Preservation and cataloguing of manuscripts in Bali

C. Hooykaas Preservation and cataloguing of manuscripts in Bali In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 135 (1979), no: 2/3, Leiden, 347-353 This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl G. HOOYKAAS f In 1973 the Faculty of Arts (FakSas) of the University of Indonesia issued a publication running to 106 pages foolscap entitled Laporan Singkat dan Daftar Sementara Proyek Penyelamatan Lontar Bali, i.e., "Brief Report and Provisional Lists, Project for Safeguarding Bali's Palmleaf Manuscripts". The scholar I have in mind is Clifford Geertz, in " 'Internal Conversion' in Contemporary Bali", published in 19641 and reproduced in Archipel 12 (1976). Since at 76 years old I am one of the few persons still living who has been involved in the preservation of Balinese manuscripts, I feel that an explanation of the methods followed and the results achieved both in the past and at present may be helpful for procedures in the future, especially as the 1973 report presents only provisional lists. 1. In 1931, and again in 1935, the Kirtya published alphabetical stock lists of its MSS, stating the number of incorporation, title, notworthy particulars, number of leaves, literary genre or category, and, where a transliteration had been made, the desa of origin of the 'basic' MS. In the pre-war period four alphabetical acquisitin lists were published in the above-mentioned Me de deelingen, moreover. The editors of the next Laporan could do a really worthwhile job by publishing the titles of the MSS along with their registration numbers and details of the number of palmleaves they cover, the category they belong to, and, in special rubrics, the libraries where typewritten copies 352 C. Hooykaas are to be found.