Introduction:

In February 2001, the Subcommittee on Japanese Rare Book Cataloging Guidelines under the CEAL Committee on Japanese Materials, with Toshie Marra (Chair), Hideyuki Morimoto, and Reiko Yoshimura as members, conducted a survey, Access to Japanese Old and Rare Materials in Academic Libraries and Museums in North America, in order to investigate the availability and cataloging status of the North American collections of old and rare Japanese publications, manuscripts, and single sheet items (maps, prints, etc.) that were produced before the introduction of machine printing in the early Meiji period (1868-1912). From various lists, the Subcommittee members identified 115 institutions possibly holding such materials. A survey form was directly sent to these institutions by email via individual librarians and curators in charge of Japanese collections, or institutions' web masters, or by mail when email addresses of contact persons were not available. Among the 44 responding institutions, 32 including 11 museums collectively reported holding of over 42,000 volumes of old and rare Japanese printed books/manuscripts and 17,000 single sheet items, many of which remain inaccessible in online union catalogs such as OCLC WorldCat and RLIN.

Recognizing that it would be notably a time- and resource-consuming venture for each holding institution to make all these old and rare materials accessible by means of cataloging and also that libraries and museums often apply different modes of organization and access to their resources, the Subcommittee considered a transitory, alternative solution that would somehow improve accessibility to these specialized resources-this was the basic conception for the present project of compiling and widely distributing a directory of North American collections of old and rare Japanese books and print materials, so that anyone interested in studying these materials could contact the appropriate persons at specific holding institutions. Consequently in fall 2002, the Subcommittee conducted another survey, Survey on Japanese Rare Book and Material Collection in North America, through which we collected a variety of useful information including contact persons, description of collections of old and rare Japanese materials, the material availability for research and reproduction, and the availability of online access as well as printed catalogs and other relevant publications on these collections.

The 2002 survey received a total of 53 responses: seven reported not holding any collections of old and rare Japanese materials; 43 (23 academic institutions, 14 museums, and one personal collection, in addition to the Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine, and 3 collections from of the New York Public Library) reported holding such collections and were willing to participate in the present directory project; and three reported holding these materials without, however, being able to participate in the project at this time. Of the 14 museums listed in the Directory, four are affiliated with academic universities. It should also be mentioned that three rare collection holding institutions that had participated in the 2001 survey did not respond at this time. To summarize the two surveys, 49 ¹ institutions including 18 museums and one person in North America declared holding collections of old and rare Japanese books, manuscripts, and/or single sheet items produced before the introduction of machine printing. While neither of these two recent surveys confirmed availability of such collections, it was reported that at least four² more institutions hold these materials as well. Thus it can be assumed that at least 53 North American institutions, including 19 museums, hold collections of old and rare Japanese materials in a variety of scale and characteristics.

Through the 2002 survey, 43 collections collectively reported holding of at least 57,888 volumes of old and rare Japanese printed books and manuscripts, and 39,432 single sheet items. The reason why the total title count cannot be derived from the survey in each category of printed books and manuscripts is that not all institutions could provide separately accurate numbers in titles and volumes. Some institutions answered only in titles count, while others did so solely in volumes. There were also institutions that were unable to provide any number of holdings, although they confirmed holding such materials. In other cases, institutions provided only total holdings combining books and manuscripts without differentiating these two categories. Moreover, we also anticipate that the responding institutions might have counted certain types of materials differently. For instance, when original format of these materials was altered in the process of rebinding, the volume numbers of such materials might have been counted inconsistently by responding institutions, i.e., the present physical volume count versus original volume count. Considering all these factors, the above-quoted figures were minimum estimates, and the actual numbers of holdings of the 43 collections in volumes count for old and rare Japanese printed books and manuscripts and in sheet count for single sheet items should be certainly much larger than these numbers indicate. Among the 57,862 volumes, 9,735 volumes were identified as manuscripts.

To the question whether or not the materials are available for researchers' viewing or examination, most of the institutions responded "available" or "available by appointment," although four institutions did not specify their collections availability. When making an appointment is recommended, it is often related with the storage situation of these materials-for instance, the materials might be located at special storage rooms where better preservation and tighter security are provided. As to the question regarding the possibility of material reproduction, many institutions indicated to offer conditional permission for various methods of reproduction, including photocopying, color transparencies, slides, photography, digital photography, digital files, microfilming, and scanning, by researchers themselves or by the staff, or through arrangement of commercial reproductions services. Some institutions set more strict rules for reproduction than others, including a case in which no reproduction is permitted at all. Other institutions indicated the availability of microfilms, printed reproductions, and digital images of their rare holdings, from which researchers can easily make reproductions. Some institutions also mentioned future planning of microfilming and digitization of their rare holdings.

This Directory was compiled in collaboration with three members of the Subcommittee on Japanese Rare Books³ and 43 constituents that submitted their survey response on time. In order to keep certain consistency between entries in the directory, the Subcommittee members edited some areas where possible. Otherwise, original statements were preserved as they were given in the survey responses. It is our hope that this Directory will become a useful tool for anyone interested in making research on these precious resources that were produced in Japan a long time ago and taken to this continent across the ocean.

Compilation principle:

The scope of this Directory is collections in North America of Japanese printed books, manuscripts, and items in single-sheet format (maps, prints, ukiyoe prints, etc.) produced before the introduction of machine printing in the early Meiji period. Entries of described collections are in the current names as established in the Library of Congress Name Authority File (NAF) or, in case of heading unavailability in the File, as formulated through application of AACR2 4/LCRI 5. Cross-references are made from major variant names to each corresponding entry form. When a collection name is entered directly, as per NAF and ACR2/LCRI instructions, while organizational hierarchy is involved, the full subordination structure is juxtaposed as a "see from" reference for users' ready recognition. An alphabetical index is appended at the end to entries as well as major variants of described collections and to other significant personal as well as corporate body names mentioned in the Directory text.

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¹ Those 6 institutions that declared with either survey holding collections of old and rare Japanese materials but are not listed in the present directory are Honolulu Academy of Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, University of California, Irvine, and University of California, San Francisco.
² They are Indiana University (Robert G. Sewell, "Old and Rare Japanese Books in U.S. Collections," College & Research Libraries (May 1978): 197-206), Field Museum in Chicago (Ibid.), Hinomoto Library in Los Angeles (Tsuen-hsuin Tsien, "Current Status of East Asian Collections in American Libraries," Appendix, Journal of Asian Studies 36-3 (May 1977): 499-514), and University of Michigan (Ibid.).
³ The name has been officially changed in August 2003 from the Subcommittee on Japanese Rare Book Cataloging Guidelines to the Subcommittee on Japanese Rare Books, which reflects the change of charges given to the Subcommittee over the years of service.
4Anglo-American cataloguing rules, 2nd ed., 2002 revision (Chicago, Ill.: American Library Association, 2002- )
5Library of Congress. Office for Descriptive Cataloging Policy, ed., Library of Congress rule interpretations, 2nd ed. (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1990- )

Created by Gabriela Lopez, University of Arizona
Last updated: January 2004