Southeast Asia Art Foundation (SAAF) Archive is composed of about 200,000 photographs drawn from at least 30 different sources, including 10,000 photos from sites in Cambodia, Java, and Thailand, 1,100 aerial photos of unexplored archaeological sites, and approximately 3,000 photos from leading art dealers. The collection is housed in a series of black binders and is broken down into 1149 binders of images of objects from various regions and object types, 114 binders with museums' holdings and dealers’ photographs, 24 binders of aerial photographs, 2 binders that contain microfiche, and 3 boxes of photographs. Many of the photos depict sculptures or monuments that have since been vandalized, damaged, insensitively stored, or destroyed. Some of the sculptures have also been sold into private collections and are no longer accessible to the public. The photographs of Yves Coffin, a former French diplomat to Cambodia, are now considered one of the best collections of Cham and Khmer architecture and sculpture. Most of the aerial photographs of Thailand in the mid-1950's came from William-Hunt. Some of the microfiche in the collection came from the National Research Centre of Archaeology on Indonesia from 1901 to 1956, while more microfiche was contributed by the Kern Institute, University of Leiden. In addition to the approximately 100,000 photographs and slides, materials also came from an expedition to Java, which sent Patrick Young to photograph the Buddhist monument of Borobudur. The Department of the History of Art at the University of Michigan organized the expedition, which was partially funded by Southeast Asia Art Foundation and its trustee, John A. Thierry.
The collection also contains vast documentation about the legacy of the artwork and the archive itself, including work from leading scholars such as Carol Stratton, Sarah M. Bekker, A.B. Griswold, and Miriam McNair Scott. John Adams Thierry's research and additional articles are incorporated in the collection.
The photo archive is part of the Southeast Asia Art Foundation Archive, which is now housed in three locations within the University of Michigan. The University of Michigan-Museum of Art houses Thierry's collection of 19 sculptures, while the University of Michigan Library houses Thierry's personal library of books on Southeast Asian Art, many of which are rare or difficult to find.
[View items]
John Adams Thierry was born on May 8, 1913 in Watertown, Massachusetts to parents, Louis and Adelaide (née Hamlin) Thierry. The junior Thierry graduated thrice from Harvard University. He graduated summa cum laude with his A.B. in physics in 1935, then again in 1936 when he received his A.M. The following year Thierry set off to complete a year of postgraduate work at Cambridge University as a Sheldon Traveling Fellow. After his return to the states Thierry earned his J.D. in 1940 from Harvard University and began his career at Bucyrus-Erie Co. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1942 he joined the army and was assigned to the Corps of Engineers at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. His responsibilities included designing and testing portable military bridging, as well as writing and revising manuals for engineering and field work. Thierry left the army as a captain in 1946 and returned to Bucyrus-Erie Co. Thierry retired in 1977 to the family summer home in Hill, New Hampshire, with his wife, Silvie Frere. John Adams Thierry died on February 1, 2006.
Mr. Thierry began to collect Southeast Asian art and sculptures during the 1950's when he went to Japan and Thailand on business trips. Inspired by Bernard Berenson, Thierry assembled an impressive collection of books, photographs, and slides of Southeast Asian sculpture. In 1978 the Southeast Asia Art Foundation (SAAF) was founded by Thierry and housed at his home in Hill, New Hampshire, where researchers were invited to come and conduct their research. Mr. John Adams Thierry gifted his collection to the University of Michigan and the first truck arrived in 1993, driven by the donor himself. The SAAF Archive was dedicated in memory of Louis Sidney Thierry, John Adams Thierry's father.
