Khmerica [ខ្មែរិកា]

*Inititated by the French service of cultural cooperation at the turn of the 21st century, Khmerica, the program of digitization of the collections of Cambodian periodicals issued in French language since the Cambodian independence and kept at Phnom Penh National Library was expanded for years on funds provided by Jean-Jacques Donard [1], then head of FSP VALEASE [Valoration of SEA Written Language Legacy], before abruptly vanishing from the screens just at the start of COVID-19 pandemic.

Since January 2025, the SOSORO Museum has worked to relaunch online Khmerica platform with an enriched digital archive and an improved search engine. SOSORO-Khmerica, which benefits from the support of the National Bank of Cambodia, is designed to carry the complete collections of the main publications in French [Cambodge d’aujourd’hui (1958−1964 — 33 issues), Réalités cambodgiennes (1963−1969 — 66 issues), Cambodge (1967−1969 — 154 issues), Le Mékong (1993−1995 — 25 issues), Cambodge Soir (1995−2007 — 2,767 issues, approximately 18,000 pages), Cambodge Soir Hebdo (2007−2010 — 152 issues)], digitized books and related manuscripts in French or Khmer, as well as period postcards, maps, and other visual material. 

While the search engine now available has still to be fine-tuned — with tables of contents by issue numbers, for instance, and interface instructions at least in English in addition to French -, and even if downloads are currently available page by page only — page grouping for downloads is now a common feature on most knowledge data platforms worldwide -, the return of Khmerica online is some great news for lovers of Cambodian culture and researchers.

In the same direction, the digitization of the complete collection of Kambuja magazine should be soon online thanks to the labor of Center for Khmer studies (CKS) team in Siem Reap.

1) Cambodge d’Aujourd’hui 4 – 5, April 1958, special issue, interior cover page. 2) A map of Kampuchea Krom districts in Cambodge d’Aujourd’hui 2, 1 Feb. 1958, p 19. [source: Sosoro/​Khmerica. ADB note: Instead of a glaring watermark, some discreet labeling at the bottom of each pdf page with publication, date and page number would be much more useful.]

1) Cambodge d’Aujourd’hui 4 – 5, April 1958, special issue, interior cover page. 2) A map of Kampuchea Krom districts in Cambodge d’Aujourd’hui 2, 1 Feb. 1958, p 19. [source: Sosoro/​Khmerica. ADB note: Instead of a glaring watermark, some discreet labeling at the bottom of each pdf page with publication, date and page number would be much more useful.]

[1] Jean-Jacques Donard was also the initiator with photographer Philippe Bataillard of Archimages, the program of preservation of iconographic documents related to Cambodian history and culture available on Angkor Database platform, since 2019.