The Archive documents the art and architecture of these countries in situ, as well as works of art found in most major Asian, European, and American museums. This collection contains predominantly Buddhist material, but also includes Hindu, Jain, Islamic, and other works. The Huntington Archive includes the largest photographic archive of Nepali art and architecture in the world and represents the only formal collection that photographically records that country's artistic heritage. As such it could be used for scholarly research and classroom teaching. The South Asia photographic archive at the University of Pennsylvania, set up in 1979, principally duplicates the holdings of the American Institute of Indian Studies' Center for Art and Archaeology in Gurgaon, near Delhi, India.
Holdings currently consist of approx.
4,000 color slides. By agreement with the AIIS and the Smithsonian Foreign Currencies Program, which funds the Gurgaon Center, photographs added to the Gurgaon archive are added also to the archive in Philadelphia, keeping it a current tool for research. Strong in architecture and sculpture, the archive also has documentation in the areas of miniature painting, Baroque architecture in India, and architecture and sculpture from other parts of South Asia. Michael W. Meister's Home Page Michael W. Meister, former Chair of the History of Art Department at the University of Pennsylvania, is a specialist in the art of South Asia. His research focuses on temple architecture, the morphology of meaning, and other aspects of the art of the Indian sub-continent.