Roja Muthiah Research Library (RMRL) Project
Overview
The Roja Muthiah Research Library (RMRL) project was initiated to preserve, catalog, and expand the collection of Roja Muthiah, who during his lifetime amassed one of the world's finest private libraries of Tamil publications. The University of Chicago Library spearheaded a global effort, which resulted in the founding of the Roja Muthiah Research Library to house the collection in 1996. The RMRL provides research materials and facilities for students of Tamil studies in a variety of fields spanning the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
Search
Search the RMRL catalog on the Digital South Asia Library website.
The Collection
The Library's notable strengths are its holdings in classical and modern literature, literary criticism, medicine, cinema and the related culture of printed works (such as song books), folklore, material by and about women, religion and philosophy, and numerous publications of historical value. The collection is comprised of more than 100,000 volumes of books, journals, and newspapers. In addition there are rich holdings of oleolithographs from Ravi Varma's workshop, nearly 30,000 journal abstracts and indexes, an enormous collection of clippings, drama notices, wedding invitations, business and family correspondence, and palm leaf manuscripts. Most of the publications date from the later half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century.
The Roja Muthiah Research Library (RMRL) project was initiated to preserve, catalog, and expand the collection of Roja Muthiah, who during his lifetime amassed one of the world's finest private libraries of Tamil publications. The University of Chicago Library spearheaded a global effort, which resulted in the founding of the Roja Muthiah Research Library to house the collection in 1996. The RMRL provides research materials and facilities for students of Tamil studies in a variety of fields spanning the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
Search
Search the RMRL catalog on the Digital South Asia Library website.
The Collection
The Library's notable strengths are its holdings in classical and modern literature, literary criticism, medicine, cinema and the related culture of printed works (such as song books), folklore, material by and about women, religion and philosophy, and numerous publications of historical value. The collection is comprised of more than 100,000 volumes of books, journals, and newspapers. In addition there are rich holdings of oleolithographs from Ravi Varma's workshop, nearly 30,000 journal abstracts and indexes, an enormous collection of clippings, drama notices, wedding invitations, business and family correspondence, and palm leaf manuscripts. Most of the publications date from the later half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century.
