Reeks RAS ALL5/1 - The Original Society

Correspondence and information concerning the Royal Asiatic Society North China Branch including information about its beginnings, its closure and subsequent research questions.

• Letter from Joseph Edkins, Secretary, Shanghai Literary and Scientific Society, to Professor Horace Hayman Wilson concerning the formation of the Society and to send a copy of its Constitution. Letter and Constitution handwritten, letter dated 2 December 1857.
• "A Catalogue of the Library of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Including the Library of Alex. Wylie Esq.) Systematically Classed. By Henri Cordier, Hon. Librarian". Printed pamphlet, printed in Shanghai at the "Ching-Foong" General Printing Office, 1872.
• Postcard sent to Dr. J.C. Fergusson to remind of a meeting that day. Signed [ ] Daly, Honorary Secretary. The postcard bears a hand-painted picture of a Chinese flag-carrier and gong player. Undated, c.1911 (John Calvin Fergusson was President of the Society from 1911-1913).
• Photocopy of a letter from the Honorary Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, North China Branch, to the Librarian, Royal Asiatic Society, to inform him of the list of articles published by Mrs Ayscough was in the 1912 volume of their Journal. Typed, dated 6 August 1923.
• Correspondence concerning electing a Corresponding Fellow for the Royal Asiatic Society from the Royal Asiatic Society North China Branch - 3 letters from the President, Royal Asiatic Society North China Branch; Arthur de C. Sowerby, elected Fellow; and Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society. Typed, dated 24 September - 1 December 1941.
• Letter from D.E.J. Abraham, Vice-President, Royal Asiatic Society North China Branch, to The Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to announce the closure of the North China Branch and the gift of its possessions to the People's Government of China. Typed, dated 19 November 1952.
• Letter from A.J. Hayim to the Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to enclose a card from Mr and Mrs Abraham which they requested to be forwarded to the Society. (The card is not with the letter.) Handwritten, dated 29 June 1954.
• Business card of Oliver Edmund Clubb, Consul General of the United States of America, in envelope addressed to Sir Mortimer Wheeler, which is annotated, "Dr. Edmund Clubb, N. China Branch". Undated.
• Correspondence regarding obtaining and republishing copies of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society North China Branch. Seven letters, typed, dated 22 March 1966 - 4 February 1975.
• Letter from Dennis Duncanson, Vice-President, Royal Asiatic Society, to Fr. Edward J. Malatesta, University of San Francisco, to inquire on information that Malatesta may have of the whereabouts of the former library of the Royal Asiatic Society North China Branch. Typed, dated 9 August 1990.
• Correspondence between Sir Peter Leslie and Dennis Duncanson, Director, Royal Asiatic Society, concerning the papers of Thomas William Kingsmill, member of the Shanghai Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Typed, 2 letters, dated 4 November - 15 November 1993.
• Correspondence between B.L. Drake and Lydia Collins, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, concerning the possessions of Professor F.S. Drake, formerly of the Shanghai Branch. Two letters dated 6 March 1995 - 18 May 1995. The list, "List of Dr Drake's Collection stored in the Shanghai Museum (R.S.A.) Shanhghai" is with the letters. This is on fax paper and very faded, dated 31 May 1951.
• Correspondence between Eric N. Danielson, Education Consultant and Historian, and Adrian Thomas, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to inform regarding the former library of the Shanghai Branch of the Society which Danielson has discovered in the Shanghai Library and which is due to be put on public display. Two copies of emails, dated 26 -28 November 2002.