Stanford Libraries collect widely in Asian American studies, acquiring materials in all formats to support teaching and research in this field at Stanford, as well as providing reference services and bibliographic instruction.
Helen Colijn (1920-2006) was held captive in a Japanese prison camp on the island of Sumatra for three and one-half years during World War II. One remarkable survival mechanism for some of the prisoners at the Women’s Barracks Camp in Palembang was making music, and a series of concerts was prepared and given in which the women sang a cappella arrangements of great works of Western Art music.
Bram Dijkstra, professor emeritus at UC San Diego, and renowned literary agent Sandra Dijkstra have donated their music collection, nearly 65 years in the making, of irreplaceable recordings of jazz, Jamaican music, blues, soul, and other genres. Stanford University Libraries has accepted the generous donation of the Dijkstra Black Music Collection, a selection of approximately 8,000 commercial vinyl discs in near-mint condition.