This collection contains visual documentation of anthropological activities and cultural traditions across Southeast Asia. The collection is augmented periodically by deposits of images collected on field trips in the region by researchers, as well as through acquisitions and donations. These key cultural records include the collections of:
Cecilia Ng Siew Hua, Academic
Cecilia Ng Siew Hua was a Visiting Associate at ISEAS. Her research covered the material culture of the Minangkabau of Sumatra, Indonesia. The focus was on textiles and costumes and, their symbolic uses in kinship relationship. Her colour slides and B/W photographs documented these costumes during her field trip there in 1980-1981.
Dorothy Pelzer, Architect
Dorothy Pelzer travelled extensively, under difficult conditions, in nine Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines. She had assembled some 31,000 black and white photographs and 7,000 colour slides. The materials documented the people and traditional architecture of Southeast Asia.
Frederic Mason, Educator
Frederic Mason was Professor of Education at the University of Malaya in Singapore (now National University of Singapore). He had a life time interest in the people and places where he lived and worked. The Frederic Mason collection consists of 880 colour slides including images of Malaysian tin dredging and rice plantations, Singapore scenes of Pulau Tekong Schools and the Siglap Orthopaedic hospital. Also in the collection are 217 slides on Japan and Hong Kong.
Lai Ah Eng, Academic
Lai Ah Eng was a Research Fellow at ISEAS. Her collection consists of photographs taken during her field research on ethnic relations in Singapore. Some of the photographs in this collection have appeared in the book Meanings of Multiethnicity: A Case-study of Ethnicity and Ethnic Relations in Singapore.
Made Wijaya, Architect
Made Wijaya (alias Michael White) was a renowned Bali-based, Australian-born, architect and landscape designer. While best known for working on international projects for celebrities such as David Bowie, he also authored seminal books on Balinese vernacular architecture. Just before passing away in August 2016, he donated his entire photographic collection on architecture and garden design to the ISEAS Library. The collection while centring on the vernacular architecture of the archipelago also covers other parts of the world and includes his own designs.Sharon Siddique, Academic
Sharon Siddique was a Senior Fellow and Acting Director of ISEAS from 1992-1993. The colour slides she deposited with the Library documented the Serangoon Road area in 1981-83, in a study which is part of a larger research project on socio-religious change of the Indian community in Singapore. The materials have appeared in the book Singapore’s Little India: Past, Present and Future, that she co-authored with Nirmala Puru Shotam.
The ISEAS Library microform collection comprises about 118,000 sheets of 105mm microfiche and 18,000 microfilm reels. The collection includes regional newspapers, journals, theses, rare and antiquarian books and press clippings.
Microform readers are available in the Library for users to view, print and scan images from microfilm/fiche.
User Manual: How to use the Microfilm Reader
ISEAS Library Microfilm Listing
Please click here for the full list of Microfilm
The ISEAS Library is home to over 30 private papers collections, including papers of prominent individuals mainly from Singapore and Malaysia such as David Marshall, S. Rajaratnam, Tan Cheng Lock, Tan Chin Tuan and Lee Hau Shik (HS Lee). The main strength of these papers lies in the historical perspectives that they provide on the political, social and economic environment in Southeast Asia in the period between the 1940s and the 1960s.
To consult these papers, please register with the Library as a member by filling in the online registration form and submit the Private Papers Usage Agreement form to libcir@iseas.edu.sg with details of the papers you wish to view.
As one week’s notice is necessary for processing private papers for viewing, do provide an indication of your date of visit in your email to us.
In order to reduce the risk of damage to the originals, the Library is progressively digitising these collections. Where available, only the digital surrogates will be released for viewing.
Private Papers available for consultation at the Library are:
(Arranged in alphabetical order)
ISEAS Library subscribes to a number of electronic journals to support the research needs of our researchers and staff.
To search the full extent of the Library’s e-holdings, including titles available through the various databases, please use this publication discovery tool.
Resources available at ISEAS Library
- Southeast Asian Studies
- Asian Studies
- Asian Economics & Development
- Asian Politics
- Economics & Development
- Politics
- Population & Civilisation Studies
- Strategic Studies
Databases
The Library subscribes to a number of databases, which together contain several thousand publications. Please use the Full-Text Finder tool to search for specific publications in these databases.
Accessible via ISEAS IP address.
Login required. Only available at the Library.
The Bibliography of Asian Studies is a comprehensive bibliography of western-language book chapters, journal articles, conference proceedings and other publications about Asia and overseas Asian communities.
CEIC Data
The CEIC Data software is a statistics database that covers a variety of macroeconomic and industrial indicators.
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) (Please contact Library for offsite access.)
The Economist Intelligence Unit provides contains news, analysis, and forecasts of political and economic trends. It has reports are in-depth and ongoing analyses of news, political, economic and policy conditions, and risk analysis of ongoing risk scenarios.
Full-Text Finder (Please contact Library for offsite access.)
The EBSCO Full-Text Finder tool allows you to search and browse journals, magazines, and other titles located within our subscribed databases. Please note that search is only available at the journal title level.
JSTOR
JSTOR provides access to archival journal contents, mainly in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences fields.
Project Muse
Project Muse provides the current full-text of scholarly books and journals in the humanities and social sciences.
ProQuest (ABI/INFORM collection and Asian & European Business collection)
The comprehensive ABI/INFORM collection database provides access to thousands of full-text news wires and newspapers, journals, working papers, country-and industry-focused reports on international business, finance and economics. The Asian & European Business collection contains information on economies, markets and companies, as well as regional- and national-level policy and analysis from white papers, government documents, and journals.
Stratfor WorldView
Stratfor is a current affairs site that examines and forecasts political, economic security, and geopolitical risk worldwide.
Newspapers & Magazines
The Library subscribes to major regional and international newspapers and magazines in a mix of formats.
Accessible via ISEAS IP address.
Login required. Only available at the Library.
Hardcopy available.
Bangkok Post
Business Times (Print edition articles available on ProQuest. Login required for full access)
The Diplomat (Please contact Library for offsite access.)
Economist (Print edition articles available on ProQuest. Login required for full access)
The Edge Markets (Malaysia & Singapore) (Hardcopy available for The Edge Malaysia only)
Financial Times (Up to 25 users. Please contact Library for offsite access.)
Foreign Affairs (Print edition articles available on ProQuest. Login required for full access.)
Frontier Myanmar (Up to 5 users. Please contact Library for offsite access.)
Jakarta Post (Up to 25 users. Please contact Library for offsite access.)
Kompas (Up to 7 users. Please contact Library for offsite access)
Malaysiakini (Up to 30 users. Please contact Library for offsite access.)
Matichon Weekly
The New York Times (Up to 40 users. Please contact Library for offsite access.)
Nikkei Asia (Please contact Library for offsite access.)
Project Syndicate (Up to 40 users. Please contact Library for offsite access.)
South China Morning Post (Up to 42 users. Please contact Library for offsite access.)
Tempo
Wall Street Journal (via ProQuest)
eJournals
ISEAS Library subscribes to a number of academic journals. Access is available to all users on the ISEAS network, although some journals may require login.
Many more journals are available in our subscribed Databases.
Accessible via ISEAS IP address.
Login required. Only available at the Library.
Hardcopy available.
Southeast Asian Studies
Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies
Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (JMBRAS)
Philippine Political Science Journal
Philippine Studies: Historical & Ethnographic Viewpoints
TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia
Asian Studies
Asian Affairs: An American Review
Asian Journal of Social Science
East Asian Policy: An International Quarterly
East Asian Science, Technology and Society
International Journal of Asian Christianity
International Journal of Asian Studies
Asian Economics & Development
Asian Pacific Economic Literature
Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy
Asian Politics
Asian Journal of Political Science
Chinese Journal of International Politics
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Economics & Development
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (2009-2016)
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy (2009-2016)
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics (2009-2016)
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics (2009-2016)
American Economic Review (1999-2015)
Development Policy Review (1997-2017)
Economic Development and Cultural Change
Journal of Developing Societies (1985-2017)
Third World Quarterly (1995-2017)
Media, Technology and Society
Politics
American Political Science Review
Comparative Politics (2007-2017)
International Studies Perspective (2000-2013)
International Studies Review (1997-2013)
Perspectives on Politics (2003-2012)
Political Science Quarterly (1886-2013)
PS: Political Science and Politics (2000-2012)
World Policy Journal (2006-2016)
Population & Civilisation Studies
International Migration Review (2001-2017)
Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs (1996-2017)
Nations and Nationalism (1997-2019)
Population Studies (1985-2017)
Studies in Ethnicity & Nationalism (2001-2019)
Strategic Studies
Survival: Global Politics and Strategy
Strategic Comments (2005-2013)
The Library houses an extensive and unique range of over half a million physical items related to Southeast Asia in the area of economics, politics, international relations, culture, and social studies in multiple languages and formats, and provides access to more than 10,000 electronic resources including full text journal articles.
The Collection consists of Monographs, Annuals, Statistics, Reference tools, Maps, Print Journals, Newspapers, Conference Papers and Theses. Please use the SEALion catalogue to search and browse the collection.
