Chinese oral history project collection, 1914-1989, bulk 1958-1980
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Collection context
- Creator:
- Columbia University. Chinese Oral History Project
- Abstract:
- The Chinese oral history project collection (中國口述歷史項目檔案) provides a wealth of information on the development of the project and its interviews with eminent Chinese political figures abroad in the United States and Hong Kong from 1958 to 1980s. 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 highlights of the collection consist of the administrative subject files, correspondence, interview photographs and reports, transcript drafts, collected autobiographies and manuscripts, audio recording, and card files of names mentioned in the transcripts.
- Extent:
- 37 Linear Feet 86 manuscript boxes, 7 card catalog drawers, and 4 index card boxes
- Language:
- English , Chinese .
- Scope and content:
-
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.
- 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.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
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 of access:
-
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.
- Location of this collection:
- Contact:
- oralhist@library.columbia.edu