Archives Unbound:
Asian Studies
 
Archives Unbound: Asian Studies

With extensive coverage of Japan, China, and Korea from 1910 to 1950, this collection supports the study of colonialism, politics, nationalism, military actions, government systems, economics, and even geography of Asia during a critical period of engagement with the Western nations.

China

China: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1930-1939: Part 1 - This is one of two digital collections based on the microfilm title, Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of China, 1930-1939. Contained here are reels 1 – 99. Part of the General Record of the Department of State, the files are in Class 8: Internal Affairs of States. The documents are primarily instructions to -- and dispatches from -- U.S. diplomatic and consular staff. Subjects include political and governmental affairs; records on Bolshevism, fascism, Nazism, and socialism; issues relating to public order; and military and naval affairs.

China: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1930-1939: Part 2 - This is one two collections based on the Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of China, 1930-1939. Contained here are reels 100 - 167. Part of the General Record of the Department of State, the files are in Class 8: Internal Affairs of States. The document are primarily instructions to -- and dispatches from -- U.S. diplomatic and consular staff. Subjects include social issues, education, entertainment, communications, the public press, economy and industry, and other topics.

China: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1940-1944 - China in the Second World War is the focus of this collection. Documents include correspondence from the American Chamber of Commerce of Shanghai (September 1940); discussions calling for protection of American newspapers in China prior to United States entry into the war; letters to Sumner Welles, undersecretary of state; documents noting “unfavorable comments made by Japanese controlled press ... concerning foreigners and policies of the United States and Great Britain” (June 1941); the correspondence of Everett F. Drumright, American consul (August 1942); samples of “Chinese Communist publications” supplied by the Embassy at Chungking under cover of dispatches (June 1943); among many other unique holdings. Topics include the wartime relations between the United States and China, with emphasis on China’s military position and U.S. efforts to give military assistance; U.S. Army analysis of military operations; U.S. interests regarding Kuomintang-Communist relations and negotiations; and efforts to provide technical assistance to China and to facilitate greater cultural cooperation between the United States and China.

China: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1945-1949 - This archive is based on the microfilm title, Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of China, 1945-1949. Part of the General Record of the Department of State, the files are in Class 8: Internal Affairs of States. The document are primarily instructions to -- and dispatches from -- U.S. diplomatic and consular staff. Subjects include politics, military affairs, economy, and society, with separate files on provinces such as Manchuria, Yunnan, and Tibet. Folders on narcotics, entertainment, motion pictures, and other topics are also featured.

Chinese Maritime Customs Service Publications - The Maritime Customs Service of China (1854–1949) compiled and produced a huge number of publications from 1860 to 1949. These publications fall under six series: Statistical Series, Special Series, Miscellaneous Series, Service Series, Office Series, and Inspectorate Series. Out of these, the Statistical Series boasted the largest output. This collection incorporates the core of the Statistical Series, including Returns of the Import and Export Trade, 1859-1866; Returns of Trade at the Ports in China Open by Treaty, 1867-1881; Returns of Trade at the Treaty Ports and Trade Report, 1882-1919; Chinese Version of Return of Trade and Reports of Trade (missing 1885); Foreign Trade of China, 1920-1931; The Trade of China, 1932-1948 (bilingual); Decennial Reports on the Trade, Industries, etc. of the Ports Open to Foreign Commerce, and on the Condition and Development of the Treaty Port Provinces.

Chinese Maritime Customs Service: The Customs’ Gazette, 1869-1913 - The Chinese Maritime Customs Service (中国海关; CMCS) was established in 1854 during the Qing Dynasty and operated until the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The Service was run by an international-- predominantly British-staffed—team and the last foreign Inspector-General resigned in 1950. Established to collect taxes on maritime trade when Chinese officials were unable to collect them during the Taiping Rebellion, its functions quickly expanded. It became responsible for domestic customs administration (the Native Customs), postal administration, harbor and waterway management, weather reporting, and anti- smuggling operations. It mapped, lit, and policed the China coast and the Yangtze river. It was involved in loan negotiations, currency reform, and financial and economic management. It was always much more than just a tax collection agency, was well informed about local conditions, deeply involved in local, provincial, and national politics, and in international affairs. The Service further involved itself in China's diplomacy, organized its representation at nearly thirty world fairs and exhibitions, and ran various educational establishments. Among its various publications, the Customs Gazette is a quarterly published by order of the Inspector General of Customs of China in Shanghai. It was established in 1869 and ceased publication in 1913. The Gazette publishes quarterly reports on trade prepared and submitted by the custom houses based across the country such as Newchuang, Tientsin, Chefoo, Hankow, Chinkiang, Ningpo, Foochow, Amoy, Swatow, Tamsui, Takow, Kiukiang, and Canton. Each report covers figures of vehicles, imports, exports, re-exports, internal transit, passenger traffic, revenue, etc. There are also sections in the Gazette on quarterly reports on dues and duties, précis of fines and confiscations, notifications, movement in the service, and appendixes. The Gazette had published a total of 180 issues and this collection contains 152 of them. and the missing issues are 29-36, 49-56, 61-64, and 77-84.

Economic Cooperation Administration's Relief Mission in Post-War China, 1946-1948 - This collection demonstrates how officials of the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) looked for economic and cultural opportunities to promote U.S.-China relations, despite the prevailing Cold War suspicions of any and all communists in the early Cold War era. Topics include ECA efforts to urge the U.S. State Department to pursue a friendly economic policy toward Communist China and not to jeopardize U.S.-China economic relations; ECA representation of the opinion of many American businessmen in the face of U.S. State Department and White House opposition; the failure of the Marshall Mission to China to politicize the U.S. economic policy toward China; the effectiveness of the ECA’s implementation of aid to China; and information on the China Aid Act as part of Title IV of the Foreign Assistance Act. Documents include records of Donald S. Gilpatric, foreign service officer; regional offices correspondences; chronological files and cables; interoffice memos; subject files of the office of the director; among other records.

Evangelism in China: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions, 1837-1911 - The American Presbyterian Church was committed at its inception to the belief that it is a missionary church and that every member is a missionary. The establishment in 1837 of the Presbyterian Church’s Board of Foreign Missions signaled the beginning of a worldwide missionary operation destined to embrace some fifteen countries in four different continents The records offered here provide invaluable information on social conditions in China and on efforts to spread the gospel during the nineteenth century. Documenting the church’s educational, evangelical, and medical work, these are records mainly of incoming correspondence from the mission field and outgoing correspondence from the Board headquarters.

FBI File on Owen Lattimore - An American sinologist and college professor, Owen Lattimore (1900–1989) traveled extensively and did research throughout China, Manchuria, Mongolia, and Chinese Turkistan. From 1938-1950, he served as director of the Page School of International Relations at Johns Hopkins. In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy accused him of being a Soviet espionage agent. A senate committee exonerated him later that year. In 1952, he was indicted on seven counts of perjury on the charge that he lied when he told a Senate internal security subcommittee earlier in 1952 that he had not promoted Communism and Communist interests. In 1955, the Justice Department dropped all charges against him. Most of the material in this file relates to Lattimore's leftist sympathies and catalogs how he became a victim of McCarthyism.

General George C. Marshall's Mission to China, 1945-1947 - In November 1945, President Truman appointed General George C. Marshall as special envoy to China and instructed him to negotiate a cease-fire agreement between Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist troops and Chinese Communist forces. Marshall met at length with Chiang, Chou En-lai, and Mao Tse-tung. Although a cease-fire was declared in January 1946, peace negotiations stalled over the question of political unification. Marshall returned to the United States in early 1947 without having reached a solution. This collection comprises the complete records of the Marshall mission and are among the best English-language sources available for studying the Chinese political and military situations following World War II, as well as U.S. policy there. The minutes of Marshall's meetings and reports and memoranda prepared by U.S. advisers are all included. Information on the military front is provided by reports from U.S. observers in the field who investigated cease-fire violations.

German Foreign Relations and Military Activities in China, 1919-1935 - This collection provides documentation on Germany’s relations with China during the interwar period. Germany was instrumental in modernizing China’s industrial base and provided a military training mission and equipment for the armed forces of the Republic of China prior to the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Norman Bethune Papers - Dr. Norman Bethune (白求恩; 1890–1939), a Canadian thoracic surgeon, is a national hero in China. A dedicated Communist, he helped the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War. Two years later he went to China to help the Red Army. He died of blood poisoning while operating with the Chinese Eight Route Army, in November 1939. Mao Zedong, who only met Bethune once briefly, lionized him in an essay for his selfless dedication to others. This essay was included in the Red Book and Mao's collected works, and was mandatory reading in China. The Norman Bethune Papers consists of letter correspondences, newspaper and magazine clippings, photographs, pamphlets, and research materials selected from several sub-collections including Norman Bethune Collection, Bethune Foundation Fonds, Roderick Stewart Fonds, Louis and Irene Kon Fonds, and Maurice McGregor Fonds.

Papers of American Missionaries to Asia: Arthur M. Guttery and YMCA China - Arthur M. Guttery (1885–1981) was both an organizer and missionary for the YMCA in the United States and China. Beginning his career with the YMCA in the U.S., Guttery and his wife, Myrtle, departed for the “Y” location in Hankow, China in 1913. Here he was both preacher and teacher in the language school. For 15 years, the Rev. Guttery served as general secretary for the YMCA and helped to organize and establish the program when Wuhan was in the center of a rising tide of Communism. He then returned to the U.S., where he continued to serve with the YMCA until 1948. This collection contains Guttery’s sermons, religious addresses, essays on China, correspondence, and memoirs of YMCA workers in China.

Papers of American Missionaries to Asia: The Ashmore Family in China, Thailand, and Japan, 1850–1937 - William Ashmore, Jr. embarked upon a Baptist missionary career in his father’s territory, the Swatow District in Bangkok, Siam. Here, he worked as an administrator and teacher at the mission and translated the Bible into Swatow’s Tei-chi dialect. The Ashmore Family Papers are divided into eight series, arranged by family members and by medium. This collection consists of correspondence; writings by and about William and his wife, Lida Ashmore, and other members of their family; memorabilia; photographs; and artwork. Some of the most important pieces are those that highlight William, Jr.’s achievements as a translator and member of a long history of missionary service in South China.

Papers of American Missionaries to Asia: Jay C. and Lucile C. Oliver and YMCA China - Jay Charles Oliver served as Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) secretary in Hangchow and Shanghai, China from 1917 to 1943. He also served as district inspector, Inspectorate of Salt Revenue in China, from 1934 to 1936. He was interned in the Chapei Civil Assembly Center near Shanghai, repatriated upon the MS Gripsholm, and returned to the United States with his wife, Lucile, in 1943. The collection comprises papers of Jay C. and Lucile C. Oliver, including family and professional correspondence, personal and travel diaries, and official records of the YMCA and the Salt Inspectorate in China.

Papers of British Consulates and Legation in China (1722-1951) - This collection contains miscellaneous papers and reports from the British legation and consulates in China. Specifically, it comprises a catalogue of embassy archives, 1727 to 1859; trade and intelligence reports; records of legal proceedings; miscellaneous papers, some in Chinese, of the Chinese Secretary's Office; an entry book of papers relating to the East India Company in China; claims arising from Sino-Japanese hostilities, 1927 to 1940; accounts; circulars, etc.

Papers of American Missionaries to Asia: Missionaries associated with Fujian and Taiwan, 1889–1976 - This fascinating collection compiles 12 subcollections of papers of American missionaries associated with Fujian and Taiwan in southeastern China, including diaries, letters, newsletters, sermons, photographs, and manuscripts. The records chronicle their personal experience in their respective provinces as well as administrative matters with churches back home in the United States.

Policing the Shanghai International Settlement, 1894-1945 - This collection provides researchers with the opportunity to explore a unique period in China’s struggle toward a modern existence through the International Settlement in Shanghai.

Political Relations and Conflict between Republican China and Imperial Japan, 1930-1939: Records of the U.S. State Department - The records in this collection relate to political relations between China and Japan for the period 1930 -1939. The records are mostly instructions to and dispatches from diplomatic and consular officials; the despatches are often accompanied by enclosures. Also included in these records are notes between the Department of State and foreign diplomatic representatives in the United States, memorandums prepared by officials of the Department. There are records on: the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, beginning with the Mukden incident, in 1931; military action at Shanghai in 1932; further Japanese political and economic penetration into China, 1935-1936; and the course of the undeclared war between Japan and China, 1937-1939.

Political Relations Between China, the U.S. and Other Countries, 1910-1929 - This collection includes the microfilmed U.S. Department of State records for 1910-1929 relating to the political relations between the United States and China and relations between China and other states. The collection includes instructions to and despatches from diplomatic and consular officials; the despatches are often accompanied with enclosures. Also included in these records are the correspondence, reports, and journals of the commissions concerned with extraterritoriality in China, as well as notes between the Department of State and foreign diplomatic representatives in the United States, memoranda prepared by officials of the Department, and correspondence with officials of other government departments and with private firms and individuals.

Political, Economic, and Military Conditions in China: Reports and Correspondence of the U.S. Military Intelligence Division, 1918-1941 - The documents in this collection are from the Military Intelligence Division (MID) relating to conditions in China from 1918 to 1941. In addition, there are documents created by other U.S. Government agencies and foreign governments. The MID documents from which the six file categories (general conditions, political conditions, economic conditions, army, navy, and aeronautics) reproduced in this collection were extracted is a part of the Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, Record Group (RG) 165.

Records of the U.S. Information Service in China: Chinese Press Reviews and Summaries, 1944-1950 - This collection of essential U.S. Information Service collections on the Civil War period provides a unique opportunity to understand immediate post-World War II Chinese history, comparative revolution, and early Cold War history. This combination of smaller press collections weave together the strands of military, social, political, and free world history and includes an analysis of how the Chinese Communist Party achieved victory in the Chinese civil war of 1946-1950.

Records of US State Department's Division of Chinese Affairs - This collection consists of inter and intradepartmental memorandums, reports, position papers, summaries, maps, photographs, and despatches (from US Foreign Service officers and military personnel) relating to the internal political affairs of China and United States foreign policy toward China.

Shanghai International Settlement: Urban Planning and Development, 1845–1948 - A collection comprising land assessment schedules, land lists, land regulations and by-laws, rules on buildings, as well as files relating to public utility services, transportation, and other urban infrastructure and facilities in the Shanghai International Settlement.

Shanghai Municipal Council: The Municipal Gazette, 1908-1940 - The Shanghai Municipal Council (SMC) was founded on 11 July 1854 by a group of Western businessmen to govern the daily operation and infrastructure of the Shanghai International Settlement. By the mid-1880s, the Council had become a practical monopoly over the city's businesses. The SMC was dissolved on December 17, 1943. As the official organ of the Shanghai Municipal Council, The Municipal Gazette was established in 1908 and ceased publication in 1942. Published every Friday, the Gazette publishes notifications, departmental reports, letters from readers, minutes of Council meetings, municipal budget, monthly summary of revenue, financial statements on income and expenditures, policies and orders formulated by the council. This is a complete collection of the Gazette, containing all 35 volumes.

Subject Files of US State Department's Office of the Republic of China Affairs (1951-1978) - This collection consists of briefing books, correspondence, memoranda, policy papers, reports, statistics, and other miscellaneous records from the Office of the Country Director for the Republic of China.

The Amerasia Affair, China, and Postwar Anti-Communist Fervor - The Amerasia Affair was the first of the great spy cases of the postwar era. It prompted several congressional investigations, stirred-up partisan controversy and threatened to destroy the political reputations of several government officials.

The Chinese Civil War and U.S.-China Relations: Records of the U.S. State Department's Office of Chinese Affairs, 1945-1955 - The U.S. State Department’s Office of Chinese Affairs, charged with operational control of American policy toward China, amassed information on virtually all aspects of life there immediately before, during, and after the revolution. Declassified by the State Department, the Records of the Office of Chinese Affairs, 1945-1955, provide valuable insight into numerous domestic issues in Communist and Nationalist China, U.S. containment policy as it was extended to Asia, and Sino-American relations during the post-war period. This product comprises all 41 reels of the former Scholarly Resources microfilm product entitled Records of the Office of Chinese Affairs, 1945-1955.

The Chinese Recorder and the Protestant Missionary Community in China, 1867-1941 - Knowledge was valuable to the Christian missionaries who went to China in the nineteenth century. They wanted to spread the knowledge of Western Christianity and technology to the Chinese, but also they wished to exchange information among themselves about the work they were doing. The need to keep informed about the activities of their counterparts in other locations in the country was evident very soon after they arrived in China. Although the first Protestant missionary reached China in 1807, missionaries were not legally permitted to live in the interior of the country until after the signing of the 1860 treaties between China and Britain and France.

The Earl George Macartney Collection - This is a collection of a great variety of records related to Earl George Macartney’s historic mission to China during 1792–1794. The mission was dispatched by King George III of Britain in the name of congratulating Emperor Qianlong’s 83rd birthday. The mission’s goals included the opening of new ports for British trade in China, the establishment of a permanent embassy in Beijing, the cession of a small island for British use along China's coast, and the relaxation of trade restrictions on British merchants in Guangzhou (Canton). The mission left Britain in September 1792 on HMS Lion and HMS Hindustan; and the voyage to China took Macartney and his entourage a year. Macartney met with the Chinese emperor in September 1793 but his requests were all rejected due to competing worldviews and huge cultural differences between the two sides. This Cornell University Library collection consists of letters, journals, logbooks, watercolors, engravings, and books (illustrated accounts of the expedition/mission) produced by Macartney himself and those who accompanied him on the mission in various capacities such as secretaries, commanders/captains, officers, comptroller, artists, guards, and servants. According to Prof Robert Swanson (U of Birmingham), while records related to this mission are dispersed in many different libraries/archives across the world, the Cornell East Asian Library (Charles Wason Collection) “contains the largest accumulation of material associated with the [George Macartney’s] mission.”

The Minutes of the Shanghai Municipal Council - This collection replicates all the minutes of meetings held by the Board of Directors of the Shanghai Municipal Council from July 1854 to December 1943. A wide range of topics were discussed at these board meetings, such as sanitation, transportation, telecommunication and postal service, taxation, urban planning, gas supply, street lighting, rickshaw operator management, animal protection, and police system. The minutes taken from July 1854 to December 1906 are handwritten while the rest are typewritten.

Tiananmen Square and U.S.-China relations, 1989-1993 - This digital collection reviews U.S.-China relations in the post-Cold War Era, and analyzes the significance of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, China’s human rights issues, and resumption of World Bank loans to China in July 1990.