Guide to the Huntington Gilchrist Papers, 1815-1922
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Huntington Gilchrist Papers, George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine
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Huntington Gilchrist was a journalist, political scientist, diplomat, educator and corporate executive. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 16, 1891, the son of John and Martha Hyde Huntington Gilchrist.
A graduate of Williams (B.A. 1913), Harvard (M.A. 1916), and Columbia (Ph.D. 1918), Gilchrist was a senior executive with American Cyanamid Company in New York and London (1928-1955), and he had a unique career in international relations. He was the only American to serve as a senior member of the international staffs working to establish both the League of Nations (1919-1928) and the United Nations (1944-1957). In 1949, he was persuaded by Ambassador Averell Harriman to go to Paris as Director of the Industry Division of the Marshall Plan for Europe and, beginning in 1950, served for four years as United States Minister in Brussels in charge of Plan operations in Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Belgian Congo.
Gilchrist was also one of the founders of the International School in Geneva, Switzerland, and served as chairman of its board of directors from 1960 to 1963.
Gilchrist married Elizabeth Brace, daughter of Charles Loring Brace of New York City, on October 1, 1920. They had three children. A resident of Ridgefield, Connecticut, Huntington Gilchrist died on January 13, 1975.
The collection contains correspondence written by various members of the Gilchrist family (1815-1894); letters written by or to Huntington Gilchrist while instructor of the Anglo-Chinese College in Foochow and Peking (1912-1914), as well as some from his later years (through 1922); primarily to his mother, they discuss the Methodist mission in Foochow, the American Board Mission, visiting missionaries, and his trips. Gilchrist's diary, written en route from San Francisco to China (August-September, 1913), ends with his arrival at Kyoto, Japan. There are also 211 photographic negatives, mostly of China.
This series contains correspondence written by members of the Gilchrist family and their friends (1815-1894). Among other topics, the letters contain personal updates and information about the Presbyterian Church in Albany, New York. Later correspondence (1891-1895) includes exchanges between John Gilchrist, his relatives, and acquaintance John G. Peters.
Arranged chronologically.
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1815 - 1822
1834 - 1839
1840 - 1844
1888 - 1891
1891 May
1891 Jun - Dec
1892 Feb - Jul
1892 Oct
1892 Nov
1893 - 1894
This series contains letters from Huntington Gilchrist's youth through his days as an instructor at universities in Foochow and Peking, China, including some regarding the death of his father, Reverend John Gilchrist (1903), and from his days as a student at Williams College (1912-1913). The majority are detailed exchanges between Gilchrist and his mother about his travels across the continental U.S. and East Asia (1913-1922).
Arranged chronologically.
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1903 Jun
1903 Jul
1903 Aug - Nov
1904 - 1906
1912
1912 Nov
1912 Dec
1913 Jan - Feb
1913 Mar
1913 Apr
1913 May
1913 Jun - Aug
1913 Sep - Dec
1914 Jan - Feb
1914 Mar - Apr
1914 May - Jun
1914 Jul - Aug
1914 Sep - Oct
1914 Nov - Dec
1915 Jan - Mar
1915 Apr - Jun
1915 Jul
1915 Aug - Nov
1916 - 1917
1920 - 1922
n.d.
Gilchrist's diary provides a brief account of his journey from the U.S. to Foochow, China, late in the summer of 1913. Also included are newspaper clippings, lecture notes, personal notes, and business cards collected during his stay in China.
Arranged alphabetically.
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Diary 1913 Aug - Sep
Handwritten notes
Handwritten lecture notes
Notes and printed ephemera
This series contains maps of Japan and China, including a tourist map of Kyoto, Japan, and postcard souvenirs collected by Gilchrist during his travels through the U.S. and East Asia.
Arranged alphabetically.
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Maps of China and Japan
Postcards
This series contains photographs, probably taken by Gilchrist in China, including several of an unidentified woman with two children at the beach, and photos of a commencement at Foochow University. Also included are approximately 200 negatives of the Chinese countryside, local workers, Peking and Foochow University grounds, and students and faculty.
Arranged by material type.
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Photographs
Negatives