John M. Echols Collection - Southeast Asian Library
In 1977, the Southeast Asian Collection was named in honor of John M. Echols, professor of linguistics and literature in the Southeast Asian Program. Professor Echols devoted three decades to the development of the collection, working closely with the first curator, Giok Po Oey. The two men set a high standard of dedication that was followed by many other faculty and staff members of the library over the decades. The collection’s roots date back to 1919, with a donation to the Cornell University Library from Charles Wason of Western-language books on Chinese.
The Echols Collection is a collaborative effort between the university, the library, and the Southeast Asia Program. Its development was accelerated by the Farmington Plan, a federal book acquisition scheme designed to utilize surplus foreign currency for regional language publications. After the Farmington Plan ended, the National Defense Education Act of 1958 established a National Resource Center for each non-Western region, with dedicated funds for the purchase of publications in a variety of fields. In the 1960s, the Library of Congress began its Foreign Acquisitions Program. As its contribution, Cornell committed to acquiring every publication of research value produced in Southeast Asian countries. The Rockefeller, Ford, and Mellon Foundations have provided continuing endowments for library staff and acquisitions, a tradition that makes the Echols Collection unique not only among Cornell collections but also among Southeast Asian collections in the United States. As a leading resource for Southeast Asian studies, the Echols Collection adds more than 9,000 volumes each year. It is acomprehensive collection of materials on the region and the largest collection on Southeast Asia in the United States, if not the world.
Today, the Echols Collection houses a vast array of materials in a variety of formats, including monographs, microtext items, journals, periodicals and newspapers, audio and visual materials, and a growing number of electronic databases. Thousands of photographs and a variety of archival collections related to Southeast Asia are housed and managed by the Manuscript and Rare Collections Division. The Echols collection of maps and visual resources, housed and managed on the lower level of the Olin Library, is also extensive.
