Buddhist Sites • Caravan Routes • Yunnan–Sichuan Uplands • c. 1908–1915

A substantial photographic fieldwork album documenting Buddhist shrines, temple interiors, monastic sculpture, uplands village life, and caravan transport routes through the Yunnan–Sichuan borderlands during the late Qing and early Republican period.

Highlights

• Rare sequential documentation of Buddhist shrines and ritual sites
• Uplands families, local architecture, and early ethnographic portraiture
• Caravan trains along Sichuan–Yunnan trade routes
• Interior temple photography uncommon for the period
• Several distinct sequences suitable for exhibition or teaching modules

Context: The album captures on-the-ground documentation in a period when field photography in inland China was limited, often restricted, and frequently lost. The Buddhist series offers a view of material religion in situ; the caravan images reveal trade infrastructure and mobility; the uplands portraits provide a visual record of communities seldom photographed at the time.

INDIANA UNIVERSITY GRAPHIC DESIGN PRESS
FINE ARTS LIBRARY BENEFIT DINNER SERIES ARCHIVE
2001–2010

A curated archive of miniature artist’s books, experimental letterpress productions, and collaborative fine press works created through the Indiana University Graphic Design Press for the annual Fine Arts Library Benefit Dinner.

Spanning nearly a decade, these inventive hand-produced editions document the evolution of contemporary book arts pedagogy through typography, structural design, interactive reading systems, and conceptual printmaking. Produced in limited editions for patrons, faculty, and supporters of the university’s Fine Arts Library, the collection preserves a rare and cohesive record of early twenty-first-century academic fine press experimentation.

James Hanley (1897–1985) stands among the most distinctive and uncompromising voices in 20th-century British literature. Emerging from a seafaring background, his work is marked by psychological intensity, stark realism, and a deep engagement with themes of isolation, labor, and the inner life.

Though often outside the mainstream, Hanley was respected by contemporaries including E. M. Forster and T. S. Eliot, and published by major houses in both Britain and the United States. His writings move fluidly across forms—novels, short stories, plays, and broadcast work—revealing a writer of remarkable range whose reputation continues to grow among scholars and collectors.

This curated collection represents a significant bibliographical event, featuring primary artifacts sourced directly from the estate of his American publisher and confidant, Ben Raeburn of Horizon Press.

Ben Raeburn (1914–1991) was one of the most perceptive and fiercely independent architects of post-war American letters. As the founder of Horizon Press, he operated at the vital intersection of high Modernism and the emerging avant-garde, fostering a list that was as visually stunning as it was intellectually rigorous.

This curated collection, sourced directly from the Raeburn estate, represents the 'working library' of a master editor. It is not merely a gathering of signed volumes, but a living record of the professional and personal bonds that sustained New York’s literary and artistic culture from the 1950s through the late 20th century.

While we welcome inquiries for the archive in its entirety, we are also prepared to discuss the transfer of specialized subject-blocks to institutions with specific collection mandates.