Digitizing Việt Nam (DV) is a digital resource hub, collaboratively maintained by Columbia University (CU) and the Vietnam Studies Center (VSC) at Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV). It provides extensive digitized archives of premodern Vietnamese manuscripts and a curated catalog of modern-era archival collections from Vietnam. DV also develops advanced digital humanities tools, beginning with an annotation and translation labeling tool for scholarly analysis. The pedagogical library of DV underscores its commitment to outreach by bridging scholarly research and educational practice, providing teachers and autodidacts with curated resources to educate others—and themselves—about Vietnam.
The Digitizing Vietnam Collections consist of the digitized pre-modern Han-Nom manuscript collections, modern era Vietnamese Studies collections including but not limited to history, linguistics, ethnology/cultural anthropology, Vietnamese early-20th-century journals as well as collections of Vietnamese contemporary music and folk music.
Lien-Hang Nguyen
Ph.D. in History
Associate Professor, Director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
John Phan
Ph.D. in East & Southeast Asian Language History
Associate Professor of Vietnamese Humanities, Director of Undergraduate Studies, EALAC, Columbia University
Tram Phuong Nguyen
Ph.D. in Ethnology
Digital Curator, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Van Le
M.A. in French
Digital Humanities Librarian, Vietnam Studies Center, Fulbright University Vietnam
Phuc Hoang Le
B.S. in Computer Science
Web Developer, Columbia University
Hoang Minh Vu
Ph.D. in History
Faculty member in History and Vietnam Studies, Fulbright University Vietnam
Nam Nguyen
Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations
Professor, Director of the Vietnam Studies Center, Fulbright University Vietnam
The Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation (1999–2018) served as the predecessor to the Digitizing Vietnam Project, laying crucial groundwork through its pioneering efforts in Unicode standardization, digitization, and public access to Hán-Nôm texts.
The Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation (1999–2018) was a pioneering U.S.-based nonprofit formed by Vietnamese and American scholars to preserve and promote the Chữ Nôm literary tradition. It was founded by James Đỗ Bá Phước, Ngô Thanh Nhàn, John Balaban, and was later joined by Ngô Trung Việt.
The Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation (VNPF) advanced the preservation and study of Hán-Nôm literature through five key areas: standardizing Nôm characters and fonts for digital use; digitizing and conserving physical texts in collaboration with the National Library of Vietnam and the Thắng Nghiêm and Phổ Nhân temples; and expanding accessible Hán-Nôm materials with searchable, annotated texts like "Truyện Kiều", "Lục Vân Tiên", "Chinh Phụ Ngâm", and "Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư". It also published essential reference tools—including dictionaries and digital editions—and promoted scholarship through conferences, awards, and educational workshops in both Vietnam and the U.S. After nearly two decades, the VNPF board concluded that its mission had been fulfilled and dissolved the foundation in 2018. Its website remains online as a lasting resource.
In 2018, the Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation donated its entire archive of sources and digital collections to the Digital Library Collections at Columbia University, providing a vital foundation for future digital scholarship. In 2023, the development of the Digitizing Việt Nam platform became possible through the support of a Luce Foundation grant, awarded to the project Digitizing Vietnam: The Virtual Future of Global Vietnam and the Vietnamese Studies Project. These collections are now being further enhanced through the application of digital humanities tools, developed using the foundational data provided by the VNPF.
The Digitizing Việt Nam Project extends its deepest gratitude to the VNPF for their generous donations, longstanding contributions, and continued support.
In August 2023, the Weatherhead East Asia Institute at Columbia University was awarded a LuceSEA grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support Digitizing Vietnam: The Virtual Future of Global Vietnam and the Vietnamese Studies Project.