Aims and objectives
The target material is the surviving private collection of uniquely rare books in the traditional Mongolian script held by Mr. Bat-Ochir Osor, who was one of the nation's prominent educators and Mongolian language promoters of mid 20th century modern Mongolia.
His collection comprises exceptionally rare books printed in the traditional Mongolian script in the 1920s through to the 1940s, before Mongolia was forcefully shifted to Russian Cyrillic in the 1940s.
Most of the material is nowhere to be found in Mongolia or represents the few surviving copies of respective documents of cultural, historical and research importance locally and internationally.
Outcomes
The total of 86 books have been digitized delivering 4563 TIFF files exceeding the initial targeted number of 2,400-2,800 TIFF files. The actual number comes to be 4564 including 86 files which carry images with colour chart. The project metadata has been produced with as much information provided as possible regarding each and every single file. Fire-proof and acid-free containers/boxes have been ordered and acquired by the MSV Foundation in early October 2023. Once photographed, the fragile books were placed in the above containers with a label containing all necessary reference information attached. With placing the original digitized books into fire-proof and acid-free specialized safe containers/boxes will undoubtedly improve the existing storage conditions of the private archive.
Digitised master copies of the collection have been stored at the Archive and the Monsound and vision Foundation. Surrogate copies have been deposited with the British Library in accordance with the EAP copying requirements together with comprehensive listing information as specified in the Guidelines for listing copied materials. The listing has been compiled in the English language with book titles provided in the traditional Mongolian script (CMs Ulaanbaatar font).
The archive contains uniquely rare books ever printed in the traditional Mongolian script which are nowhere to be found such as The Secret History of the Mongols (the first ever edition printed in the Mongolian script since Chinghis Khan's time); Guchin Gurvan Modon Humunii Ulger (The Tale of 32 Wooden People-a handwritten copy of the 18th century folk tale); History of 18th and 19th centuries German, French and Russian philosophy; Biography of prominent national and international leaders (Choibalsan, Sukhbaatar, Mao, Hitler, Stalin, WWII military generals etc.); Reference books on the Mongolian traditional medicine and animal husbandry; History of Bolshevik Party; Reference books on the traditional Mongolian script; Official Reports on the Mongolian Government activities in the 1930s and 1940s and on the Mongolian People's Party Congresses and Plenary Meetings; Fairy tales; Middle School textbooks of the 1930s and 1940s (Algebra, Geometry, Physics etc).
