Primary Sources: Cities of East and Southeast Asia

This page is part of a collection assembling links to historical primary sources that are open on the web. It should be seen as a work in progress, and corrections or suggestions for additions are most welcome. These resources are especially to students studying East and Southeast Asian history who may be limited to the English language (though some non-English sources may be added below), lack access to subscription databases found at leading research universities, and don’t have ready access to libraries with strong East and Southeast Asia collections.

The materials are divided into two main parts: first, specific resources related to countries, colonies, etc., which may be of use to students studying the region in general or cities in the region are listed under relevant sub-headings. Second, after these sub-headings, a large list of of books, pamphlets, and various other publications can be displayed according to a selection of tagged keywords. Many of these are available online through the Internet archive.

The resources below focus on the period from around 1850-1950 and cover only a limited selection of cities in East and Southeast Asia, covering a period and places for which there are significant English language source offerings available, and these are often out of copyright and found in open collections. Many resources are relevant more broadly to the larger scale units of nations and colonies. If there is not already a primary source guide here at Frog in a Well for them, these more general resources, not limited to urban histories, will be listed here under a sub-heading below. Publications and sections for other cities may be added in future. The selection below reflects the limited expertise and research areas of the contributors (for example, there is not even a section for French Indochina at the moment).

Philippines

See our primary source guide to the History of the Philippines

Manila

Annual Report of the Municipal Board of the City of Manila

https://archive.org/details/annualreport11boargoog
https://archive.org/details/annualreport06boargoog
https://archive.org/details/annualreport31boargoog

Malaysia, British Malaya, Straits Settlements

Singapore

Blue Books

Singapore Newspaper Archive 1831-2009

A Large collection of newspapers, but not all viewable outside the national library. These include:

National Archives of Singapore ArchivesOnline – online collections include government records, maps, oral histories, photographs, and legal documents. Includes many oral interviews of former POWs in the Changi Military Camp.

Burma

See our primary source guide on the History of Burma

Rangoon

Indonesia, Dutch East Indies

Jakarta, Djakarta, Batavia

China

See our primary source guide for Missionary Perspectives on China

Newspapers online (see also individual cities):

Hong Kong

Old Hong Kong Newspapers – See this collection of old newspapers online in both English and Chinese

Hong Kong Government Reports Online 1842-1941 – This includes sessional papers (1884-1940), administrative reports (1879-1939), the Hong Kong Hansard (1890-1941), the Hong Kong Government Gazette (1842-1941), and the Hong Kong blue books (1871-1940)

Other collections and resources:

Beijing, Peking

Nanjing, Nanking

Shanghai

Taiwan

See our primary source guide for the History of Taiwan

Taipei

Japan

Tokyo

Osaka

Yokohama

Korea

See our primary source guide for Modern Korean History

Seoul

General

Sources by Tag

Mastodon