On April 8, 2020, The Treasury of Lives database project announced receipt of a substantial grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Collections and Reference Resources (Division of Preservation and Access) to support the long-term sustainability of its Biographical Encyclopedia of Tibet, Inner Asia and the Himalaya. The three-year grant will enable a major expansion of biographical and geographical content, and redevelopment of its technical infrastructure to implement the principles of linked open data, with greater capacity for uncovering new connections and relationships between and among people and places of the Tibetan plateau, and beyond.

The Treasury of Lives (TOL) is a born-digital encyclopedia with a mission to provide open-access to the lived history of Tibet, Inner Asia and the Himalayan region. Initially a project of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, The Treasury of Lives has been an independent organization since 2016. Biographical essays are the core of site content, with essays complemented by art, timelines, maps and geographical data.

Professor Gray Tuttle (EALAC) has served as chair of the TOL Board of Directors since 2016, and Dr. Lauran Hartley, Tibetan Studies Librarian, has served as metadata consultant for the project for the last three years. For more information, see the original TOL press release. Columbia University faculty and students may access the resource through CLIO.