American Bureau for Medical Aid to China Records, 1937-2005
Summary Information
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- MS#0024
- Bib ID:
- 4079642 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- American Bureau for Medical Aid to China; American Bureau for Medical Advancement in China
- Repository:
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Physical Description:
- 331 Linear Feet (271 boxes; 2 tube boxes; 1 flat box)
- Language(s):
- English .
- Access:
- You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
-
Boxes 1-270 are located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. Tube boxes are on-site.
Some unique time-based media items have been reformatted and are available onsite via links in the container list. Commercial materials are not routinely digitized. Email rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Description
Summary
Papers of the American Bureau for Medical Aid to China consist of correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, committee files, membership records, financial records, fund raising records, motion pictures, audio tapes, phonograph records, photographs, posters, publications of ABMAC and other printed materials. Also included are the files of related Chinese relief organizations: Aid Refugee Chinese Intellectuals, 1954-1969; American Emergency Relief, 1941-1946; United Services to China, 1941-1977. Of particular interest are approximately 6,000 photographs of Chinese medical colleges, hospitals, laboratories and personnel and 45 phonograph records including speeches by such ABMAC supporters as Mme. Chiang Kai-Shek, Pearl S. Buck, Wendell Willkie, Fiorello LaGuardia and a number of movie stars
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Series VI: Fellowship Name File
Arranged chronologically and subarranged according to first letter of last name.
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Series IX: American Emergency Committee for Tibetan Refugees
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Series XVIII: Additions (Various)
A significant addition to the collection, made up of various accessions. Of particular interest, is the planning for the dissolution of ABMAC in 2003
Arrangement
Selected materials cataloged; remainder arranged.
- Series I: Cataloged Correspondence
- Series II: Permanent File
- Series III: Program Files
- Series IV: Alfred Kohlberg File
- Series V: Development Files
- Series VI: Fellowship Name File
- Series VII: Fellowships and Program Files
- Series VIII: Aid Refugee Chinese Intellectuals
- Series IX: American Emergency Committee for Tibetan Refugees
- Series X: Free China Fund
- Series XI: United China Relief and Subject File
- Series XII: United Service to China: Subject File
- Series XIII: Photographs
- Series XIV: Printed Materials
- Series XV: 1986 Addition, 1986
- Series XVI: Printed Materials
- Series XVII: Audio Visual, etc.
- Subseries XVII.1: Photograph Albums
- Subseries XVII.2: Record Albums
- Subseries XVII.3: Phonograph Records
- Subseries XVII.4: Tapes
- Subseries XVII.5: Motion Picture Films
- Subseries XVII.6: Photographs, Posters, Drawings, and Scrapbook
- Series XVIII: Additions (Various)
- Series XIX: Archived Web Site, 2013-present
Using the Collection
Restrictions on Access
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
Boxes 1-270 are located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. Tube boxes are on-site.
Some unique time-based media items have been reformatted and are available onsite via links in the container list. Commercial materials are not routinely digitized. Email rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Readers must use microfilm of materials specified above. Single photocopies 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); ABMAC Records ; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
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
Pearl S. Buck letters are on: microfilm.
Boxes 1-3 are on: microfilm.
Photographs in Box 75-82, 84-86, 94 were digitized as part of the History of Western Medicine in China project at Indiana University-Purdue University, 2012-2015. Digital assets are available at: https://www.ulib.iupui.edu/digitalcollections/WMIC
Ownership and Custodial History
Gift of ABMAC, 1980; gift of John Watt, 1985-1986.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Source of acquisition--ABMAC and John Watt. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1980. Accession number--M-1980.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Processing Information
Processed by ARC/AR 12/80; LR 12/85; RJ. Processed HR 06/11/90.
Revision Description
2009-06-26 File created.
2011-11-30 EAD created by PTL
2015-09-10 Addition (Series XVIII) processed by PTL
2017-03-30 Website Archive (Series XIX) added by JG
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
Biographical / Historical
The American Bureau for Medical Aid to China (ABMAC; 美國醫藥援華會) was founded in 1937 to give aid to Chinese medical and public health services by working through existing Chinese medical agencies. Between 1937 and 1945 more than ten million dollars in aid was given to China. After World War II, ABMAC concentrated on aiding six national medical colleges by administering a fellowship program for faculty members of these colleges to spend a year of study in the United States, by sending American medical faculty members to the six colleges as visiting professors, and by providing technical assistance in the form of books for medical libraries, text books for the classroom, equipment for laboratories and other educational materials. In 1949 when the Peoples Republic of China was established, ABMAC shifted its aid to Taiwan.
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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