Transformation and Growth of The Treasury of Lives Encyclopedia: Creating Access to the People and Places of Tibet, Inner Asia and the Himalayan Region

FAIN: PW-269333-20

Treasury of Lives, Inc. (New York, NY 10011-5510)
Alexander Patten Gardner (Project Director: July 2019 to present)

Expansion and development of an online resource that documents the history, people, and places of Tibet, Inner Asia, and the Himalayan region.  The project would expand the technical infrastructure of the current resource to include linked open data and would expand content by adding new biographies and geographic data.

The Treasury of Lives, an online encyclopedia of Tibet, Inner Asia and the Himalayan Region, will implement a major expansion of encyclopedia content and transition from traditional relational database tables to a Resource Description Framework (RDF) knowledge graph capable of supporting semantic queries. The Treasury of Lives will add 100 new biographies of significant twentieth century Tibetan figures and 100 geographic place description entries with dynamic mapping, as well as related family and social roles content, to the actively growing resource. This content development will coincide with the development of a data model and ontology for people and places of Tibet, all in preparation for the transition to a triple-store database and website redevelopment that will fully implement the principles of Linked Open Data (LOD).

Associated Products

The Sources of Buddhist Traditions - Blog Post (Blog Post)
Title: The Sources of Buddhist Traditions - Blog Post
Author: Alexander Gardner
Abstract: The Sources of Buddhist Traditions is a monthly column from three of the major digital resources for Buddhist research, texts, and translation: Buddhist Digital Resource Center, The Treasury of Lives, and 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Focusing on stories, texts, translation, and teachers, the series will illuminate aspects of Buddhist practice, thought, and tradition.
Date: 12/14/2021
Primary URL: https://tricycle.org/article/konchok-peldron/
Primary URL Description: The story of one Tibetan mother who refused to surrender her children to monastic life
Blog Title: Konchok Peldron: The Mother of Tulkus
Website: https://tricycle.org/

Transformation and Growth of The Treasury of Lives (Web Resource)
Title: Transformation and Growth of The Treasury of Lives
Author: Alexander Gardner
Author: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
Author: Tenzin Dickyi
Author: Catherine Tsuji
Author: Ryosuke Kobayashi
Author: Jamyang Norbu
Author: Adam Pearcey
Author: Dhondup Tashi Rekjong
Abstract: Web page of peer reviewed biographies created during an implementation project funded by The National Endowment for the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources - Division of Preservation and Access.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://treasuryoflives.org/supporters/National+Endowment+for+the+Humanities
Primary URL Description: List of Project biographies

The Digital Orientalist 2023 Conference (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: The Digital Orientalist 2023 Conference
Author: Alexander Gardner
Author: Catherine Tsuji
Abstract: Alex Gardner and Catherine Tsuji, The Treasury of Lives Abstract: The Treasury of Lives (TOL) is a digital-only biographical encyclopedia of Tibet, Inner Asia, and the Himalayan region. Its mission is to provide accessible and well-researched biographies of notable individuals who are deceased and who were native to the region. Most essays are peer reviewed. Content is enhanced by a dynamic map. TOL was created as a project of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation in New York City in 2007, and has been independent since 2017, relying on grants, donations, and institutional subscriptions for continued development. Sustainability for TOL is twofold: financial and collaborative. The site needs funding to cover the costs of two salaried employees, and it needs community involvement and partner organizations to continue to add and refine content. To that end staff dedicates considerable time to fundraising and reporting, as well as to communicating with partners, authors, reviewers, and audience members regarding new and existing content. Each of these, as one would expect, often informs the other; with broad involvement of the Tibetan studies and Buddhist communities, The Treasury of Lives has built a lasting foundation of financial and critical support. This support has translated into a successful university subscription program and to individual donations from readers, both of which are growing with our audience. A National Endowment for the Humanities planning grant led to additional support for an implementation project that has enabled content expansion and long-term sustainability planning, helping to establish the resource as an authoritative source of information.
Date Range: June 3, 2023
Location: Virtual (international)
Primary URL: https://digitalorientalist.com/the-do-2023-conference-schedule-and-abstracts/

Tools of the Trade Presentation (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Tools of the Trade Presentation
Author: Alexander Gardner
Author: Catherine Tsuji
Abstract: Tools of the Trade: The Way Forward 14 -16 March 2023 With support from the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, the Digital China Initiative, the Korea Institute, the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, the Asia Center, the Harvard-Yenching Institute, the Harvard College Library, the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and the Harvard China Fund.
Date Range: March 16, 2023
Location: Cambridge, MA
Primary URL: https://github.com/fccs-dci/tott-projects/raw/main/public/pdf/D3_W2_Room2_4.pdf
Primary URL Description: Workshop: Biographical Databases 13:00-15:00 16 March 2023 CGIS South Belfer S020 Moderator: Grace Fong The Treasury of Lives is an online-only biographical encyclopedia of Tibet, Inner Asia, and the Himalaya. With over 1300 biographies, we have accumulated a great deal of data. A site redevelopment now nearing completion will transition the database to Linked Open Data model.
Secondary URL: https://sites.harvard.edu/tools-of-the-trade/

16th IATS Seminar 2022 (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: 16th IATS Seminar 2022
Author: Alexander Gardner
Abstract: In 2020 The Treasury of Lives (treasuryoflives.org) received a three-year grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities to, in part, increase the number of biographies of twentieth-century individuals. In the past decade and a half The Treasury of Lives has become a standard reference for the lives of Tibetan and Himalayan people, with well over 1200 biographies written by more than 100 scholars. The grant is intended to respond to the fact that the vast majority of biographies on the site are of individuals who lived well before the year 1900. The twentieth century was a period in which Tibet, Sikkim, Nepal, Bhutan, and other Himalayan regions entered a global community on a scale never before reached. They did so either as regions of China or India, or as independent nations, engendering changes on almost every level of society. It was also a cataclysmic period for Tibet and Mongolia, witnessing the destruction of thousands of institutions and an incalculable number of objects of material culture. The twentieth century also saw new attention to issues of gender, race, and economic justice, political reforms and individual liberty. The stories of the lives of the women and men who lived through these interconnected events are the personal narratives of this history, and thus add vital insight to the lived experiences of the period. Their inclusion on The Treasury of Lives will reveal multiple layers of continuities and change in all aspects of Himalayan society. With attention to both the narratives and the resources involved in crafting them, this panel will highlight the lives of individuals that speak to the themes of contact, change, and resilience in twentieth-century Tibet and the Himalaya.
Date Range: July 8, 2022
Location: Prague, Czechia
Primary URL: https://www.iats.info/previous-iats-conferences/16th-iats-seminar-2022/
Primary URL Description: 16th Conference of the International Association of Tibetan Studies in 2022.
Secondary URL: https://www.iats.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/no_chairs_list_of_sessions.pdf
Secondary URL Description: List of Sessions. Treasury of Lives panel is on page 8. Participants: Alex Gardner Dhondup Tashi Rekjong Tenzin Dickyi Cathy Cantwell Adam Pearcey

Published NEH Project Biographies (Web Resource)
Title: Published NEH Project Biographies
Author: Alexander Gardner
Author: Adam Pearcey
Author: Tenzin Dickyi
Author: Dhondup T. Rekjong
Author: Ryosuke Kobayashi
Author: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
Author: Catherine Tsuji
Author: Jamyang Norbu
Author: Antonio Terrone
Abstract: The National Endowment for the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources (Division of Preservation and Access) awarded The Treasury of Lives an 18-month (2017-2019) grant to support planning for the long-term sustainability of The Treasury of Lives. The planning project supported enhancements in data management, editorial standards, refinement of dynamic map and geodata, search optimization and public engagement for the online encyclopedia. The National Endowment for the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources (Division of Preservation and Access) awarded The Treasury of Lives a 3-year (2020-2023) implementation grant for the expansion of encyclopedia content and redevelopment of its technical infrastructure to implement the principles of linked open data. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Year: 2024
Primary URL: https://treasuryoflives.org/supporters/National+Endowment+for+the+Humanities
Primary URL Description: Peer-reviewed biographies published through NEH Grant PW-26933-20 to date.
Secondary URL: http://www.treasuryoflives.org
Secondary URL Description: Website with links to associated content (map, place records, social roles) made possible through NEH support

Sustainability of The Treasury of Lives (Blog Post)
Title: Sustainability of The Treasury of Lives
Author: Catherine Tsuji
Author: Alexander Gardner
Abstract: Conference Proceedings: On June 3, 2023, the Treasury of Lives participated in an online forum at Digital Orientalist on the topic of “sustainability.” As this topic has been at the core of our work over the last seventeen years, we were grateful for the opportunity to share our experiences and learn from others in the field. While financial sustainability is a key concern for every digital project, data management is equally vital.
Date: 4/24/2024
Primary URL: https://digitalorientalist.com/2024/04/24/sustainability-of-the-treasury-of-lives/
Primary URL Description: Invited guest post by Alex Gardner and Catherine Tsuji on the Digital Orientalist ISSN: 2772-8374 Tags: Conference Proceedings, DH in General, DH in Practice, Theory
Blog Title: Conference Proceedings: Sustainability of The Treasury of Lives
Website: The Digital Orientalist

The Treasury of Lives Ontology (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: The Treasury of Lives Ontology
Author: Rebecca Younes
Abstract: The Treasury of Lives ontology and taxonomies model data on the people and places of Tibet and surrounding regions.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://github.com/The-Treasury-of-Lives/tol-ontology
Primary URL Description: Github repository for The Treasury of Lives ontologies, taxonomies, TARQL, and SPARQL for modeling Treasury of Lives data. Publicly accessible.
Secondary URL: https://github.com/The-Treasury-of-Lives/tol-data
Secondary URL Description: Github repository for The Treasury of Lives data
Access Model: CC-BY-4.0

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