Jacob Elon Conner (21 Oct. 1862, Ohio, USA - 27 July 1949, Brooklyn, New York, USA) was an American political scientist, diplomat and writer who served as the first US Consul in Saigon from December 1907 to July 1909 (replaced with Miller Joblin) and visited Angkor at that time, with his account… Read more

John White (1782-1840) was an American shipmaster, a Sailing Master in the US Navy since 1813 (Lieutenant in 1816, Commander in 1937), a merchant mariner working with the East India Company from 1812, and the captain of the brig Franklin, first American vessel to reach Saigon in May 1819.In Sept.… Read more

Hugh Macomber Ferriss (12 July, 1889, St Louis, Missouri, USA – 28 Jan. 1962, New York City, USA) was an American architect, architectural artist, and poet who found inspiration in ancient cities, Angkor among others, in his visual exploration of modern urban life.From the 1920s, he moved from… Read more

François-Ernest Ménétrier [pen name E. Ménétrier] was a French teacher and Inspector of primary schools in Cambodia during the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s who authored studies in Khmer philology and a monograph of Kampot province.He taught at several French primary schools in Phnom Penh before being… Read more

René Piot (14 Jan. 1866, Paris, France - 24 Apr. 1934, Paris) was a French painter, frescoist, stage set and costume designer who had a lasting influence on Paris theater and decorative arts scenes in the 1910s and 1920s, and experienced a kind of 'Rodin moment' when he saw the Cambodian Royal… Read more

Harry La Tourette Foster (1895, Brooklyn, New York City, USA - 15 March 1932, Queens, New York City) was an American travel writer, a First World War veteran and "a tropical tramp at heart" who visited Cambodia in 1922 as the ultimate 'Beachcomber in the Orient' wandering through Asia from Japan to… Read more

Borbála Száva is a Hungarian historian and museum professional specializing in Angkorian iconography and costume studies. She received her PhD from the University of Pecs, Hungary, where her research focused on carved costume depictions at Banteay Srei temple. She has taught courses on Southeast… Read more

Martin Parr (23 May 1952, Epsom (Surrey), England - 6 Dec. 2025, Bristol, England) was a worldwide famous photographer who explored global issues in his own style and with a good measure of English humour.He grew interested in cameras though his grandfather, an amateur photographer. When his… Read more

Shu Hikosaka (b. 1952, Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan) is a Japanese Buddhist scholar and a co-founder of the Institute of Asian Studies (IAS), Madras, India, in 1983, along with Dr. John Samuel (b. 1948, Neyoor, India) and other scholars. AsBorn in a Zen Buddhist temple where his father was the temple… Read more

Shinji Soya 宗谷真爾 (25 Dec. 1925, Noda City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan – 22 April 1991) was a Japanese pediatrician and novelist who was brought by his interest in esoterism and fantasy literature to extensively study ancient Khmer civilization, Asian polytheism and folklore. While studying at School… Read more

Fernand Divoire (10 March 1883, Brussels, Belgium - 18 July 1951, Vaucresson, France) was a Belgian-French poet, journalist, playwright and art critic who started to publish in Paris as early as 1906.In the years before WWI, he was involved in the literary, musical and artistic avant-garde,… Read more

Walter Bosshard [Boßard in German] (8 Nov. 1892 - Samstagern, Switzerland - 18 Nov. 1975, Ronda, Spain) was a Swiss photographer, filmmaker and reporter, one of the pioneers of modern photojournalism who went to Angkor in 1930 and photographed dancers of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia in Angkor… Read more

Ngô Văn Doanh (Hanoi, 1949) is a Vietnamese archaeologist, social scientist and cultural researcher specializing in the history of Champa [Chăm Pa, Cham culture] and Tây Nguyên [Central Highlands]. While obtaining a PhD in Medieval History at Moscow Lenin University (1984), he was professor of… Read more

Luc Mogenet (b.1 Oct. 1944, Fontenay-sous-bois, France) is a geography teacher and a consultant in economics who worked in Asia and Africa, as well as an independent researcher specializing in modern history of Laos and Cambodia. While teaching at Luang Prabang French high-school (Laos) and working… Read more

Akin Rabibhadana รพีพัฒน์ [M.R. Akin Rabidbhana with his royal title of Mom Rajawongse หม่อมราชวงศ์อคิน] (22 January 1933 - 16 Nov. 2018) was a Thai anthropologist, sociologist, and academic known for his studies on Thai social structure and rural development. A member of the Thai royal family -… Read more

Philippe Peycam is a trained historian of South East Asia (in particular modern Vietnam) and the director of the International Institute of Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden, Netherlands, where he also supervised the transnational program “Humanities across Borders, Asia and Africa in the World”… Read more

Carool Kersten (b. 28 June 1964, Haelen, Netherlands) is a Dutch scholar of Islam, a professor of Islamic Studies, a linguist, Southeast Asianist and Arabist whose first published academic work dealt with the Dutch merchants' dealings in 17th century Cambodia and Laos (Strange Events in the… Read more

Gabrielle Maud Vassal - née Gabrielle Maud Candler, sometimes publishing under the pen name of Countess Gabrielle Von Hoenstadt - (5 March 1880, Uppingham, England - 31 May 1959) was a British-French explorer, naturalist, photographer, author and public speaker who explored French Indochina in the… Read more

Micheline Dumoulin known as Micheline Dullin (22 Feb. 1927, Paris - 19 December 2025, Martigues, France) was a French photographer and artist who covered Cambodia extensively from 1958 to 1964, documenting the 'Golden Age' of the Sangkum (Sangkat Reastr Niyum សង្គមរាស្ត្រនិយម, "People's Socialist… Read more

Sofia Aleksandrovna Maretina Софья Александровна Маретина (23 July 1929, Leningrad [Saint-Petersbourg] - 6 Aug. 2013, Sankt-Petersbourg) was a Russian historian and ethnologist  specializing in Indian history and ethnography, one of the rare women titular of a University chair in history (at… Read more