The AJN Richards Collection at the Centre for Academic Information Services , Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Borneo Research Bulletin, Jan 2, 2002 by Clifford Sather

The personal papers and much of the library of the late A.J.N. Richards were presented as a generous gift by the Richards family to the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS). They now comprise a special reserve collection called the "AJN Richards Collection" in the university's library, thereby fulfilling the family's wish that these materials be given a permanent home in Sarawak.

Transfer of the Richards papers was formally marked by a ceremony held on 22 October 2001 on the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak campus at Kota Samarahan (see photos). Ill health prevented Daphne, Anthony Richards' widow, from making the trip from England. However, through the generosity of the Tun Jugah Foundation, two of their sons, Huw and Michael Richards, were able to be present in Sarawak and together represented the family during the handover ceremony.

The Deputy Vice Chancellor of UNIMAS, Professor Khairuddin Abd. Hamid, received the papers on behalf of the university. Also present at the ceremony were Datuk Amar Leonard Linggi Jugah, Director of the Tun Jugah Foundation, whose father, Tun Jugah, was a friend of Anthony Richards during the latter's years as an administrative officer in what is now the Kapit Division; Dato Tra Zehnder, Director of the Majlis Adat Istiadat and also a friend of Anthony Richards during his Sarawak years; Jayl Langub, Secretary of the Majlis Adat Istiadat; Prof. Michael Leigh, Director of the Institute of East Asian Studies; myself, as Chair of Dayak Studies; and Temenggong William Linang, retired Senior Sarawak Administrative Officer, who had served with Richards as a colonial officer in the early 1960s. Ms. Siti Sumaizan Ramli represented the library and following the handover ceremony, gave Huw and Michael Richards a tour of CAIS and introduced them to Ms. Zainun Mat Nor, the Special Collections Librarian, who is directly responsible for conserving and cataloguing the AJN Richards Collection. Ms. Zainun showed them the cataloguing room and area set aside for the Richards materials in the CAIS library. The ceremony was followed by lunch.

The initial sorting and evaluation of Anthony Richards' papers and books was undertaken at the family's request by Professor Bob Reece of Murdoch University, who provided a broad listing of manuscript material, while Huw Richards drew up a checklist of most of the books and journals. Professor Reece brought the collection to the attention of the Tun Jugah Foundation and myself at UNIMAS and suggested that it should be given a home in Sarawak. The latter was also the wish of the Richards family. The shipping of the papers and books from England was funded by the UNIMAS Library Committee and was organized by myself with the help of Huw and Michael Richards. I received the shipment, consisting of a crate containing fourteen large boxes, on behalf of the UNIMAS library on 2 January 2002. In addition, the Richards brothers had brought with them for the handover ceremony in October a collection of over 2,000 photographic prints and negatives. This material has since been divided between the Tun Jugah Foundation archives and CAIS (see in this issue, "A.J.N. Richards' Photographs in the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and Tun Jugah Foundation Libraries").

CAIS and the Southeast Asia Collection

The Southeast Asia Collection at CAIS was established in October 2001 through an initial gift of 2800 volumes from Professor Emeritus Marvin Rogers of the University of Missouri. Since then, the Collection has been augmented by further gifts from Professor Rogers, as well as a number of additional donations, including a collection of books and journals on general and Southeast Asian anthropology from the estate of the late Professor William R. Geddes. However, the A.J.N. Richards papers and books comprise, together with the Rogers gift, the major cornerstone of the university's Southeast Asia Collection. While the Rogers collection is strong on Peninsular Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam, the Richards collection focuses almost exclusively on Borneo and in particular on Sarawak, and besides books and journals, also includes, as noted, an extensive collection of photographs, correspondence, notebooks, manuscripts, and other unpublished materials.

Richards' Life, Writings and the AJN Riehards Collection

Anthony John Noel Richards was born on 3 December 1914 at Sheepscombe in Gloucestershire, England. His father was a country vicar. After graduating from Hertford College, Oxford, he entered the Sarawak civil service as a Brooke cadet officer in September 1938. His first posting was to the Secretariat where he worked under Mr. Andrew MacPherson, then Secretary for Native Affairs. Here, he rapidly gained fluency in both Iban and Malay. His posting, first to Sarikei in the lower Rejang in 1940, and then, in 1941, as District Officer in Betong, Saribas, shortly before the Japanese Occupation, confirmed what later became a lifelong interest in Iban affairs. During the war, he was interned at the Batu Lintang prisoner of war camp.