Islam in your pocket: A rich yet endangered collection linking Leiden and East Africa

How is one a good Muslim in the modern world? In East Africa, from the 1930s onwards, Islam became portable and accessible: new notions of morality were packed into pocket-size booklets cheaply printed in India. What makes this 982-booklet corpus so unique and fragile?

Guest author • January 16, 2024

Hiemcke’s giant manuscript map of Suriname (1830)

Recently, Leiden University Libraries was able to purchase a unique manuscript map of Suriname, drawn by Helmuth Hendrik Hiemcke in 1830. A missing link in Surinamese mapping history.

Martijn Storms • November 14, 2023

Depicting the Qing Empire's Periphery: A Miao Album with Painted Maps

Miao albums depict people and places in the Chinese southwestern borderland, but very few of them contain maps of the region. The painted maps in the Leiden University Libraries Miao albums may offer insight into the history of the region and its administration.

Guest author • October 24, 2023

Portraying Ethnic Groups in Yunnan: A Miao Album with Silk Watercolour Paintings

An exceptional two-volume Miao album, recently acquired by Leiden University Libraries, depicts non-Han ethnic groups living in Yunnan Province. The manner in which these groups are depicted tells us a lot about how officials viewed ethnic minorities in the Southwest of the Qing Empire.

Guest author • October 17, 2023

Jacob Ernst Marcus - Sint Eustatius-born artist

The artist Jacob Ernst Marcus is one of the very few with Antillean roots in the eighteenth century.

Jef Schaeps • September 28, 2023

Calendars from the South- and Southeast Asian collections

The concept of time determines human life in the most crucial ways. It is beyond human control, but there has always been the desire to at least manage time by applying structure, measurement, and rules. One of the most decisive and varied means of structuring and measuring time is the calendar.

Doris Jedamski • June 20, 2023

A Photo Album of Julius Muller - Suriname 1883-1885

Julius Eduard Muller (1846-1902), an esteemed and influential politician in Suriname, was also an amateur photographer. His view of the colony lives on in a photo album created for a friend and business partner.

Anouk Mansfeld • May 16, 2023

Words as pictures - Southwest Chinese Naxi manuscripts

In the second half of the 19th century, when European colonial powers were still mapping Asian river valleys, explorers and missionaries accidentally discovered a kind of picture-writing still in use by tribes in southwest China. These tribes would be grouped under one official umbrella: Naxi.

Guest author • May 02, 2023

Tradition and Modernity in the Palm-Leaf Manuscripts of Lombok

While military technology was adopted by the kingdom, the ancient palm-leaf manuscript tradition remained relevant in the culture and daily lives of the people of Lombok.

Guest author • April 11, 2023