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South Asia in the Beinecke: Tibetan Collections

About Theos Bernard

Want to learn more abut Theos Bernard? Read through these books and articles:

Overview of the Tibetan Collection

We also have a very unique collection of Tibetan and other Himalayan material. To browse through the collection, search in Orbis for the following Local Call Numbers:
  • Tanka (Thangka) collection: 77 thangkas, circa 1600-circa 1950. All thangkas have been carefully photographed, front and back, and the images are available online.
  • "Newari" collectionNot in Orbis. Includes 150 manuscripts in Newari, Nepali, and Sanskrit. Most are from Nepal or northern India. Includes some palm leaf manuscripts.
  • Tibet Bernard: A very large collection (approx. 395 volumes) that includes the Rin chen gter mdzod, collected by Theos Bernard in 1937.
  • Tibet Kanjur: A 1949 copy of the Lhasa Kanjur in excellent condition. 
  • Tibet MSS: About 65 original Tibetan manuscripts from the 18th and 19th centuries.
  • Tibet T: Includes approximately 410 block prints (including Tibetan Book of the Dead); Bonpo texts.
  • Tibet T 401 - Tibet T 415: Fifteen Tibetan Buddhist scroll broadsides, mainly astrological.
  • BrSides Tibet T: A collection of approximately 100 broadsides (small poster-sized Buddhist illustrations).
  • Needham's papers, box 21: contains black and white photos of thangkas and Tibetan ritual objects held at other institutions.

Yale University Art Gallery

Regular circulating collection. To browse, search a starting call number (i.e. Tib 1) as "Call number (Local)" in Orbis.

  • Tib: This is the original PL480 collection of approximately 1000 Tibetan language items. 
  • Tib+: Over 700 reprints of Tibetan manuscipts, mostly from the Gene Smith TBRC collection.
  • Tibet: A slightly haphazard collection of 8 titles, mostly in English.

How Wesley Needham grew the Beinecke Tibetan collection

Librarian for South Asian Studies