Columbia University Libraries is pleased to establish the Tharchin Collection, dedicated to the memory of Gegen Dorje Tharchin (1889-1976), also known as “Tharchin Babu.” As founder of the Tibet Mirror Press in Kalimpong, India, Gegen Dorje Tharchin was the renowned editor of the Tibet Mirror and many other Tibetan-language publications which circulated among Tibetan readers on both sides of the Himalayas, and as far as New York, from the early 1920s through the late 1960s. For more information on this important and inspiring intellectual, as well as his contributions to Tibetan thought and publishing, please see the article by Dr. Paul G. Hackett and Related Resources listed below.
The Tibet Mirror (Tib. Yul phyogs so so'i gsar 'gyur me long) was published from 1925 to 1963 in Kalimpong, and chronicles the most dramatic social and political transformation to have occurred in Tibet during a time when vernacular writing was relatively scarce, and a Tibetan media practically non-existent. The paper also relayed information about World War II, the independence of India, and other global news to Tibetan readers in Lhasa, Gyantse, Kham, etc., and to traders and aristocrats who frequently traveled from Lhasa via the Chumbi Valley to Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Calcutta.
In 2007, Paul Hackett (Ph.D., Religious Studies, Columbia University) and Christina Harris (Ph.D., Cultural Anthropology, City University of New York) donated to the C.V. Starr East Asian Library a total of 97 unique issues of the Tibet Mirror, representing nearly 30% of the paper's full run. With assistance from Columbia University Libraries’ Preservation Department and Digital Programs Division, these holdings were microfilmed and digitally scanned for online public access. To access the newspaper online, click here. For additional background on the significance of the newspaper and its contents, see the article by Dr. Hackett below (forthcoming). Isrun Engelhardt has also researched the history of the paper in a forthcoming article.
In September 2008, with the added acquisition of papers, publications, artifacts, subscription lists, and other materials once belonging to Gegen Dorje Tharchin, the C.V. Starr East Asian Library decided to launch the Tharchin Collection.
The cornerstone of the Tharchin Collection is comprised of the newspaper holdings and their digital presentation. We are deeply grateful to the editor’s late grandson, Mr. David Tharchin, who granted permission to Columbia University to make this valuable resource available for public access in 2008. It is hoped that other individuals or institutions with complementary holdings of the Tibet Mirror would consider providing their copies on loan for the purpose of one day providing a complete online digital library.
Archival Holdings
The archival material, which was acquired with support from the Columbia University Libraries’ Primary Resources Acquisitions Program, is being processed for public use. In addition to final and draft publications (in both modern and traditional formats), the Collection also contains correspondence; accounts from 1918-1924, and later years; receipts and financial statements; an imprint of a seal designed for the “Future Democratic Tibet Government;” Tibetan hymnals and bibles; scattered photographic prints; advertising solicitations; a list of cotton licenses; and a “Certificate for Traders, Muleteers and Porters.” For a preliminary list of items in the Tharchin archival collection, click here.
For more information about the Tharchin Collection and library access, please contact Dr. Lauran Hartley, Tibetan Studies Librarian, C.V. Starr East Asian Library at lh2112@columbia.edu.
Permission to reproduce any selection of the newspapers or Collection holdings must be obtained from the estate of Mr. David Tharchin.
Related Resources
"The Tibet Mirror and Gegen Dorje Tharchin" by Paul Hackett (forthcoming).
"The Tibet Mirror: The first Tibetan newspaper, now only a memory," by Lobsang Wangyal.
Tashi Tsering, "The life of Rev. G. Tharchin: missionary and pioneer," Lungta 11 (1998).
Dawa Norbu, "Pioneer and patriot: An extract from an interview with Rev. G. Tharchin," Lungta 11 (1998).
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