Research Guides: HIST/EALC 295: China in the World, 1895-1921 (HC): Primary Sources: Texts and Images

Images as Primary Sources

Boxers destroy a railroad, Le Petit Parisien, June 17, 1900 (Source: Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Primary Sources

Primary sources can take many different forms. Letters, accounts and other kinds of documents written at the time of an event or era allow a nuanced and detailed understanding of historical issues. Material below explains ways to locate primary sources in Tripod and Worldcat. To find additional primary sources, historical studies in books and journal articles will often offer the best recommendations. Check footnotes and bibliographies for references to material written in the period of time you are researching.

Primary Source Databases and Websites

China Trade, Politics and Culture, 1793-1980
This collection contains a wide range of materials documenting western interaction with China from the first embassy by Lord Macartney to trade negotiations for military aircraft in the 1970s. It includes papers regarding the Boxer Rebellion, Taiping Rebellion, the birth of the People's Republic, and strong collections relating to missionaries and their experiences. It contains maps, drawings and photographs, and personal accounts of life and work in China throughout the period.
EastView's Late Qing and Republican-Era Chinese Newspapers
The Late Qing and Republican-Era Chinese Newspapers collection provides invaluable perspective on this critical period. The press of more than twenty cities is represented, spanning the Chinese mainland and the entire half century. The collection provides researchers a richly comprehensive perspective on Chinese life, culture, and politics throughout the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, the years of provisional government and civil war, and the birth of the People’s Republic.
US Navy site on the Boxer Rebellion
English language resources provided by the Navy on the Boxer rebellion.
Yao Chen-Yuan: My Adventures During the Boxer War, 1900
Fordham University's Modern History Sourcebook provides this primary source open source.
Before and After the May Fourth Movement
This Asia For Educators includes numerous primary sources including Chiang Kai-shek's famous 1934 speech, "Essentials of the New Life Movement."

Finding Printed Copies of Primary Sources

Primary source translations that are in the Tricollege libraries will often be listed in Tripod under subject terms using the word "sources" or "personal narratives." For example, the search Keyword: (boxer*) AND Keyword: (china OR chinese) AND Subject: (sources OR "personal narratives") produces books and articles including titles listed below.

This search for sources, with differing literary forms specified, can provide additional titles:

Subject: (memoir* OR autobiog* OR diary* OR diaries OR letter* OR correspondence) AND Keyword: (china OR chinese) AND keyword: boxer* Selected results listed below.

Siege of the Peking Legations: A Diary by Lancelot Giles
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ISBN: 0855640413
Publication Date: 1970-01-01
Personal diary kept by a twenty-year old student interpreter. Includes photos Giles took during the siege.
Thirteen Months in China: a subaltern Indian and the colonial world by Tansen Sen (Series edited by); Anand A. Yang (Editor); Kamal Sheel (Translator); Ranjana Sheel (Translator); Prasenjit Duara (Series edited by)
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ISBN: 9780199476466
Publication Date: 2017-12-26
This book is an annotated English translation of Gadadhar Singh's stunning account, in Hindi, of his experiences in China as a soldier in the International Expedition - a multinational force of eight nations organized in the summer of 1900 to march on the capital city of Beijing, lift the siege of the Foreign Legations there, and defeat the insurgent Boxers and the Qing Empire that supported the movement.
"Facing the Dragon: Teaching the Boxer Uprising Through Cartoons" by Ariane Knüsel
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Journal article in History teacher, 2017, Vol.50 (2), p.201-226
China Journal 1889-1900 : an American missionary family during the Boxer Rebellion: with the letters and diaries of Eva Jane Price and her family by Eva J. Price
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ISBN: 9780684189512
Publication Date: 1989-02-01
The Correspondence of G. E. Morrison, 1895-12 by G. E. Morrison; Lo Hui-Min (Editor)
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ISBN: 0521204860
Publication Date: 1976-03-04
Originally published in 1976, this is the first of two volumes of the selected letters of George Ernest Morrison, The Times correspondent in China in the late Imperial and early Republican period. Few people were in a better position to observe and comment on the events of those years. The first volume of correspondence ends with the revolution and the collapse of the Manchu dynasty in 1912. The second volume covers Morrison's career as political advisor to the first President of the Republic of China until his death in 1920.
Letters from John Chinaman and Other Essays by G. Lowes Dickinson
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Dickinson, a fellow at Cambridge University, wrote a response to the Boxer Rebellion criticizing the barbarous conduct of Westerners in China. This is a digital version of the text.

Newspapers and Magazines

If you have the name of a newspaper or magazine, search for it first in Tripod. If not listed there, check Google for accessible digitized issues. If you are searching for articles but have no newspaper or magazine name, see the indexes below.

General Periodical Indexes

American Periodicals Series Online
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Search through 1,800 magazines and journals published in the United States between 1740-1940. Includes early scientific publications, trade journals, popular magazines such as Ladies' Home Journal, and journals such as Puck, The Dial, and McClure's.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online
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Full text versions of books, magazines, and other materials published in the 19th century. This is a collection in development. Materials now in the database cover Asia and the West, British politics and society, high and popular culture in Britain, and European literature.

Selected Individual Magazines and Newspapers

Chinese Repository
Missionary journal published 1832-1851. Note the print index volume available to search by subject.
Life Magazine
Covers the years 1936-1972. Notable for the many high-quality photographs included in articles.
Mission Periodicals Online
Yale University Library makes online access available for many newspapers including:
China's Millions, English Weekly, and the West China Missionary News.

New York Times
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Full-text access to news articles, blog posts, videos, images, and multimedia features. Coverage from 1851-present.

Visual Resources

Chinese Posters: Propaganda, Politics, History, Art
This is a continuation of the Stefan Landsberger's Chinese Propaganda Poster Pages. The site features over 5,000 posters searchable by keyword. The posters are examples of unique primary sources.
See the for over 275 groups organized by time period and topic.
Maps of the Chinese Civil War
This site from Westpoint provides nine maps for different aspects of the Chinese Civil War.

ARTstor
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A digital library that provides access to thousands of digital images derived from a variety of museum, library and archival collections. Images support a variety of disciplines including architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design. Coverage varies.