Pali MS in Burma (report)

The following observations on Pali MS in Burma (and the recent history of
libraries generally) is worth reading --it is the most interesting part of a
longer article that can be found here:
http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla65/papers/119-102e.htm
E.M.
  ---------------------------------
Burma (Myanmar).
Library conditions in Burma were described in 1968 by Palle Birkelund,
reporting for UNESCO. Birkelund described well-organized libraries,
competent personnel, and remarkable recovery from World War II 3. The
premier library in the capital, the Universities' Central Library, had been
almost completely destroyed by bombing during the war, along with two of the
college libraries, resulting in the loss of research materials and valuable
scholarly notes. For example, scholar Gordon Luce lost the fruits of
twenty-five years of research when the Japanese looted the collection, and
the later monsoons destroyed what remained after Allied bombing 4. Birkelund
commented on the need for better environmental controls, insect fumigation,
and trained "book binders and restorers" to begin the conservation of
manuscripts and other library materials.

Ten years later, a report to UNESCO on the preservation of manuscripts in
Burma, produced by V. Raghavan, described a much more desperate situation,
with manuscript collections being rapidly diminished because of humidity,
insects, lack of trained personnel, official indifference and neglect 5.
Raghavan recommended a series of actions that would have resulted in
substantial improvements and a slowdown in the rate of loss. In particular,
he recommended that conservation facilities be established to treat damaged
and deteriorated manuscripts, and drafted specific plans for improved
environmental conditions. Referring to an unpublished UNESCO survey of
Burmese manuscripts in 1956-57, Raghavan urged that a union catalogue of
manuscripts be developed to encourage inventory control and to deter theft.

In general, little has been done to implement Raghavan's suggestions, either
in preservation or bibliographic control, and there are indications that the
situation continues to deteriorate further. Thousands of manuscripts have
been stolen from Burmese libraries and temples, and are offered for sale as
curios in the tourist antique shops and markets of Thailand. In a June 1994
report, Peter Skilling and H.K. Kuloy described their efforts to rescue a
few of these manuscripts by purchase in the markets of Thailand, noting that
they had managed to save, "750 palm leaf manuscripts in Pali or mixed
Pali-Burmese, 18 bundles of Khun palm leaf manuscripts (each bundle contains
from 5 to 15 smaller palm leaf sets), 270 Burmese black paper accordion
books (Parabaik), and 12 Shan white paper accordion books"6. Skilling and
Kuloy are still active in gathering these materials and intend to return the
manuscripts to Burma "in better times."

Cornell University's preservation involvement in the libraries of Burma
began in 1989 with a three year project to microfilm fragile palm leaf
manuscripts at the Universities' Central Library in Rangoon. To date, 5,000
manuscripts have been microfilmed, but another 15,000 manuscripts need to be
filmed through future projects. The Henry Luce Foundation and Cornell alumni
have funded the work, but continuing support is problematic. A Cornell
report of 1988 points out that environmental conditions in the libraries
were very bad, and that large portions of the general collections were
unprocessed and untreated 7. Cornell's work of preserving research materials
in Burma has been carried out in the face of some political opposition and
criticism from those opposed to any interaction with Burma, but as a recent
report noted, the "rapid deterioration and loss of these [Burmese] materials
should not be allowed to continue because of political isolation, as all
humankind will be the poorer for their loss ."8

More recent work in Burma, reviewed in a report of a survey and training
visit I made in March 1995, has revealed a slightly more promising situation
despite political difficulties and isolation. The Universities' Central
Library has initiated some limited preservation efforts on a regional basis,
concentrating initially on the region immediately surrounding Rangoon.
Modest space has been allocated in a new building for conservation
facilities, and the Cornell-funded microfilming efforts are being carried
out in a well appointed space in the library, using equipment donated by an
early UNESCO project and a more recent gift through the Australian National
Library. In addition, some conservation equipment has been installed through
Cornell with the help of the Open Society for Burma Institute. At the
Rangoon University's Historical Research Centre, considerable progress is
being made in the care of archival materials and the collecting of monument
rubbings, and Soe Soe Sein and U Pe Thein, archivists at the Centre, have
each recently completed a six months preservation training program at
Cornell. Although facilities and resources are very scarce at the University
of Mandalay, large numbers of palm leaf manuscripts are stored in a sensible
fashion. Unfortunately, the extreme, and unrelieved, heat and voracious
insects are hastening the destruction of these and other library materials.
The Royal Palace at Mandalay also has a number of palm leaf and parabaik
manuscripts along with numerous photographs, and all are poorly housed in
facilities that lack the means to regulate the high temperatures and
relative humidity, or to keep out insects. The environment at the Bagaya
Monastery Library at Amapura is much more encouraging, with the 6,000 palm
leaf manuscripts and large numbers of parabaik being carefully handled in a
space that may soon be air-conditioned through donations from devout
overseas Buddhists. Students from the University of Mandalay's Department of
History, less affected by the university closures in Rangoon, are involved
in cataloguing and collating the manuscripts at Amapura, with copies of the
data sent to the Universities' Central Library at Rangoon for eventual entry
into a database, a substantial beginning step towards Raghavan's 1979
inventory recommendations 9.


Notes
1. Helen Jarvis, "A Visit to Kampuchea 9th to 23rd July 1987: A Report,"
Southeast Asian Research Group Newsletter 35, 43-48.

2. Judy Ledgerwood, "Worldwide Efforts to Preserve the Khmer Language
Materials" (Paper presented to the Second International Conference on
Cambodia, Washington DC, 30th September 1988).

3. Palle Birkelund, "Burma Libraries," UNESCO report, April 1969.

4. Andrew Gosling, "Burma and Beyond," National Library of Australia News VI
(No. 13 October 1996) 2.

5. V. Raghavan, Preservation of Palm-Leaf and Parabaik Manuscripts and Plan
for Compilation of a Union Catalogue of Manuscripts. Paris: UNESCO, 1979.

6. Peter Skilling and H.K. Kuloy, "Fragile Palm-Leaves: Manuscripts
Preservation Project." January - June 1994.

7. John Badgley, "Research Report: Higher Education Libraries in Burma."
February 1988.

8. Badgley, "Exchange and Conservation Programs," Burma Debate 2 (No. 2,
April/May 1995) 30.

9. John F. Dean, "Preservation and Conservation in Burma: A Survey and
Training Project at the Universities' Central Library and the University of
Mandalay, 20th to the 28th of March 1995. Report to the Open Society for
Burma and the United States Information Service."



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