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University of Chicago Library

Guide to the Yuan, T'ung-li (Yuan, Tongli) Papers 1940-1964

© 2014 University of Chicago Library

Descriptive Summary

Title:

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

Dates:

1940-1964

Size:

6.75 linear feet (11 boxes)

Repository:

Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago Library
1100 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.

Abstract:

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.

Information on Use

Access

The collection is open for research.

Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Yuan, T'ung-li (Yuan, Tongli). Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Biographical Note

Yuan T’ung-li (Pinyin: Yuan Tongli, Traditional: 袁同禮, Simplified: 袁同礼), courtesy name Shou-ho (Pinyin: Shouhe, Traditional: 守和, Simplified: 守和), was a Chinese library administrator, bibliographer, and later consultant in Chinese literature at the United States Library of Congress. Born to a scholarly family in Beijing, Yuan graduated from Peking University in 1916. Upon graduation he became a librarian at Tsinghua College (today’s Tsinghua University). In 1920, with a scholarship from Peking University, he enrolled at Columbia University in New York. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1922. In 1923 he graduated with a Bachelor of Library Science degree from New York State Library School in Albany.

Upon his return to China in 1924, Yuan became librarian of Kwangtun University (today’s Sun Yat-sen University) in Guangzhou (Canton). In 1925 he was appointed librarian and professor of bibliography at Peking University. In 1926 he became librarian of the newly formed Peking Metropolitan Library, which in 1929 merged with the old National Library to form the National Library of Peiping (predecessor to the current National Library of China). Yuan was appointed associate director of the new library before succeeding its first director Ts’ai Yuan-p’ei (Cai Yuanpei) in 1942. During his tenure at the National Library of Peiping revolutionized library administration and services by introducing catalogue cards, establishing bibliographical journals and bulletins, editing and publishing bibliographies on books and libraries in China, and fostering international exchanges and cooperation. Through his work as librarian he also became acquainted with some of the most important thinkers in China of the time, including co-founder of the Communist Party of China Lee Ta-chao (Li Dazhao).

After the Japanese invasion and occupation of northern and eastern China in 1937, Yuan, having moved some of the rare books and manuscripts of the National Library of Peiping to the Library of Congress for safekeeping, left for southwestern China where many Chinese universities had also moved to form the Associated University at Kunming. Yuan provided library services at Kunming before setting up an office of the National Library of Peiping in Chongqing, China’s wartime capital, in 1942. Through international campaigns and an extensive use of microfilms Yuan secured the access of Chinese students and scholars to books, academic journals, and the latest developments in research at the time of war.

After the Second World War, Yuan was involved as a representative of the Republic of China in various functions of the newly formed United Nations. In 1949 when the Communists took over and expelled the Republican Chinese government to Taiwan, Yuan moved to the United States. He became consultant in Chinese literature and later librarian at the Library of Congress where he served until his death in 1965.

In the United States Yuan published numerous bibliographies on China-related topics. His most important publications from this period are China in Western Literature: A Continuation of Cordier’s Bibliotheca Sinica (1958) and several Guides to Doctoral Dissertations by Chinese Students detailing Chinese scholars and students overseas. Other major publications include editions of the unpublished works of Hu Shih (Hu Shi) after the latter’s death, bibliographies on Sinkinag (Xinjiang, Chinese Turkestan) and Chinese art and archeology.

Yuan was a friend of Tsien Tseun-Hsuin (Qian Cunxun), Professor Emeritus in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Curator Emeritus of the East Asian Library of the University of Chicago.

Scope Note

The Yuan, T’ung-li (Yuan, Tongli) Papers contain correspondence, notes, invoices, manuscripts and typescripts of Yuan’s published works, newspaper clippings, calligraphies, and maps, with the bulk of the material dating from between 1949 and 1964. The papers primarily document Yuan’s research in the United States. The collection is organized into three series: Series I: Correspondence; Series II: Research; and Series III: Oversize.

Series I, Correspondence, contains outgoing, incoming, and third-party mail, arranged according to subject matter. Letters in this series do not directly relate to Yuan’s bibliographical research but are of personal and logistical nature. They include Yuan’s personal correspondence with friends and other researchers; exchanges with publishers and booksellers; invoices and purchasing letters of Yuan’s publications from individuals, university libraries, and other institutions. They are mainly written in Chinese and English, as well as in French and German to a lesser extent.

Series II, Research, consists of material related to Yuan’s published bibliographies and other research projects. Materials in this series are arranged according to subject matter, then chronologically. The series contains Yuan’s research notes, which are mostly in Chinese, newspaper clippings, book catalogues, student rosters, and drafts of his published bibliographies. It also contains Yuan’s research correspondence, including inquiries worldwide for books and archival materials and for information on Chinese students overseas. The bulk of these materials served Yuan’s publications on China in western literature; Chinese scholars and students overseas; the unpublished writings of Hu Shih (Hu Shi); Sinkiang (Xinjiang, Chinese Turkestan); and Chinese mathematicians.

Series III, Oversize, contains two undated maps on Chinese Inner Mongolia and its borders with Mongolia and the Soviet Union. They presumably date before the Communist takeover of China in 1949.

Related Resources

The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/select.html

Subject Headings

INVENTORY

Series I: Correspondence

Box 1   Folder 1

Chang, Lucy, 1960-1962

Box 1   Folder 2

Graves, Mortimer, 1960

Box 1   Folder 3

Koo, Vi-Kyuin “Wellington” (顾维钧), 1960-1963

Box 1   Folder 4

Liu Lin-Sheng (刘麟生), 1963-1964

Box 1   Folder 5

Luo Chia-Lun (罗家伦, Luo Jialun), 1/2, 1951-1964

Box 1   Folder 6

Luo Chia-Lun (罗家伦, Luo Jialun), 2/2, 1960-1963

Box 1   Folder 7

Watanabe Hiroshi (渡边宏), 1963

Box 1   Folder 8

Won, C., c. 1960

Box 1   Folder 9

Yu Yu-Sen (余又荪, Yu Yousun), 1963

Box 1   Folder 10

China Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Culture, 1954-1962

Box 1   Folder 11

Commercial Press of Taiwan, 1963-1964

Box 1   Folder 12

Sun Wah Printing Corporation, 1963-1964

Box 1   Folder 13

Universities’ China Committee in London (UCC), 1963-1964

Box 1   Folder 14

University of Washington, 1959-1962

Box 1   Folder 15

Correspondence regarding Yuan’s publications, 1963

Box 2   Folder 1

Correspondence regarding Yuan’s publications, 1963-1964

Box 2   Folder 2

Correspondence from Pre-Communist era, 1949-1955

Box 2   Folder 3

Correspondence from Hong Kong and Macao, 1954-1956

Box 2   Folder 4

Correspondences from Japan, 1959-1964

Box 2   Folder 5

Correspondences from London, 1955-1957

Box 2   Folder 6

Correspondence in the United States, 1952-1963

Box 2   Folder 7

Correspondence in Chinese, 1949-1956

Box 2   Folder 8

Correspondence in Chinese, 1949-1957

Box 2   Folder 9

Correspondence in Chinese, 1960-1964

Box 2   Folder 10

Correspondence in Chinese, 1963

Box 2   Folder 11

Correspondence in western languages, 1963

Box 2   Folder 12

Correspondence, miscellaneous, 1949-1956

Box 2   Folder 13

Correspondence, miscellaneous, 1961-1962

Box 2   Folder 14

Correspondence, miscellaneous personal, 1962-1963

Box 2   Folder 15

Correspondence, miscellaneous research, 1957-1963

Box 2   Folder 16

Correspondence, miscellaneous research, 1959-1963

Box 2   Folder 17

Two letters, 1964

Box 2   Folder 18

A letter, undated

Box 2   Folder 19

Correspondences regarding the publication of Guide to Doctoral Dissertations by Chinese Students in Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1963), 1961-1962

Box 2   Folder 20

Purchases of and later correspondences regarding A Guide to Doctoral Dissertations by Chinese Students in America, 1961-1963

Box 3   Folder 1

Purchases of and later correspondences from the United States regarding Yuan’s published bibliographies, 1961-1964

Box 3   Folder 2

Purchases of and later correspondences regarding Yuan’s publications, 1962-1963

Box 3   Folder 3

Purchases of and later correspondence concerning Yuan’s bibliographies on Sinkiang and on Western publications on China, 1962-1963

Box 3   Folder 4

Purchases of and Later Correspondence regarding Bibliography of Chinese Mathematics, 1962-1964

Box 3   Folder 5

Purchases of and later correspondences from Europe regarding Yuan’s published bibliographies, 1962-1964

Box 3   Folder 6

Purchases of and Later Correspondence regarding Classified Bibliography of Japanese Books and Articles concerning Sinkiang, 1886-1962 (1962), 1963

Box 3   Folder 7

Purchases of and Later Correspondence regarding Guide to Doctoral Dissertations by Chinese Students in America 1905-1960 (1961) and Guide to Doctoral Dissertations by Chinese Students in Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1963), 1916-1961, 1963-1964

Box 3   Folder 8

Purchases of and Later Correspondence regarding Yuan’s bibliographies, 1961-1963

Box 3   Folder 9

Purchases of Yuan’s bibliographies, 1963-1964

Box 3   Folder 10

Purchases of Yuan’s publications on Sinkiang, 1963-1964

Box 3   Folder 11

Purchases of Yuan’s publications, 1964

Box 3   Folder 12

Purchases of Yuan’s publications, 1964

Box 3   Folder 13

Purchases of Yuan’s publications, 1964

Box 3   Folder 14

Book purchases and shipments, 1946-1955

Box 3   Folder 15

Book purchases and shipments, 1962-1963

Box 3   Folder 16

Inquiries on booksellers in the United States, 1962-1964

Series I: Research

Box 3   Folder 17

Inquiries on publications and archival materials, 1950-1964

Box 3   Folder 18

Inquiries on publications and archival materials, 1962-1963

Box 3   Folder 19

Inquiries on publications and archival materials in Australia and New Zealand, 1955

Box 3   Folder 20

Inquiry on publications and archival materials in Australia, 1957

Box 3   Folder 21

Inquiries on publications and archival materials in Belgium and the Netherlands, 1954-1955

Box 3   Folder 22

Inquiries on publications and archival materials in Britain, 1950-1955

Box 4   Folder 1

Inquiries on publications and archival materials in Britain and Ireland, 1955-1957

Box 4   Folder 2

Inquiries on publications and archival materials in Burma (Myanmar) and Siam (Thailand), 1955-1956

Box 4   Folder 3

Inquiries on publications and archival materials in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, 1950-1957

Box 4   Folder 4

Inquiries on publications and archival materials in France, Germany, and Switzerland, 1957-1964

Box 4   Folder 5

Inquiries on publications and archival materials in German, 1951-1955

Box 4   Folder 6

Inquiries on publications and archival materials in India and Indonesia, 1951-1956

Box 4   Folder 7

Inquiries on publications and archival materials in Italy, 1954-1955

Box 4   Folder 8

Inquiries on publications and archival materials in Japan, 1955

Box 4   Folder 9

Inquiries on publications and archival materials in Portugal and Spain, 1954-1955

Box 4   Folder 10

Inquiries on Russian publications on China, 1959-1961

Box 4   Folder 11

Inquiries on publications and archival materials in Singapore, 1951-1955

Box 4   Folder 12

Inquiries on publications and archival materials in Switzerland, 1950-1955

Box 4   Folder 13

Drafts of prefaces to Doctoral Dissertations by Chinese Students in America, A Guide to Doctoral Dissertation by Chinese Students in Great Britain, and Russian Works on China, 1918-1960, c. 1960

Box 4   Folder 14

Drafts of bibliographies of doctoral dissertations of Chinese students in Europe, c. 1962

Box 4   Folder 15

A draft of A Guide to Doctoral Dissertations by Chinese Students in Continental Europe, 1907-1962, c. 1963

Box 4   Folder 16

Information gathered on Chinese students overseas, 1955-1964

Box 4   Folder 17

Information gathered on Chinese graduate students overseas, 1959-1962

Box 4   Folder 18

Information gathered on Chinese graduate students overseas, 1960-1962

Box 4   Folder 19

Inquiries on Chinese students completing a doctoral dissertation overseas in 1961, 1961

Box 4   Folder 20

Inquiries on Chinese graduate students overseas, 1963-1964

Box 4   Folder 21

Inquiries on Chinese students completing a doctoral dissertation overseas – the Americas, Institutions A-L, 1960-1961

Box 4   Folder 22

Inquiries on Chinese students completing a doctoral dissertation overseas – the Americas, Institutions M-Z, 1960-1961

Box 4   Folder 23

Inquiries on Chinese students completing a doctoral dissertation overseas – the Americas, last names A-K, 1960-1961

Box 5   Folder 1

Inquiries on Chinese students completing a doctoral dissertation overseas – the Americas, last names L-M, 1960-1961

Box 5   Folder 2

Inquiries on Chinese students completing a doctoral dissertation overseas – the Americas, last names N-Z, 1960-1961

Box 5   Folder 3

Inquiries on Chinese graduate students overseas – Belgium and Italy, 1961-1963

Box 5   Folder 4

Information gathered on Chinese students overseas – Britain and Ireland, 1943-1955

Box 5   Folder 5

Information gathered on Chinese students overseas – Britain and Ireland, 1961-1962

Box 5   Folder 6

Inquiries on Chinese students completing a doctoral dissertation overseas – Britain and Ireland, 1961-1962

Box 5   Folder 7

Inquiries on Chinese students completing a doctoral dissertation overseas – Britain and Ireland, 1961-1963

Box 5   Folder 8

Inquiries on Chinese students completing a doctoral dissertation overseas – Canada and the United States, 1960-1963

Box 5   Folder 9

Inquiries on Chinese students completing a doctoral dissertation overseas – Canada and the United States, Institutions A-L, 1960-1961

Box 5   Folder 10

Inquiries on Chinese students completing a doctoral dissertation overseas – Canada and the United States, Institutions O-Y, 1960-1961

Box 5   Folder 11

Inquiries on Chinese students completing a doctoral dissertation overseas – Canada and the United States, 1961

Box 6   Folder 1

Information gathered on Chinese students in the United States, 1956-1958

Box 6   Folder 2

Information gathered on Chinese students studying in Europe, 1963

Box 6   Folder 3

Information gathered on Chinese graduate students overseas – France and Germany, and drafts of A Guide to Doctoral Dissertations by Chinese Students in Continental Europe, 1907-1962 (1964), 1962-1963

Box 6   Folder 4

Information gathered on Chinese students overseas and their dissertations – Germany, 1960-1964

Box 6   Folder 5

Inquiries on Chinese graduate students overseas – Germany, 1963-1964

Box 6   Folder 6

Inquires on Chinese graduate students overseas – Hong Kong and the Philippines, 1961

Box 6   Folder 7

Information gathered on Chinese students overseas – the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, 1962-1964

Box 6   Folder 8

Information gathered on Chinese graduate students overseas – South America, 1951

Box 6   Folder 9

Information gathered on Chinese scholars awarded with honorary degrees overseas, 1960-1961

Box 6   Folder 10

Inquiries on Chinese graduate students overseas and other miscellaneous correspondences, 1959-1964

Box 6   Folder 11

Information gathered on alumni and alumnae of Tsing Hua University studying overseas, 1940-1961

Box 7   Folder 1

Rosters of Chinese students overseas and alumni of Chinese universities, 1958-1963

Box 7   Folder 2

Rosters of students, professors, politicians, and other personnel in Taiwan, 1951-1960

Box 7   Folder 3

Copies of old newspaper anthologies, articles on early Chinese students overseas, c. 1960

Box 7   Folder 4

Information gathered on Chinese geologists and geographers, c. 1960

Box 7   Folder 5

Inquiries on western publication on China and publications by Chinese scholars overseas, 1952-1957

Box 7   Folder 6

Research notes and correspondence on western publications on China, 1950

Box 7   Folder 7

Research notes and correspondence on China, 1951-1961

Box 7   Folder 8

Research materials, notes, and correspondences regarding Communist China, 1952-1957

Box 7   Folder 9

Research materials, correspondences, and newspaper clippings regarding Communist China, 1956-1959

Box 7   Folder 10

Scores of Chinese folk music, c. 1955

Box 7   Folder 11

Research materials on China in British Politics during the Nineteenth Century, c. 1960

Box 7   Folder 12

Correspondence regarding Monumenta Senica, 1960-1961

Box 7   Folder 13

Research notes and correspondence for Bibliography of Chinese Mathematics, 1960-1963

Box 7   Folder 14

Research materials, notes, and correspondences regarding Bibliography of Chinese Mathematics, 1961-1963

Box 7   Folder 15

A Draft of Bibliography of Chinese Mathematics 1918-1960, 1963

Box 8   Folder 1

Research notes and correspondence for Bibliography of Western Writings on Chinese Art and Archaeology (unfinished, published posthumously 1975), 1960-1963

Box 8   Folder 2

Research notes on Chinese diplomatic history and treatises during the early 1900s, c. 1952

Box 8   Folder 3

Correspondence, notes, drafts of a proposal for grant for a bibliography of Chinese anthropology and archaeology, 1964

Box 8   Folder 4

An errata list for a journal on Taiwanese art, c. 1955

Box 8   Folder 5

Research notes, materials, and correspondences on Sinkiang (Chinese Turkestan), 1951-1964

Box 8   Folder 6

Research notes on Sinkiang (Chinese Turkestan), c. 1955

Box 8   Folder 7

Research materials on Sinkiang (Chinese Turkestan), 1958-1962

Box 8   Folder 8

Research on Sinkiang (Chinese Turkestan) – Drafts of reprints of Xin Jiang Jian Zhi Zhi by Song Bolu and Xi Chui Yao Lue by Qi Yunshi, 1959-1964

Box 8   Folder 9

Research notes, materials, and correspondence on Sinkiang (Chinese Turkestan), 1961-1962

Box 8   Folder 10

Research notes and correspondence on the history of Sinkiang (Chinese Turkestan), 1962

Box 8   Folder 11

Research on Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan) – Correspondences regarding and drafts of Classified Bibliography of Japanese Books and Articles concerning Sinkiang (1962, in collaboration with Hiroshi Watanabe), 1962

Box 8   Folder 12

Research on Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan) – Correspondences regarding and drafts of Xin Jiang Yan Jiu Cong Kan, c. 1962

Box 8   Folder 13

Research on Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan) – Research notes and drafts for a republication of Jin Shao Chou Bi by Zeng Jize (1966), 1962-1963

Box 8   Folder 14

Research on Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan) – Correspondences regarding and drafts of Zhong E Xi Bei Tiao Yue Ji (1962, or Russo-Chinese Treaties and Agreements Relating to Sinkiang, 1851-1949), 1962-1963

Box 9   Folder 1

Research on Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan) – Research notes and drafts for a republication of Xi Jiang Jiao She Zhi Yao by Zhong Yong (1963), c.1963

Box 9   Folder 2

Research on Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan) – Drafts for a reprint of Xi Jiang Jiao She Zhi Yao by Zhong Yong (1963), c.1963

Box 9   Folder 3

Research Notes on Sino-Russian Borders, c. 1950

Box 9   Folder 4

Research notes on Tannu Tuya (Tannu Uriankhai), c. 1955

Box 9   Folder 5

Research notes and newspaper clippings on Mongolia, c. 1955

Box 9   Folder 6

Research materials on Tibet, 1953-1955

Box 9   Folder 7

Bibliographical research on Central Asia by Lawrence Krader, 1955

Box 9   Folder 8

A copy of Selected Bibliography of Dr. Hu Shih’s Writings in Chinese, autographed, c. 1957

Box 9   Folder 9

Posthumous processing and bibliographical research on the works of Hu Shih (Hu Shi, d. 1962), 1962-1963

Box 9   Folder 10

Bibliographical research on the works of Hu Shih (Hu Shi, d. 1962), 1963-1964

Box 9   Folder 11

Research notes and correspondences on Japanese and Chinese law, 1958-1962

Box 9   Folder 12

Research materials and correspondences in relation to Japan, 1960-1962

Box 9   Folder 13

Research materials and correspondences on Marco Polo, 1954-1964

Box 9   Folder 14

Research notes and correspondence on Marco Polo, 1959-1964

Box 9   Folder 15

Records of disseminations of his published bibliographies, c. 1962

Box 9   Folder 16

Miscellaneous notes and correspondence regarding Yuan’s publications, 1952-1957

Box 9   Folder 17

Notes, c. 1960

Box 9   Folder 18

Miscellaneous research materials and correspondences, 1962-1963

Box 10   Folder 1

Research notes and correspondence, miscellaneous, 1962-1963

Box 10   Folder 2

Miscellaneous research notes and correspondences, 1963

Box 10   Folder 3

Miscellaneous, 1963

Series III: Oversize

Box 11   Folder 1

Two Maps of Inner Mongolia, c. 1947