaced with

Bhutanese handmade paper which was later painted to match the original colour; this work took about two months Gold-lettered 352-leaf manuscript copy of Gyetongpa, (‘The 8,000 verses of transcendental wisdom’) the short version of Prajnaparamita sutra

• Afterwards, library

carver made upper & lower boards for the book, which had lacked the traditional protective covers

• Then the book was

wrapped up & tied between the new wooden boards

• The book was

returned to its lhakhang with advice for the caretaker on conditions required for proper storage Repaired leaf, to be painted later

Pema Lingpa wood-blocks conservation project I

In In 1488 Bhutan’s patro ron saint, t, Pema Lingpa pa fo founded d the monastic hermitag tage of Kunzang Drak Gompa, high gh on a cliffsi side de abov

• ve the

village e of his s birth in the Tang g va valley y of centra ral Bhut utan

(Photos Ariana Maki, National Museum of Bhutan)

Printing g blocks s fo for his autobi biogra graph phy, , believed d to have been carve ved d by by Pema Lingpa pa himse self, f, are preserved there re, , togeth ther r with ot

• ther

r sacred d relics

NLAB is now carving its

• wn blocks, using a copy

made from the Pema Lingpa set some years ago as template The work will take years to complete Finally, a new block-print edition on hand-made paper will be offered for sale to the public

Pema Lingpa wood-blocks conservation project II

Archivist went to Tang to check the condition of the 641 wood-blocks On returning to Thimphu, he arranged for the wood- blocks to be brought in for conservation Wood-blocks fumigated & digitized at NLAB then sent to conservation laboratory at Dept of Culture in Sept 2010 Condition of most blocks is good; main problem is woodworm; conservation to take about 12 months Blocks will be returned to Kunzang Drak afterwards & the caretaker advised

• n their proper storage

Assistant conservator Bumpa Dorje Assistant archivist Tshering Choki Digitizing/microfilming Nima Gyeltshen

Archivist’s wish list

Air conditioning technician IT & digitizing assistant

*****

Fixed digital camera setup for work at NLAB Portable digital-cum- microfilm camera for work on site Duplex scanner for processing less fragile loose- leaf material More archival storage boxes for wood-blocks Fumigation chamber upgrade

• Digitize items & make them electronically

available for public reference

• Microfilm records of all monasteries
• Archive Bhutan’s intangible culture,

especially the mask dances

Chief Archivist, Kunzang Delek

National Archives team