The Endangered Archives Programme (http://www.bl.uk/endangeredarchives), administered by the British Library in London, UK, distributes grants to individual researchers within the fields of humanities and social science, in order for them to identify collections that can be preserved for fruitful use. It is funded by Arcadia, http://www.arcadiatrust.org/ (formerly known as the Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund, a grant-making fund established in 2001) in pursuit of its general aim to support fundamental research into important issues in the humanities and social science. The focus of the Programme is on the preservation and copying of important but vulnerable archives throughout the world. The next call for applications will take place in August 2008, with a deadline of the beginning of November. More information. http://www.bl.uk/about/policies/endangeredarch/rgapply.html

During the first three years of its existence from 2003, the Programme funded nearly 70 projects in 37 countries, totalling Ł1.7 million. In South Asia, 11 projects in Bhutan, India and Nepal are currently supported by the Endangered Archives Programme. They include projects on digital documentation of manuscripts at Drametse and Ogyen Choling monasteries in Bhutan (photo from Drametse); a digital archive of north Indian classical music at Jadavpur University in Kolkata; and a project to preserve historic and rare monographs and periodicals in Nepal. More information about the South Asian projects. http://www.bl.uk/about/policies/endangeredarch/asia.html#sa