Ohio University will soon extend its collection of resource material regarding a Southeast Asian religion, with the help of two donors.
Tomorrow afternoon, Alden Library will premiere the Yao Ceremonial Arts Collection, which has been called the largest collection of Yaoist artifacts in the United States. The ceremony will be a part of this weekend's Ohio Fellows Reunion and the ongoing celebration for the library's 40th anniversary.
The people of the Yao religion have historically dwelled in the mountains of northern Vietnam and southern China, 1969 OU alumnus and Yao collection donor Robert Fallon said.
When Fallon heard that Vietnamese collector Nguyen Manh Duc planned to sell his 3,500 Yao artifacts, he contacted colleague Frederick Harris, who has previously donated Asian art to Alden.
Fallon and Harris could think of no better home for the artifacts than OU.
The artifacts, some of which date back to the 1820s, include priest robes, scrolls, books and other religious iconography.
Gary Ginther, Fine Arts Librarian at Alden, said between 75 and 100 of the Yao Collection's pieces will be displayed on the library's third floor until the end of November. Afterward, the entire collection will be available by request at the off-site Library Annex.
Ginther said the collection will likely be valuable to graduate students and faculty, particularly those studying Southeast Asia.
What we've ... realized about it is that it sort of exists at the crossroads of several different disciplines
Ginther said. The donor's hope was that it would become the impetus for somebody's dissertation work.
He said the collection fits the mission of Alden Library, and of Dr. Vernon Alden himself, who will also be present at the ceremony tomorrow.
I think Dr. Alden had a vision of this institution as a serious research institution. It's going to help us make decisions about how we collect in the libraries Ginther said.
The entire Yao collection will also be available online at ARTstor, a digital images Web site, Dean of Libraries Scott Seaman said, adding the collection will serve to boost OU's reputation as a top research library.
In that 40 years (since Alden's beginning) we've acquired collections like this one but also our dance collections and our collection of rare books
Seaman said. Those speak to a library that's maturing into being one of the top 100 research libraries in North America.
Fallon said he considers the donation part of his responsibility as an OU alumnus.
It's all part of the cycle
he said. Give back to the university that gave so much to you.
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Culture
Graylyn Roose
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(Eric Jones | staff photographer) The Yao Ceremonial Artifact exhibit on the third floor of Alden Library. The opening reception for the exhibit is at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
