ACMS has digitized the Tod Nomin Gerel Collection, in collaboration with the Tod Nomyn Gerel NGO and the Digital Library for International Research. The collection contains Oirat religious, historical and literary documents scanned from collections in Khovd and Bayan Ulgii Provinces in Mongolia. These texts are written in Clear Script Oirat, Tibetan and Classical Mongolian Script. The original materials are hand-made copies of originals created prior to the advent of photoduplicating machines, in a ritual that was performed up until the Socialist period (1920-1990). These ritual practices were abolished during the Socialist period and subsequent duplicating technology has made these rituals for the most part obsolete.
Inner Asia, a broad region consisting of Mongolia and parts of China, Russia and Central Asia, including Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Buryatia, Tuva and eastern Kazakhstan, is a region of the world that has often presented challenges to researchers due to its relative isolation and inaccessibility. Even today, with Mongolia’s relatively open environment, geographic constraints and the rarity of resources makes accessing primary sources difficult for both local and international researchers. The American Center for Mongolian Studies initiated the Inner Asia Digital Archive with the aim of providing scholars access to unique research materials and primary sources of information in cooperation with other local libraries. Funding support to establish the archive came from the US Department of Education TICFIA program, Digital Library for International Research, Flieshman Fellowship Program, and contributors to the ACMS Library Development Fund.
Check out this research guide on Archive Discovery to learn more!
