Wason Collection records

Collection — mapcase folder: 1

Identifier: 13-6-1721

Scope and content

Dates

1918-1988.

Creator

Cornell University. Library. Wason Collection (Organization)

Language of Materials

Collection material in English

ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY

The Wason Collection was bequeathed to Cornell University in 1918 by Charles William Wason. It began as a collection of English-language works on China and the Chinese. Its scope and size have since been greatly enlarged, and it is now the only major East Asian collection in the country to include all Western language materials in the areas covered in a special collection together with the materials in the languages of those areas.

Extent

6.4 cubic feet. (6.4 cubic feet.)

Additional Description

Abstract

Mostly department correspondence, largely that of Gussie Esther Gaskill, first curator of the Wason Collection (1927-1963); materials concerning trips to China and Japan; projects; bibliographies; acquisitions, cataloging, and other records; accessions list; accounting statistics, and general office files, 1976-1985; annual reports of the East Asian Librarian, 1972-1988. Correspondence relating to Charles Wason's bequest, especially correspondence between Mrs. Charles Wason and the Arthur H. Clark Company, correspondence between Mrs. Wason and Gussie Gaskill, drawing and photographs of the library at the Wason home, and articles, reports and clippings about the collection. Three handwritten notebooks by T.F. Crane listing the Wason Collection, ca. 1922.