Historical Collections Exhibit

Among the lenders to A Chronicle of the China Trade: The Records of Augustine Heard & Co., 1840-1877 are several institutions that hold significant collections on the nineteenth-century China trade. This list, while not a complete catalogue of available resources, represents some of the most significant collections on the China trade and, together with materials held by Harvard Business School, forms a more comprehensive picture of this era in business history.

The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, is the oldest continuously operating museum in the United States, with strong collections of Asian art, culture, and history that illustrate the relationship between East and West. The Library’s research offerings include books, newspapers, logbooks, account books, diaries, and other manuscripts that shed light on the complex connections between American and Chinese merchants.

The Ipswich Museum on the North Shore of Massachusetts preserves Ipswich’s social, cultural, and architectural history, including the Federal-style Heard House, built in 1800. The holdings of the Museum provide a record of the lives of early Ipswich residents and contain art, objects, artifacts, books, and photographs related to the Heard family and other prominent Ipswich residents.

The Massachusetts Historical Society’s independent research library contains extensive collections of manuscripts, books and pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, maps, and photographs related to people who lived in Massachusetts and were involved in the nineteenth-century China trade. These resources complement many of the holdings at Baker Library.

The University of Hong Kong Libraries’ Special Collections have distinguished collections of rare books, journals, and newspapers on nineteenth-century trade and commerce in China and Hong Kong. In addition to prominent titles such as “China Maritime Customs & Trade Statistics,” the collection also includes a unique business archive, the “Hong Kong Chinese Merchants Collection” (featuring late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century materials).

The Harvard-Yenching Library holds collections relating to Chinese-language research materials in all formats. Photographs include images of Shanghai, Hankow, Peking, and Foochow; portraits of Chinese officials, Western diplomats, and Western missionaries in China; and scenes related to maritime affairs. The holdings also include original reports of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service as well as catalogues of Chinese products displayed in international expositions.