Mongolian Studies

National Archives of Mongolia

Established in 1927 and located in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolia's National Archive contains more than 1,260,000 items of paper-based documents, plus audio recordings, videos, and newspapers in multiple languages.

Review of the Archive (2013-2014): Field notes from an actual archive visitor about their experience. Provides useful tips and links to resources.

内蒙古自治区档案馆 (Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Archives)

The archive contains documents that span the region's history, when it was variously under the influence of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the Suiyuan Province (1912-1949), and the People's Republic of China (1949 - present).

Национальный архив Республики Тыва (National Archives of the Tyva Republic)

While materials started being compiled less formally in 1930, this archive began collecting systematically in 1941. The archive's nearly 165,000 documents, which span the years 1715-2011, are distributed between 856 fonds. At the following link a detailed guide (putevoditel' po fondam) to the archive's contents is available for download. A note on language: Government documents were transcribed in Mongolian until 1930, when it was replaced by the native Tuvan language.

Бюджетное учреждение Республики Калмыкия «Национальный архив» (National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykiia)

Established in 1920, the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykiia holds documents dating back to the early 18th century. The archive's most robust stores of documents relate to the Soviet period. East View Information Services has created a searchable copy of the guide (putevoditel'), published in the Russian language, for this archive's holdings: Фонды национального архива Республики Калмыкия 1713-1993.

University of Cambridge Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit

Users can download a complete list of Cambridge Library's relevant holdings here.
 

National Library of Finland - Collection of Oriental Manuscripts

This collection features manuscripts gathered by explorers G. J. Ramstedt (1873–1950) and C. G. E. Mannerheim (1867–1951) during their respective travels to Asia and Mongolia in particular. Materials in the collection include papyri, parchments, and palm leaves, and even writing on pieces of clay. The U-M Library's copy of the Handbook of Oriental Collections in Finland: Manuscripts, Xylographs, Inscriptions and Russian Minority Literature (London: Curzon Press, 1978) will prove very useful for getting a more detailed inventory of the collection's contents.

Mongolian Collection at Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

Includes around 3,500 printed volumes, 480 manuscripts and block prints in original-script literature, which are written in Uigur-Mongolian script and Cyrillic script.

Mongolian Materials in the Oriental Collections at Danish Royal Library, Copenhagen

Download here digital copies of the the library's Catalogue of Mongol Books, Manuscripts and Xylographs (Walther Heissig; Charles Bawden, eds., 1971)

Volumes of Reprinted Archival Material

NB: One way to find these kinds of resources in the library catalog is to enter the catalog's Advanced Search mode, select Mongolian as the language, and input "sources" in the Subject field. Here's the full listing of records that query retrieves.

清末内蒙古垦务档案汇编. 绥远、察哈尔部分

土默特左旗档案馆藏土默特历史档案

清代阿拉善和硕特旗蒙古文档案选编

准格尔旗扎萨克衙门档案

Dayicing gu̇ru̇n-u̇ su̇y-e-yin badkar jȯb-yin Mongġol teu̇ken arġib-un barimta noġoon-un bu̇rin emkidkel = Qing dai Wu dang zhao Menggu wen li shi dang an hui bian ᠳᠠᠶᠢᠴᠢᠩ ᠭᠦᠷᠦᠨ ᠦ ᠰᠦᠶ᠎ᠡ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠪᠠᠳᠺᠠᠷ ᠵᠣᠪ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠲᠡᠦᠬᠡᠨ ᠠᠷᠭᠢᠪ ᠤᠨ ᠪᠠᠷᠢᠮᠲᠠ ᠨᠣᠭᠣᠣᠨ ᠤᠨ ᠪᠦᠷᠢᠨ ᠡᠮᠬᠢᠳᠬᠡᠯ = 清代五当召蒙古文历史档案汇编

Qing dai Menggu ge qi zha sa ke he wang gong shi xi ji = 清代蒙古各旗札萨克和王公世袭集= Cing-un u̇y-e-yin el-e Mongġol qosiġu-yin jasaġ bolon vang gu̇ng-u̇n u̇y-e jalġamjilal-um emkidkel

Qing chao qian qi li fan yuan Man Meng wen ti ben = Dayicing gu̇ru̇n-u̇ ekin u̇y-e-yin ġadaġadu Mongġol-un tȯru̇-yi jasaqu yabudal-un Yamun-u Manju Mongġol ayiladqal-un debter-u̇d 清朝前期理藩院满蒙文题本

清朝后期理藩院满蒙文题本

Сталин ба Монгол орон : архивын баримтын эмхэтгэл = Stalin and Mongolia: A Collection of Archival Documents (from both Russian and Mongolian archives)

Монгол Улсын гадаад бодлого : Хичээнгүй Сайд Балингийн Цэрэндорж = Mongolia's Foreign Policy: The Tireless Minister Balingiin Tserendorj
Balingiin Tserendorj served as the first Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Mongolia from 1924 until his death in 1928.

Digital Primary Source Collections

Goettingen Sibirica Collection

Meeting of Frontiers Project
Joint Collection and Exhibition on Settling Siberia and Russian Far East with the settlement of the American West and Alaska

Монгол Улсын Үндэсний Номын Сан = Mongolian National Library

Mongolia's largest and oldest library, located in Ulaanbaatar. Collection highlights include ancient Buddhist texts. Presently, the library is prioritizing digitization of its holdings, especially of Tibetan manuscripts and xylographs.

Национальная библиотека Республики Бурятия = National Library of the Republic of Buriatiia

One of the oldest libraries in Siberia, NBRB serves as a repository for all manner of historical documents from the region as well as all materials produced in the Buriat language. The library's extensive holdings have earned it the designation "an especially precious site of Buriat cultural heritage." 

Национальная библиотека им. А. М. Амур-Санана Республики Калмыкия = A. M. Amur-Sanana National Library of the Republic of Kalmykiia

The electronic catalog (elektronnyi katalog) has no information about its coverage, but is assumed to reflect the holdings at the National Library of the Republic of Kalmykiia. Users have the option of the basic, advanced and professional searches. Under the advanced option they can search by document type, author, title, serial, BBK, key word, ISSN, ISBN, collection and other search terms. Users can also organize the results by title, author and other identifiers. (Slavic Library Reference Service, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

内蒙古图书馆 = Inner Mongolia Library

Established in 1908, the Inner Mongolia Library is the Autonomous Region's oldest. It is located in Hohhot.

Бурятика электронная библиотека = "Buriatika" Electronic Library

Part of the National Library of the Republic of Buriatiia, this digital library hosts a wealth of material in various formats, from monographs to periodical literature, photographs to other multimedia. Materials are available primarily in the Russian and Buryat languages.
 

Электронная библиотека - Национальная библиотека имени А. М. Амур-Санана Республики Калмыкия = A. M. Amur-Sanana National Library of the Republic of Kalmykiia

Initially organized as a handful of themed collections, this digital library connects users to a great variety of full-text resources on topics ranging from history and geography to literature and religion. One highlight is the «Летопись печати Республики Калмыкия» (Catalog of Print Media for the Republic of Kalmykiia) collection, which contains comprehensive annual lists of republic's publication output dating back to 1968.
 

Институт восточных рукописей РАН (Санкт-Петербург) = Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences (Saint-Petersburg)

IVR RAN has a rich archive of physical materials. See the the full description of holdings here. The website also features a tremendous volume of useful resources. For instance, the Publikatsii section of the site provides full-text access to all the institutes publications, including articles, scholarly monographs, and reference works.

Inner Asia Digital Archive

The American Center for Mongolian Studies, in cooperation with other library partners, hosts this open access collection of unique research materials and primary sources relating to Mongolia and the immediately surrounding regions.