East Asian Library

The University Library System (ULS) at the University of Pittsburgh (PITT) began its Chinese collection in 1960 after PITT was selected as one of the 20 National Defense Education Act centers for Chinese studies. Five years later, the East Asian Library (EAL) was established to include also the Japanese collection. The Korean materials were added to the collection from the year 2000.

Today, the EAL has become one of the most prominent East Asian collections in North America with over 431,167 volumes of monographs, about 900 titles of periodicals, around 14,475 reels of microfilms, over 27 current newspapers, 4,400 multi-media resources, and 18 major area studies online databases. As of June 2009, the library ranks the 14th in size among all the East Asian collections in North America and is the largest resource center in the Tri-state area (Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia). The library’s primary mission is to support the Asian Studies Center for instruction and research in Chinese, Japanese and Korean studies.

The Japanese collection ranks the 15th (as of June 2012) in North American academic libraries with over 135,500 volumes / items of Japanese books, serials, microforms, multi-media resources, and 5 online databases. The Japanese collection is strong in Japanese economic history, linguistics and pedagogy, medical history, modern literature, history and culture of Japanese movies, pre-modern history of art, and religion of pre-modern period. New subjects are also under development, such as classics, religion of contemporary period, and mass media and identity of contemporary period.

For more information, go to: http://www.library.pitt.edu/east-asian-library

Mitsui Collection

One of the valuable parts of the Japanese Collection is the Mitsui Collection donated by the Institute for Financial and Economic Research (金融経済研究所) of the former Mitsui Bank. The Collection contains over 64,000 volumes of books and journals – about 33,500 of Japanese imprints, 10,700 of Western languages imprints, and 20,000 Japanese and Western languages journals. It is one of the finest collections on Japanese finance, the former Japanese colonies (Taiwan, Manchuria, Korea) and international finance. It also contains materials on labor problem, social movement, company and local histories, pre- and post-war biographies, and an assortment of statistical annuals and other kinds of yearbooks.

Norio Tamaki Grants are available for scholars who wish to use the Mitsui Collection onsite.

For more on the Mitsui Collection, go to: http://www.library.pitt.edu/eal-mitsui-collection

月岡耕漁 Tsukioka Kōgyo The Art of Noh, 1869-1927

The University Library System also houses the Nōgaku zue , or Pictures of Noh, is a spectacular series of Japanese color woodblock prints by the artist Tsukioka

Kōgyo (1869-1927). The University of Pittsburgh owns a rare, complete set of this series, published at Tokyo between the Meiji years 30-35, or 1897-1902. Bound in traditional folding-album format, the series comprises five volumes of 261 prints inspired by the plays of classical Japanese noh theatre. The complete set of prints, held by the ULS Special Collections Department, is digitally reproduced along with a descriptive catalog and contextual essays.

For this collection, go to: http://digital.library.pitt.edu/collection/k%C5%8Dgyo-tsukioka-art-noh

The Barry Rosensteel Japanese Print Collection

The Special Collections Department in the University Library System houses the Barry Rosensteel Japanese Print Collection, which was donated to the University in 2008 by Mr. and Mrs. Barry Rosensteel. The collection consists of 126 wood block prints.  While the earliest print dates to 1760, most of the prints were produced in the 1800s, while others were created in the 1900s. The work of over forty artists is represented in the collection.

To search for prints and browse print thumbnails, go to: http://images.library.pitt.edu/collection/barry-rosensteel-japanese-prin...