Notes from the Da Lat Archives on Trung Viet

For those who may be contemplating studies on the history of central Vietnam, certainly the least-studied region among foreign scholars, I can not say enough good things about this archives. Its situated in Tran Le Xuan's former villa complex, and the staff are fast, courteous and very helpful. Most important are the collections housed there:

Researchers can scan through the following "muc luc" of their collections, possibly more:

Nguyen-era Han-Nom records

RSA - Resident Superieure de l'Annam (1880s-1945) - a smorgasbord of reports, letters, etc. similar to colonial records elsewhere in Vietnam

RSA/RP - Rapports Politiques de l'Resident Superieure de l'Annam (1880s-1945) - very broad overviews of "situations" economic and political, typically annual reports to the Gov General in Hanoi

Phủ Thủ Hiến Trung Việt (1947-1954) - great sources on the struggle between French, pro-French Vietnamese & Viet Minh forces in central VN

Toà Đại Biểu Chánh Phủ Tại Trung Nguyên Trung Phần (1954-1969) - to me one of the most interesting collections. includes a lot of reporting on major post-54 events in central provinces, esp. Hue.

I do not know of any computer terminals for searching records of the RSA or these other collections in Da Lat, but one can search RSA records at Archives #2 using their database in the reading room, a
welcome improvement in speeding up research.

Finally, while a/c has been introduced to the other three archive centers, archives #4 is in Da Lat where its cool naturally! The city's serviced by flights daily from Ha Noi and HCMC as well as Danang. Still requires the initial visit to present thu gioi thieu, but after that its smooth sailing.

Hopefully the opening of Archives Ctr #4 will encourage more researchers to study this fascinating but poorly researched region.

Cheers,

David Biggs
UC Riverside / Hue