The Hoàng Xuân Hãn Collection brings together an exceptional body of materials assembled and studied by Professor Hoàng Xuân Hãn (1908–1996), one of the most distinguished Vietnamese intellectuals of the twentieth century. Trained in mathematics and engineering in France, Hoàng Xuân Hãn was also a pioneering historian, philologist, educator, and specialist in classical Vietnamese literature. His scholarship traversed the sciences and humanities, linking modern intellectual methods with Vietnam’s rich textual traditions.

Preserved by his family and donated to BULAC in 2024, the collection reflects both the breadth of Hoàng Xuân Hãn’s scholarship and the meticulous process behind his research. It includes rare works in chữ Hán, chữ Nôm, and quốc ngữ; manuscript copies of earlier texts; anthologies of poetry and historical writings; genealogies, maps, dictionaries, periodicals, and extensive research notes. Particularly significant are materials related to Truyện Kiều, Chinh phụ ngâm, Vietnamese Nôm poetry, diplomatic missions, regional histories, and the literary culture of the Lê–Trịnh and Nguyễn periods.

Many documents bear Hoàng Xuân Hãn’s own transcriptions, annotations, corrections, comparative tables, and indexes. They therefore preserve more than the texts themselves: they reveal the working practices of a scholar dedicated to recovering, comparing, interpreting, and transmitting Vietnam’s cultural heritage. Moving among classical Chinese, Nôm, modern Vietnamese, and French, the collection also illuminates the multilingual foundations of modern Vietnamese scholarship.

By cataloguing and digitizing these materials through its BiNA platform, BULAC has made an important part of this scholarly legacy accessible to researchers and the wider public internationally. The collection constitutes an invaluable resource for Vietnamese literary and historical studies while demonstrating how digital access can give renewed life to fragile textual heritage and reconnect it with readers across languages, institutions, and national borders.

Explore the Hoàng Xuân Hãn Collection on BULAC’s BiNA platform.