Finding Aids

East Asia

Brannen, Noah S. Papers

Noah Samuel Brannen (b. February 2nd, 1924, d. April 11th, 2013) was an ordained minister, missionary, translator, and professor. The collection contains correspondence, notes, drafts, manuscripts, and publications pertaining to Brannen's translations of and writings on the works of various Japanese authors, especially Rinzo Shiina (a post-WWII Japanese Christian author). Also included in the collection are essays on and critiques of Shiina's works as well as drafts of essays and translations by other writers (with Brannen's annotations). Materials date between 1953 and 2003, with the bulk of the materials dating from the 1960s and 1970s. The papers primarily document Brannen's investment in the translation and promotion of the works of Rinzo Shiina.

Gunther, John. Papers

John Gunther, journalist and writer. The John Gunther Papers consist of different draft versions of Gunther's books along with correspondence, articles, and notes related to these projects. Papers related to Chicago Revisited.

Hilberry, Norman. Papers

Norman Hilberry earned a doctorate in Physics from University of Chicago in 1941, and went on to serve in a number of administrative positions in research and development in the physical sciences. As a personal aide to Arthur Holly Compton, Hilberry participated in the 1942 Chicago Pile Experiment. This collection consists of a photograph album documenting Hilberry's 1961 visit to Japan, as a consultant to the Japanese Atomic Energy Commission.

Hitchcock, Annie McClure. Papers

Annie McClure Hitchcock (1839-1922) was born Ann Jane McClure on a farmstead in Illinois. She married Chicago attorney, Charles Hitchcock in 1860. After the death of her husband, Annie McClure Hitchcock sponsored the construction of Hitchcock Hall on the University of Chicago campus as a memorial to him. This collection is a single, undated album of color-tinted photograph prints of landscapes, buildings, and people of Japan.

Jones, Wellington D. Papers

Wellington Downing Jones (1886-1957) Professor of Geography, 1913-1945. The bulk of the collection is photographs taken by Jones on research trips to China, India, Japan, and South America and at the University of Chicago. Also includes research materials, correspondence, notes, reports, student work, and marked maps of the Chicagoland area. Materials date from 1909 to 1948, with the bulk dating between 1909 and 1929.

Kitagawa, Joseph M.

Joseph M. Kitagawa (b. March 8, 1915, d. October 7, 1992) was a prominent Japanese-American scholar of religion, professor, priest, and author of numerous books and articles. Kitagawa taught at the University of Chicago Divinity School for over thirty years and served the same institution as Dean from 1970-1980. He obtained academic degrees in Japan and in the U.S. Upon his arrival in the U.S., which coincided with the Second World War, he was taken to internment camps for three and a half years in New Mexico and Idaho. The collection documents his academic production and administrative activities, especially in the later stages of his career, and includes manuscript and offprint copies of his articles, chapters, book reviews, and books, the documents related to conferences he led or participated in, and other administrative materials.

Kracke, Edward A., Jr. Papers

Edward A. Kracke Jr. (1908-1976) was a professor of East Asian studies at the University of Chicago, and an expert on early Chinese political institutions during the Sung dynasty (906-1279 A. D.). After briefly working for the Office of Strategic Services and the State Department as an expert on political developments in the Far East during the Second World War, he joined the University of Chicago in 1947, where he was instrumental in developing its program in Far Eastern studies. The collection comprises Kracke's correspondence with other noted scholars in Asian history; drafts of and notes related to his writing, presentations and research, mostly on the subject of the Sung dynasty; Kracke's teaching materials and students' work; and correspondence and other materials related to his work in various professional and Asian studies organizations.

Lach, Donald F. Papers

Contains the papers of Donald F. Lach, Professor of History at the University of Chicago from 1948 to 1988. Most of the material relates to his work on the influence of Asia on Enlightenment-era Europe, specifically the three volume, nine book Asia in the Making of Europe. The material spans the years 1925-2001, with the bulk dating from 1960 to 1990.

Lan, Ching Huong . Watercolor Sketches Showing Details of Buying, Curing, Packing, and Shipping Tea

Consists of 12 original watercolors on the tea trade in China. Also includes 12 photographs, reproducing 4 watercolor images 3 times each, in prints of various sizes.

Leites, Nathan. Papers

Nathan Leites (1912-1987) a political scientist who applied the tools of psychoanalysis to the study of culture and politics, with particular specialization in the Soviet politburo. The collection includes correspondence and memoranda, draft seminar and research papers, research notes and notecards, and syllabi and course materials, mainly related to the politics and cultures of the Soviet Union, Europe, Thailand, Burma, and Japan.

Lowitz, Leza. Papers

Leza Lowitz, writer, editor, and Japanese translator. The Leza Lowitz Papers contain correspondence, photographs, Japanese ephemera, articles, literary reviews, art and literary publications, artwork, drafts and manuscripts, audio-visual material. The collection documents Lowitz’s work as a professional writer and translator.

MacNair, Harley F. Papers

Harley F. MacNair, professor of Far Eastern history. The Harley F. MacNair Papers mainly consist of correspondence with Donald Lach, but also include correspondence with other individuals as well as an offprint and some manuscript pages. The bulk of the correspondence took place between 1938 and 1947.

Majima, Seigan. Majima Aammoku Ichibu No Gokui No Makimono

Handwritten copy, in Japanese, of The Secret Principles of Part of the Majima School of Ophthalmology. Illustrated with colored pen and ink drawings. (The Majima School was an old and reputable school of Japanese Ophthalmology. The books' contents were transmitted through lectures; students were never allowed to see the books and their whole contents, but were allowed upon their graduation to copy portions from the scroll.)

Nambu, Yoichiro. Papers

Yoichiro Nambu (1921-2015) was a Japanese-born theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate, who served as professor at the University of Chicago from 1958 to 1991. Nambu is widely regarded as one of the great physicists of the twentieth century, and several of his contributions are considered foundational to the modern field of theoretical physics. His most important contributions were made in the areas of spontaneous symmetry breaking – for which he earned the 2008 Nobel Prize in physics – color gauging, and string theory.

Sokei-An (Sasaki Shigetsu) and First Zen Institute of America in Japan, Archive of

Ruth Fuller Sasaki (nee Everett, 1892-1967) was the first Westerner — and woman — to be made a priest of a Daitoku–ji Zen temple in Japan. She is credited with creating a research institute (the First Zen Institute of America in Japan), which worked towards translating various primary Zen Buddhist works into English, and a Zen training center (at the Ryôsen-an, a sub-temple in the Daitokuji), which provided instruction in Zen Buddhism to international students. In addition to early translation notes, drafts, and worksheets, correspondence related to the Ryôsen-an, and her personal notebooks, this collection also contains extensive lecture notes made by RFS, and her students related to talks given by her husband-to-be, Zen Master Sasaki Shigetsu (1882-1945, monk's name, Sokei-an). Sokei-an's lectures number in the hundreds. Also included are early translations of various Zen-related materials made by Sokei-an, as well as many materials related to the translation projects of the First Zen Institute. Further, numerous essays, translations, commentaries, research papers, and technical essays are also included.

Starr, Frederick. Papers

Frederick Starr (1858-1933) Assistant professor of anthropology, University of Chicago, 1892-95; associate professor, 1895-1923. Curator of the anthropological section, Walker Museum, University of Chicago, 1895-1923 Contains professional and personal correspondence; research material; field notebooks; diaries; class lecture notes; memorabilia; photographs; bibliographies; and scrapbooks. Correspondents include Frank Boas, W.E.B. Du Bois, Federico Gamboa, William Rainey Harper, John Haynes Holmes, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Julius Rosenwald, and Albion Small. Topics relate to Starr's interests and involvement in the former Belgian Congo, Liberia, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Mexico, Central America, and the World's Columbian Exposition.

Steinbrecher, Frederick "Fritz". Collection

In 1910, the University of Chicago baseball team traveled to Japan to play a tournament with the University of Waseda. This collection contains photographic postcards documenting the tour, compiled by player Frederick "Fritz" Steinbrecher (B.Phil., 1913).

Stent, G.C., Chinese Eunuchs: Or, the Origin, Character, Dress, Duties, and Preparation of the Castrati of China

Typescript essay on the history of eunuchs in China. Includes holograph introduction by Charles Needham, with additional notes on castration in ancient Syria, Greece, and 19th-century Italy. Also includes printed copy of Stent's, Chinesische Eunuchen (Leipzig; Otto Schulze, n.d.); and a printed copy of Henry G. Anthony, "Cryptorchidism, with a report of two cases of natural eunuchs," from Journal of the American Medical Association, August 2, 1902.

Stereograph Cards Collection

Collected and uncollected stereographs, as well as related materials, from a number of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century publishers. The bulk of the material dates from ca. 1900.

Yoshitoyo, Ichiryusai. Mashin teate kiho no ben, Makiyama Sensei dempo

Handwritten text in Japanese, "About the special way to treat the measles; Dr. Makiyama's remedy." Illustrated with colored woodcut. Includes typescript translation of text from Japanese into English.

Yuan, T'ung-li (Yuan, Tongli). Papers

Yuan T’ung-li (1895-1965) was a Chinese library administrator, bibliographer, and later consultant in Chinese literature and librarian at the Library of Congress of the United States. He pioneered the modern library movement in China and published several bibliographies on China-related topics. The collection contains correspondence, notes, invoices, manuscripts and typescripts, newspaper clippings, calligraphies, and maps dating between 1940 and 1964, with the bulk of the material dating after 1949 when Yuan moved to the United States. Materials in this collection are in Chinese and English as well as several other languages. The papers primarily document Yuan’s research for his published bibliographies.