Four New Digital Collections From the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) Now Available Online

From the British Library’s Endangered Archives Program Blog:

In recent weeks we have continued to put new collections online. Here is a summary of  four of the most recent projects to be made available.

• Notary Books of Bahia, Brazil, 1664-1910 [EAP703]
• Documentation of Endangered Temple Art of Tamil Nadu [EAP896]
• Fragile Palm Leaves Digitisation Initiative [EAP1150]
• Safeguarding Colonial Plantation Records of Malawi [EAP1167]

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Notary Books of Bahia, Brazil, 1664-1910 [EAP 703]

Until 1763, Bahia was the seat of the Portuguese colonial government in the Americas and a major sugar plantation economy based on African enslaved labour. Bahia received 33% of the Brazilian trade and 14.5% of the total. Being an administrative and economic centre, and until the late eighteenth century the most important port of trade in the South Atlantic, the production of documents in Bahia was intense. In Brazil, the Arquivo Público do Estado da Bahia (Bahia State Archives) is considered to be second in importance only to the National Archives in Rio de Janeiro.

This project digitised 1,329 volumes of Notary Books deposited at the Arquivo Público do Estado da Bahia. In total 306,416 pages were digitised as part of the project.

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Documentation of Endangered Temple Art of Tamil Nadu [EAP 896]

EAP does not only fund the digitisation of manuscripts and documents that can be held in the hand. EAP supports digitisation of almost any at-risk historical material. The digitisation of temple art in Tamil Nadu is a prime example.

The rich cultural heritage of temple art in India is rapidly deteriorating because of vandalism, weather conditions, and practices such as burning camphor for ritual purposes. By digitising the artwork that adorns eight temples in Tamil Nadu, India, the EAP896 project team have helped preserve this art for research, enjoyment, and education.

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Fragile Palm Leaves Digitisation Initiative [EAP 1150]

In partnership with the Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation and the Buddhist Digital Resource Centre, this project digitised 300 Pali and vernacular manuscripts in Burmese script.

Mostly created in the 18th and 19th century, these manuscripts contain approximately 1,000 discrete Buddhist texts on a variety of topics. These include:

• Law
• Poetry
• Stories of the Buddha
• Grammar
• Religious rituals

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Safeguarding Colonial Plantation Records of Malawi [EAP 1167]

This pilot project surveyed tea and tobacco plantation records from the colonial era in Nyasaland [Malawi]. The team located relevant records and created an inventory, which is available as an Excel spreadsheet.

The team also digitised a sample of records from 13 estates (1922-1966), which are freely available to view. These include:

• Title deeds
• Legal agreements
• Memoranda
• Correspondence
• Articles of association.

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