*Carrie Eurasia Collection* project was originated by *H.B. Paksoy* during the 1970s, who was interested in the literature and history of Central Eurasia. He acquired the materials presented here, paying all associated costs (travel, et al) out of his own pocket, to support the writing of his doctoral thesis. In the intervening years, he continued collecting texts from three continents and reached the conclusion that no single library in the world held all the materials thus boxed and stored.
Dr. Paksoy first approached Professor *Lynn Nelson* of University of Kansas, who agreed to host these texts (whose copyrights were either never registered according to then prevailing international conventions or long since expired) within the Carrie Online Library. Professor Nelson shared Dr. Paksoy’s belief that this would be a service to humanity, since many of the works thus offered were issued in extremely limited print runs, hence not available to even scholars and researchers or the reading public. Most of the images were photographed by H.B. Paksoy.
The epics section provide access to materials ranging from the most well known to the rarest of collected texts from the field. Guides supply necessary background materials that have influenced the minds of the general populace. So do Folklore, Images and Music sections, intent being to place all available works into comparative perspective so as to construct a wide ranging vista.
Oykuler relays a sense of the creativity of their owners, much like the experiences and preferences adumbrated in the epics, but in much shorter versions.
Any and all are invited to make use of these treasures. So far, to our knowledge, various organizations from around the world have either linked to this website, or downloaded materials from us. We only ask that proper credit is given. We are happy to make our holdings available to institutions and individuals in this manner. Some colleagues have already begun working on translations and textual anayses.
The collector and the first sponsor (Paksoy and Nelson) of this collection offer their sincere thanks to the European University Institute for hosting and dissemination.
*H.B. Paksoy* taught at the Ohio State University, Franklin University, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the Central Connecticut State University. He now resides in the U.S. Southwest.
Over the past three decades, his research papers have appeared in over sixty periodic journals and scholarly collections, issued in more than thirty countries, on all inhabited continents. Dr. Paksoy also published (as author or editor) ten books:
DUSUNCELERIN KOKENLERI (Florence: Carrie/EUI, 2006)
LECTURES ON CENTRAL ASIA (Florence: Carrie/EUI, 2005)
THE BALD BOY KELOGLAN AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD (Lubbock, TX: ATON, 2003);
IDENTITIES: HOW GOVERNED, WHO PAYS? (Lawrence, KS: Carrie, 2001);
ESSAYS ON CENTRAL ASIA (Lawrence, KS: Carrie, 1999);
INTERCULTURAL STUDIES (Co-Editor)(NY: Simon and Schuster Education Group, 1998);
TURK TARIHI, TOPLUMLARIN MAYASI, UYGARLIK (Izmir: Mazhar Zorlu Holding, 1997);
CENTRAL ASIA READER: The Rediscovery of History (New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1994);
CENTRAL ASIAN MONUMENTS (Editor) (Istanbul: Isis Press, 1992);
ALPAMYSH: Central Asian Identity Under Russian Rule (Hartford, Connecticut: AACAR, 1989).
H. B. PAKSOY earned his D. Phil. from Oxford University, England (with a Grant from the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom), M.A. at the University of Texas at Dallas (with a National Science Foundation Project Grant Assistantship), and B.S. at Trinity University (with Bostwick Scholarship).
*Lynn Nelson’s* trademark style serves to provide people with an opportunity to pursue endeavors they love while he stands by and helps them to succeed. The Kansas Collection began this way. Lynn created the website in 1994 and then allowed Dick Taylor to develop it further. In turn, others were enabled to contribute, particularly Susan Stafford, who has managed KanColl during the past several years.
Lynn's Internet involvement reaches way back to its earliest days with his pioneering work in building the World-Wide Web. Long before the rest of us started, Lynn was already on the scene making possible the projects we would do later. Although Lynn shuns the spotlight, we recognize his contribution and accomplishments and we honor him here.
"I'm really a medieval historian, you know," wrote Lynn, "and I was happily going about my business of medievalizing until 1989, when I read a short article about the 'Internet,' 'discussion lists,' and a number of other things that aroused my curiosity."
Jokingly, he added: "Big mistake."
But Lynn was very active with the new concept "...in the summer of 1993, when I had History, the second World-Wide Web site -- outside of those of the groups who developed the technology -- to go into operation," as he told us. "I might add, for the benefit of all Kansans, that the first was KUFacts, here at the University of Kansas."
Lynn recalled: "I had the finest product of the latest technology, and there weren't enough hours in the day to do with it what should be done. I might point out that, even then, most people still considered computer telecommunications merely a device with which computer technicians played involved games."
He went on to explain: "Except for scientists and engineers, no one got paid, received released time, or was given assistance to work in the field. So I had this marvelous tool and no time to do much more than keep it in readiness to be used."
Before long, Lynn created new Internet projects such as Kansas On-Line and Early Kansas Imprint Scanners (EKIS). Both operations contributed to the birth and growth of the Kansas Collection website, which now reflects Lynn's continued efforts and those of volunteers he enables and contributors he encourages.
Possessing a vast knowledge of medieval history, Lynn has published several books. However, his general interests span the centuries and extend around the world. There are a wide variety of facets to his personal make-up. He's been a student, soldier, surveyor, oil-field worker, teacher, author, web-builder, mesmerizing narrator, family man, friend, mentor, leader and enabler, and has probably played a profusion of other roles about which we have yet to learn.
For your enjoyment, several of Lynn's stories are presented here in KanColl. In his writings you will discover the genuine and real Lynn Nelson, a pleasure to those who know him and a treasure to the World-Wide Web.