Yale East Asia Library

Yale East Asia Library The Yale East Asia Library is one of the largest East Asian collections in North America. It holds Yale University was the first university in the U.S.

The East Asia Library is one of the major collections of East Asian materials in the United States. to collect books in East Asian languages. The first documented acquisition was a shipment of over 90 volumes of Chinese works to the Yale College Library purchased from China in 1849. Yale has been engaged in teaching East Asian Studies and collecting relevant materials for well over a century, as e

videnced in Samuel Wells Williams's appointment as Professor of Chinese Language and Literature in 1877. In the following year, the collection of notable gifts of Chinese books was presented to Yale by the Honorable Yung Wing, Yale B.A. 1854, the first Chinese subject to graduate from an American college. Earlier in 1873, the first collection of outstanding Japanese books were donated by O.C. Marsh, Yale Professor of Paleontology and a connoisseur of Asian artifacts. Other gifts followed, and more systematic acquisitions began with the efforts of Kan'ichi Asakawa, who was commissioned to acquire Japanese materials for Yale and the Library of Congress during his eighteen-month stay in Japan in 1906-1907. Asakawa, whose teaching career at Yale spanned 36 years (from 1906 as Instructor in History of Japanese Civilization to retirement in 1942 as Professor of History), served as curator of the Chinese and Japanese Collection from 1906 to 1948 and oversaw acquisition of Western language materials relevant to East Asian Studies at Yale. In the last several decades the Library has made remarkable, rapid expansion. The Council on East Asian Studies was established at Yale in May 1961 to oversee studies relating to China, Japan and Korea. External funding channeled through the Council has greatly increased the Library's book budgets. The primary goal of the Library in recent years is to support research and teaching in East Asian studies at Yale. In reflection of the programs, its emphasis has been on China and Japan. The Korean Studies collection is currently being developed.

[EAL News] Mondays at Beinecke: Textured Stories: The Chirimen Books of Modern !https://youtu.be/EtFbkjIIaA0?si=DEI8i-DW...
10/20/2025

[EAL News] Mondays at Beinecke: Textured Stories: The Chirimen Books of Modern !
https://youtu.be/EtFbkjIIaA0?si=DEI8i-DWg_I8HxeL
This special Mondays at Beinecke session will feature the co-curators of the new exhibition, “Textured Stories: The Chirimen Books of Modern Japan,” Haruko Nakamura and Yosh*taka Yamamoto.

This week, co-curators Haruko Nakamura and Yosh*taka Yamamoto discuss their new exhibition, "Textured Stories: The Chirimen Books of Modern Japan." The exhib...

[EAL News] “Textured Stories: The Chrimen Books of Modern Japan” - New exhibitions open with fanfare and a flurry of med...
10/17/2025

[EAL News] “Textured Stories: The Chrimen Books of Modern Japan” - New exhibitions open with fanfare and a flurry of media attention!

The two new exhibitions that have just opened at Beinecke Library—“Textured Stories: The Chrimen Books of Modern Japan” and “Unfolding Events: Exploring Past and Present in Artists’ Books”—have already received extensive coverage in the media.

08/22/2025
08/20/2025

A statue of Yung Wing, Class of 1854, was moved over the summer from Sterling Library's Memorabilia Room to the exhibition corridor. Yung, later an educator and diplomat, was the first Chinese person to graduate from an American university. The bronze statue was donated to Yale by Yung's hometown, Zhuhai, in 2004.

[Library News]ReCAP, a leading consortium of library research collections, welcomes Yale as newest member.ReCAP, the Res...
08/01/2025

[Library News]ReCAP, a leading consortium of library research collections, welcomes Yale as newest member.

ReCAP, the Research Collections and Preservation Consortium, welcomed Yale University as its newest member this month, joining Columbia University, Harvard University, the New York Public Library research division, and Princeton University.

Yale will be making available 2.7 million unique titles from its general collections to the consortium and will gain access to 8.8 million unique titles owned by other consortium partners.

ReCAP, the Research Collections and Preservation Consortium, welcomed Yale University as its newest member this month, joining Columbia University, Harvard University, the New York Public Library research division, and Princeton University.

[EAL News] We are thrilled to share that Haruko Nakamura, Japanese Studies Librarian at Yale University Library, is lead...
04/17/2025

[EAL News] We are thrilled to share that Haruko Nakamura, Japanese Studies Librarian at Yale University Library, is leading a major upcoming exhibition at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library!

“TEXTURED STORIES: THE CHIRIMEN BOOKS OF MODERN JAPAN” will open on September 2, 2025, on the second floor of the Beinecke Library. This exhibit showcases Yale’s remarkable holdings of chirimen-bon (crêpe-paper books)—a unique form of illustrated book printed in Japan from the 1880s to the 1950s—and is co-curated by Yosh*taka Yamamoto, Associate Professor at the National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL).

Haruko's work and Yale’s efforts have even caught the attention of NHK, Japan’s national broadcaster! A recent NHK program includes a segment introducing Yale’s preparation for the exhibit.

Stay tuned for more details—and mark your calendars for this beautiful celebration of Japanese book arts and Haruko’s extraordinary curatorial leadership!

04/17/2025

An ornate 94-year-old key to Sterling Memorial Library is one of a set of campus keys that will be presented to President Maurie McInnis during her April 6 inauguration as Yale’s 24th president.

04/17/2025

The Classics Library will be open as study space for students with swipe access. Yale ID holders can also swipe into the 24-hour Young Family Study space at the Marx Science and Social Science Library on Friday.

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