How do you find history from historical documents? One of the ways is to look in library and archives collections. 

What is in archival collections

Archives collections are groups of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people.  Many small archives are hidden inside of libraries.  Library’s collections primary focus on individual books and journals. However,  archival collections are more complex with many more object types such as correspondence, administrative records, personal diaries, photographs, manuscripts, oral histories, sound recordings, video recordings, etc.  They are generally referred to as documents and are physically stored in archival boxes.

Many of documents may belong to a single archival collection and the relationships of these documents are important to shed light on the historical context. Therefore the orders and organization of these documents are very important.  In a single large archival collection, there are multiple boxes of documents , and each box may contain multiple folders. 

These boxes are organized hierarchically as series and sub-series for management purposes . The orders of the documents may be organized by chronological order, subject maters or other groupings.  This method not only help staff to manage and describe the contents but it also helps the users to search for the relevant information.

Organization of a large archive collection

Let’s look at a real example from the Divinity Library at Yale University.  United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia Records Collection, Call Number:  RG 11 (https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/4/resources/49 )

First, let’s understand what is United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia. Founded in 1922 in the United States , the United Board’s work in its first three decades focused on 13 Christian colleges and universities in China.  The United Board took its name from the union of the governing boards of these institutions, which recognized the benefits of combining their efforts to create and sustain higher education institutions. United Board’s support came in the form of raising funds and coordinating their use to support capital construction, library collections, student scholarships and other critical educational functions, including sponsoring visiting American faculty and staff.

The archival records of the United Board are stored in the Divinity Library at Yale University. This large collection (RG 11) consists of seven series and includes 465 boxes and 6110 folders.  In summary this collection contains the following:

Series I: Associated Boards for Christian Colleges in China, Consolidated General File, 1937-1944

Series Il: United Board for Christian College in China Consolidated General File, 1947-1955

Series III: New File

Series IV: China College Files

Series V: Audio-Visual Materials

Series VI: Related Organizations and Publications

Series Oversize: Comblete List of Oversize

In Series IV: China College Files;  it is further organized as the following sub-series：

  + Fukien Christian University 福建协和大学

  + Ginling College 金陵女子大学

  + Hangchow Christian College 之江大学

  + Huachung (College) University  华中大学

  + Hwa Nan College 华南女子文理学院

  + Lingnan University 岭南大学

  + Nanking, University of 金陵大学

  + St. John's University 圣约翰大学

  + Shanghai, University of 沪江大学

  + Shantung Christian University/Cheeloo... 山东齐鲁大学

  + Soochow University 东吴大学

  + West China Union University 华西协和大学

  +  Yenching University 燕京大学

We are able to look through the contents in this collection by its series, sub-series, boxes, and folders to understand the history related to any of these historical universities in China.

For example, as we drilled down the hierarchy we are able to see the Yenching University sub-series and documents in it.

  - Yenching University 燕京大学

      + Administrative  行政记录

      + Academic  学术文件

      + Correspondence 信件

      + Financial records 财务记录

      + Periodical publications 期刊出版物

      + Publicity / reports 宣传/报道

In general, the percentage of archival documents being digitized is very low , due to the sheer volume of documents. However Yale University has the resources to digitize most of documents in Series IV China College Files. This includes most of the 行政记录, 学术文件, 信件, 财务记录, 期刊出版物, 宣传/报道和照片.  This makes this collection highly accessible to the general public.  We should use these free online resources responsibly. Self claimed holding copyright or selling these images are immoral.

Use the Collection

Let’s look at some details on the RG 11 online page  (https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/4/resources/49 ).  It is the first page of the full online version of collection Findings Aid.  Even though it’s an interactive web display , this large size forces us to only view a small portion of the collection at any given time. This can be tedious to use especially for users from remote locations. An easier way is to download a PDF version of this entire Finding Aid by clicking on the [PDF Finding Aid ] button on upper right corner on this page. You can save this file and use it offline anytime.  Here is a link to it. https://ead-pdfs.library.yale.edu/49.pdf. Series IV Series IV: China College Files starts on page 72.  Notation in here “b.350, f.5378” means Box 350, Folder 5378.

As you browse through this guide, you will see blue texts if there is a digitized online document available.  Simply click on it to open the file. You will need internet connectivity for this task. 

Online digital documents for all 13 Christian colleges and universities are listed on the Archives of the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia  page: https://divinity-adhoc.library.yale.edu/UnitedBoard/.    Notation in here  “RG011-350-5378“ means collection call number RG011, Box 350, folder 5378.    If you like a more direct way to browse the digital files, you can use the follow links:

* Fukien Christian University

* Ginling College

* Hangchow Christian University

* Huachung Christian University

* Hwa Nan College

* Lingnan University

* Nanking, University of

* Shanghai, University of

* Shantung Christian University

* St. John's University

* Soochow University

* West China Union University

* Yenching University

Searching Photographs

If you are only searching for photographs, they reside on a different Yale University Library Catalog system. You can start with the following:

Fukien Christian University  Yale University Library Search Results

Ginling College Yale University Library Search Results

Hangchow Christian College  Yale University Library Search Results

Huachung (College) University.  Yale University Library Search Results 

Hwa Nan College.  Yale University Library Search Results

Lingnan University Yale University Library Search Results

Nanking, University of. Yale University Library Search Results

St. John's University Yale University Library Search Results

Shanghai, University of. Yale University Library Search Results

Shantung Christian University. Yale University Library Search Results

Soochow University. Yale University Library Search Results

West China Union University. Yale University Library Search Results

Yenching University  Yale University Library Search Results.

and https://divinity-adhoc.library.yale.edu/UnitedBoard/Yenching_University/Yenching-List.pdf