Butter Lamps, Natural Disaster, and Climate Change in the Himalayas: Preserving and Accessing the Textual Literary Heritage of Bhutan Through the Endangered Archives Programme of the British Library

Abstract

• In my article “Butter Lamps, Natural Disaster, and Climate Change in the Himalayas: Preserving and Accessing the Textual Literary Heritage of Bhutan Through the Endangered Archives Programme of the British Library,” I provide an introduction to the five Bhutanese collections at the British Library Endangered Archives Programme: (1) EAP 310 “The digital documentation of manuscripts in Thadrak, Tshamdrak and Nyephug Temples;” (2) EAP105 “The digital documentation of manuscripts at Drametse and Ogyen Choling;” (3) EAP039 “Archival records from digital documentation of manuscript collection in Gangtey;” (4) EAP570 “Digital documentation of Dongkala, Chizing, Dodedra and Phajoding temple archives;” and (5) EAP1494 “Digitisation of 20 remote Bhutanese archives.” Besides introducing the content, structure, and research value of these collections, I also briefly address the role of preservation of these endangered textual collections in relation to natural disasters and the climate crisis. This article is a project deliverable and contribution to open-access data from my intersectional secondment at the British Library Endangered Archives Programme as part of my Marie Skłodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship and Horizon Europe research project BhutIdBuddh: Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Travel: Identity- and Nation-Building in Bhutan (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101059800).