From March 23 – April 15 we offer an exhibit of selected Tibetan Special Collections items .

The following select items are now on display in the main reading room on the 300-level of the Starr Library:

• 1678 Notice by the regent Lobsang Jinpa during the reign of the Fifth Dalai Lama
• 1723 Scroll with letter by the Seventh Dalai Lama
• 1867 Scroll with seal imprints of 144 aristocratic families & monasteries in Central Tibet
• 1883 Land Deed from Gansu, China, with seal of the local “Ethnic Commander,” a position held by the head of the Lu Family
• 1929 Lhasa edition of the Life of Milarepa and his Collection of Songs
• Calligraphed letter by the Ninth Panchen Lama Thupten Chokyi Nyima (1883-1937)

The 1929 woodblock edition of the Life of Milarepa was a much earlier gift by Mrs. Antoinette Gordon.  Otherwise, these items were acquired in recent years.  Descriptions and some translation accompany each piece, located in glass display cases throughout the reading room. For more information, please contact Dr. Lauran Hartley, lh2112@columbia.edu