This paper discusses some ways to carry out collection-based research on Thailand's cultural history. It provides some recent examples showing how the study of archives and legacy museum collections can lead to the discovery of new, previously unknown information, or to identifying manuscripts or objects of great (though previously unrecognized) value. The author primarily uses examples from the Smithsonian Institution's Thai collection, including royal gifts from Thai monarchs; and from the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress – institutions located in Washington, D.C. Finally, this paper briefly surveys fellowship and internship information for students or faculty who may want to visit for scholarly studies, and hopefully for further discoveries of their own.
