The archive of Yogyakarta

The Archive of Yogyakarta is almost unique among Asian document collections, and one cannot overestimate its significance for scholarly research into the history of Java. It forms a single corpus of records produced by the Sultan of Yogyakarta's government between 1786 and 1812, dealing with the allocation of the realm's scarce resources of men and materials. There are royal appointments, registers of the realm's physical resources, retrenchment orders, lists of military contingents, and court correspondence - but these are vastly overshadowed by an incomparable set of local accountancy records, ranging from yearly balance sheets, through receipts of tolls, taxation lists, and debt letters, to allowances for the royal family and imposts for ceremonial feasts. Complementing Volume 1 (1980), which published selected documents of political importance, Volume II considers the Archive as a whole and what it reveals about the government and the economy of Yogyakarta. Transliterations of the Javanese originals are accompanied by English synopses and notes.