- Find humanities and social sciences on the second floor of Bostock Library.
- Find bound periodicals on the second floor of Perkins Library.
- Find art history and films in Lilly Library.
- Get expert help:
- 100,000 Japanese materials
- 73,000 Chinese materials
- 31,000 Korean materials
- Many language-specific databases
- 12,000 e-books in Chinese, Japanese and Korean
Our History
The East Asian Collection began in the late 1920s when James A. Thomas (1862-1940), who spent more than 30 years in China managing operations for the British-American Tobacco Company, gave Duke University 1,500 volumes from his personal library. The collection grew beginning with Japanese materials in the late 1960s and Chinese and Korean materials in the 1990s. Today the East Asian Collection is a regional resource center for students and researchers.
The Japanese Collection
The Japanese collection has notable strengths in 19th- and 20th-century materials, particularly in the following areas:
- Buddhism
- Japan’s colonial history
- Manga and anime
- Modern art history
- Popular culture: advertising, film, women's magazines
- The modern novel
- Women’s and labor history
- Full-text, online newspapers
In addition, the collection includes basic works in premodern Japanese literature, economic, legal and social history, and Japanese research on Chinese art history and Daoism.
The Chinese Collection
The Chinese collection at Duke began in the mid-1990s. At that time, Duke University Libraries modified its longstanding agreement with nearby University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), which had focused on Chinese history, literature and religion. Duke began collecting Chinese materials that UNC was not collecting in depth, especially popular culture and contemporary social science.
The Chinese collection at Duke University Libraries includes:
- Core titles in literature and history
- Full-text, online newspapers and journals
- More than 4,500 Chinese films and TV dramas
- Popular magazines
- Statistical resources
The Korean Collection
The Korean collection at Duke began in the late 1990s. Its strengths include:
- Buddhism
- Colonial literature and history
- Linguistics and language teaching materials
- About 2,000 films
Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
In addition to the East Asian Collection at Duke University Libraries, students and researchers have access to Duke’s Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The Rubenstein Library offers materials such as:
- Anpo and the Japanese student movement in the 1960s
- Diaries of businessmen, British diplomats, missionaries and travelers active in China, Japan and Korea
- General Robert L. Eichelberger's papers
- Photographs of China, Japan and Korea taken by Sidney Gamble (c. 1917-1932), by William Shockley (c. 1987-1905), Carl Mydans (c. 1941-1952) and Kusakabe Kimbei (c. 1885-1890)
- Stereographic card and postcard collections