Chinese oral history project collection, 1914-1989, bulk 1958-1980
Summary Information
Abstract
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- Chinese Oral History
- Bib ID:
- 4078603 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- Columbia University. Chinese Oral History Project
- Repository:
- Oral History Archives at Columbia
- Physical Description:
- 37 Linear Feet (86 manuscript boxes, 7 card catalog drawers, and 4 index card boxes)
- Language(s):
- English , Chinese .
- Access:
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The following boxes are located off-site: 37-70. You will need to request this material from the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
Description
Summary
The Chinese oral history project (COHP) collection (中國口述歷史項目檔案) documents the internal and external communication between the COHP staff and its participants as well as other affiliated institutions dating from 1958 to 1980. The completed interviews are described separately under the Chinese oral history project, while this collection provides context of creation for the interviews and additional historical documentation on interviewees. The collection contains administrative subject files, interviewee files which include correspondence, interview photographs and portraits, transcripts versions, reports, as well as autobiographies and manuscripts related to modern Chinese history collected during the course of the project. The collection also contains audio and microfilm materials.
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Series 1: Project Files, 項目文件, 1949-1988
Series 1 consists of administrative subject files which includes annual reports, correspondence, budgets, NEH grant files, information about publications in microform, publication issues as well as other subject matters. Materials also include correspondence and index to the affiliated projects such as the Academia Sinica oral history project and the China Missionaries oral history project.
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Series 2: Interviewee Files, 受訪人文件, 1914-1989
Series 2 consists of correspondence, interview photographs and/or portraits of interviewees, interview records, and transcript draft versions and copies.
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Series 3: Autobiographies and manuscripts, 自傳和手稿, circa 1960s-1984, undated
Series 3 consists of autobiographies and manuscripts collected by the project.
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Series 4: Digitized Audio Recording, 錄音, 电子版, circa 1954-1955
Series consists of one digitized interview audio recording: Hu Shih Lecture: Thought Currents in China from 1917 to 1937
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Series 5: Card files of Names mentioned, 人名索引卡片
Series 5 consists of 7 name card file drawers (in the RBML reference area) and 4 index boxes of names mentioned in the interview transcripts.
Arrangement
Arranged in five series.
- Series 1: Project Files, 項目文件, 1949-1988
- Series 2: Interviewee Files, 受訪人文件, 1914-1989
- Cai, Zengji/Choy, Jun-ke/蔡增基, 1969-1974
- Chen, Guangfu/Chen, Kwang Pu/Chen, K.P./陳光甫, 1955-1976
- Chen, Lifu/陳立夫, 1958-1989
- Chiang, Yee/Jiang, Yi/蒋彝 (Restricted), 1961-1972
- Ho, Franklin L./He, Lian/何廉, 1945-1975
- Hu, Shih/Hu, Shi/胡適, 1914, 1957-1982
- Huang-Shen, Yiyun/Mme. Huang, Fu; Huang-Shen, I-yun/黃沈亦云, 1961-1980
- Koo, V. K. Wellington/Gu, Weijun/顧維鈞, 1958-1984
- Kung, Hsiang-hsi/Kung, H. H./Kong, Xiangxi/孔祥熙, 1958-1974
- Li, Hanhun/李漢魂, 1961-1974
- Li, Huang/李璜, 1968-1975
- Li, Shuhua/李書華, 1961-1979
- Li, Zongren/Li, Tsung-jen/李宗仁, 1958-1980
- Liu, J. Heng/Liu, Jui-heng/Liu, Ruiheng/劉瑞恆, 1960-1961
- Tsiang, Tingfu Fuller/Jiang, Tingfu/蔣廷黻, 1963-1974
- Wang, C. T./Wang, Chengting Thomas/Wang, Zhengting/王正廷, 1960-1961
- Wu, K. C./Wu, Kuo-Cheng/Wu, Guozhen/吳國楨, 1960-1982
- Zhang, Fakui/Chang, Fa-k'uei/張發奎, 1946-1984
- Zuo, Shunsheng/Tso, Shun-sheng/左舜生, 1919-1968
- Series 3: Autobiographies and manuscripts, 自傳和手稿, circa 1960s-1984, undated
- Series 4: Digitized Audio Recording, 錄音, 电子版, circa 1954-1955
- Series 5: Card files of Names mentioned, 人名索引卡片
Using the Collection
Restrictions on Access
The following boxes are located off-site: 37-70. You will need to request this material from the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Chinese oral history project collection; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Related Materials
The completed interviews are described separately as a collection under the Chinese oral history project. Some interviews have components available online via Columbia University's Digital Library Collections portal.
The following is a list of oral history interviews in the Chinese oral history project: 以下列表含所收集的個人回憶錄:
Reminiscences of Choy Jun-ke, 蔡增基口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of Kuang-fu Ch'en, 陳光甫口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of Li-fu Ch'en, 陳立夫口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of Ho Lien (Franklin L. Ho), 何廉口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of Shih Hu, 胡適口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of Vi Kyuin Wellington Koo, 顧維鈞口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of H. H. Kung, 孔祥熙口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of Han-hun Li, 李漢魂口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of Huang Li: manuscript, 李璜口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of Shu-Hua Li, 李書華口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of Tsung-jen Li, 李宗仁口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of Huang Shen I-yun, 黃沈亦云口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of Ting-fu Fuller Tsiang, 蔣廷黻口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of Wu Kuo-Cheng, 吳國楨口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of Fa-k'uei Chang, 張發奎口述回憶錄
Reminiscences of Shun-sheng Tso, 左舜生口述回憶錄
Related oral history projects 相關口述史料:
Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica oral history project 中央研究院近代史研究所口述史料, 1950-1965
China missionaries project 中國傳教士口述史料, 1969-1972
The following are personal paper collections of the interviewees 以下列表含所收集的個人歷史檔案:
Hanhun Li and Chu Fang Wu papers, 李漢魂與李吳菊芳檔案
Collection on J. Heng Liu, 劉瑞恆彙集
C. Martin Wilbur papers, 韋慕廷檔案
Other Chinese personal papers donated to RBML through Prof. Wilbur's introduction 其餘經韋慕廷介紹而贈存的個人檔案:
Accruals
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Alternate Form Available
Microforms available.
Acquisition
Transferred from the East Asian Institute, 1958-1989.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Oral History Archives at Columbia
Processing Information
Cataloged Christina Hilton Fenn 05/02/1989.
Processed in August 2018 by Yingwen Huang. Title changed from "Autobiographies and related papers" to "Chinese oral history project collection" to reflect the contents of the collection according to DACS standard. Materials were rehoused in appropriate sized and buffered folders and boxes. All photographs were rehoused in mylars. All audio records were rehoused in record carton and planned for Time Based Media digitization project as of 2018; 14 reels of audio recordings with vinegar odors remain housed in a separated box.
Interviewees' personal papers were separated and described as their own collection during processing due to the collection's provenance and also for better access and discovery. Interviewees with personal paper collections: Chen Guangfu, Chen Lifu, Wellington Koo, Kung H.H., Li Hanhun and Mme. Wu Chufang, Li Huang, Li Shuhua, Li Zongren, Liu J. Heng, Huang Fu, Hu Shih, Tsiang Tingfu Fuller, and Zhang Fakui. Researchers may find the personal papers in CLIO or in the related materials of this finding aid.
受訪者個人歷史檔案在整理過程中被分為各自的個人歷史檔案以便編目, 搜索, 和利用。有個人檔案的受訪者為：陳光甫, 陳立夫, 顧維鈞, 孔祥熙, 李漢魂與李吳菊芳, 李璜, 李書華, 李宗仁, 劉瑞恆, 黃郛, 胡適, 蔣廷黻, 張發奎。學者可利用CLIO搜索以上個人檔案。
Additonal processing in 2024 by David A. Olson, while creating a finding aid for the Chinese oral history project itself. Audio and digital audio for interviews was previously described in both collections and was formally removed to only be managed in that collection in 2024. Consolidation of audio materials during this process also resulted in the elimination of Box 85-86. Some description was adjusted to draw greater contrast between this collection (administrative materials) and that collection (final interviews).
Revision Description
2009-06-26 File created.
2018-09-13 EAD finding aid was updated.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
2024-03-22 EAD finding aid was updated
Biographical / Historical
Prof. C. Martin Wilbur 韋慕廷 (1907-1997) of the East Asian Institute, Columbia University, and Prof. Franklin L. Ho 何廉 (1905-1975) officially started the Chinese oral history project in 1958 to interview and document the life of prominent Chinese political leaders of Republican China (1911-1949) living abroad. The project was financed by Columbia University, the Ford Foundation, and later by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In designing the project, Professor Wilbur and Professor Ho decided to use an intensive approach instead of the extensive approach as in the American oral history project. They envisioned the project to concentrate on a few outstanding interviewees and to produce more accurate and detailed autobiographies. A total of nineteen prominent Chinese political figures residing in the U.S. and Hong Kong were interviewed. The Chines oral history project staff consisted of a team of scholarly interviewers with outstanding knowledge of modern Chinese history: Julie Lien-ying How (pinyin: Xia, Lianying; simplified Chinese: 夏连荫; traditional Chinese: 夏連蔭), Te-kong Tong (pinyin: Tang, Degang; simplified Chinese: 唐德刚; traditional Chinese: 唐德剛), Minta Chou Wang (王明德), Alice Kwong Bolocan, Kai-fu Tsao, Lillian Chu Chin, James Seymour, and Crystal Lorch Seidman. The scholar interviewers worked as collaborators, translators, and co-authors with the interviewees closely in the process of drafting, editing (and/or translating) the interview transcription, which later becomes their memoir. The project produced a total of sixteen finalized oral history interviews that were deposited at RBML for future scholarly research, many of which were later published. The project officially ended in the 1980s.
Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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