Guide to the Cornell University Wason Collection Records,
1918-1988

Collection Number: 13-6-1721

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library

Contact Information:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
2B Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
(607) 255-3530
Fax: (607) 255-9524
rareref@cornell.edu
http://rmc.library.cornell.edu
EAD encoding:
Martin Heggestad, November 2002
updated:
RMC Staff, April 2011

© 2002 Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
Cornell University Wason Collection records, 1918-1988.
Collection Number:
13-6-1721
Creator:
Cornell University.Library.Wason Collection.
Quantity:
6.4 cubic ft.
Forms of Material:
Correspondence, articles, clippings, reports, notebooks, and articles.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
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.
Language:
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.
COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

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.
Miscellaneous items relating to the Wason Collection include letters, description, and notes about the Ming Treasure Note, 1934; and letter about and translation of a Boxer Rebellion poster, 1921.
SUBJECTS

Names:
Cornell University.
Crane, Thomas Frederick, 1844-1927.
Gaskill, Gussie Esther, 1898-
Wason, Charles William, 1854-1918.
Wason, Charles William, Mrs.
Cornell University--Library.

Subjects:
Libraries--Special collections--Chinese literature.
Librarians.
Women librarians.

Places:
China.
Japan.
East Asia.
INFORMATION FOR USERS

Access Restrictions:
Boxes 2, 3, and 4 (accession of 9-28-83) are restricted to permission of office of origin.
Cite As:
Cornell University Wason Collection records, #13-6-1721. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
CONTAINER LIST

Description
Container
Series I. Records related to Miss Gaskill's curatorship
General correspondence, filed alphabetically by the name of the correspondent
Correspondence
 Box 1
Miscellaneous papers
Miss Gaskill and the Far Eastern Bibliography, 1946-1954
Box 1 Folder 1
Miss Gaskill and Far Eastern libraries
Box 1 Folder 2
Miss Gaskill and the ALA-CCS Special Committee on Far Eastern Materials, 1953-1958
Box 1 Folder 3
Miss Gaskill and Cornell University
Box 1 Folder 4
Miss Gaskill and Wason Collection Chinese book orders
Box 1 Folder 5
Miss Gaskill and Japanese book orders
Box 1 Folder 6
Series II. Wason material sent to Archives
AAS Annual Meeting 1980
Box 2
AAS Convention
Box 2
Acquisitions ( 1965-1976)
Box 2
Asian Studies Department
Box 2
Bibliography (Society for the Humanities) (SH 391)
Box 2
CALRFE
 Box 2
Cataloging Far Eastern Materials (1959 and 1964)
Box 2
CEAL
 Box 2
China travel - brochures
Box 2
China trip 1979
Box 2
China, Japan, and Taiwan trip 1980
Box 2
China trip - CEAL report
Box 2
Collaborative Studies of China and Japan Newsletter
Box 2
CUL Bulletins
Box 2
East Asian Libraries projects
Box 2
Heydecker ( 1974-1976)
Box 2
LC information 1978
Box 2
Library information - directors, etc. (1970, 1973-1974, 1978-1979)
Box 2
Luce Foundation
Box 2
Maryland (University Library) (Gordon Prange - 1979)
Box 2
Missing books - list (1972-1975, 1980)
Box 2
Newsletters (CUL) ( 1977-1980)
Box 2
Newspaper orders
Box 2
OAKS ( 1978)
Box 2
Wason - Bibliographies (1959-1966)
Box 2
Wason - gift exchange acknowledgments (1963-1976)
Box 2
Wason - Exhibit: "China and the West" (1966); "Asia and the West" ( 1974)
Box 2
Correspondence ( 1963-1980)
Box 3
Memoranda ( 1961-1963, 1967-1980)
Box 3
Additions to shelves, 1979
Box 4
Accessions lists ( 1979-1980)
Box 4
Chinese Collection - reports, memos, etc. (1962-1979)
Box 4
Department heads and designated assistants meeting notes ( 1978-1980)
Box 4
Reports from the Director (1968-1980)
Box 4
Reports on various subjects (1970-1971, 1977)
Box 4
Support Staff Advisory Committee notes (1978-1980)
Box 4
Wason Accessions List, Jan. 1981-June 1985
Box 5
Wason Additions to Shelves, Jan. 1982-June 1985
Box 5
Title II-C, 1979-1983
Box 5
Accounting statistics, July 1981-June 1985
Box 5
AACR2 ( 1979)
Box 6
Annex titles
Box 6
Annual Report (Asian Studies, 1979-1980)
Box 6
Annual Report (Directors, 1978-1979, 1981-1982)
Box 6
Annual Report (Gift & Exchange, 1980-1981)
Box 6
Annual Report (Wason, 1979-1980, 1980-1981, 1981-1982, 1982-1983)
Box 6
Automation ( 1979-1981)
Box 6
Chinese names
Box 6
Correspondence outside Cornell (1981-1984)
Box 6
Development ( 1979-1981)
Box 6
East Asian Librarian (1979-1981)
Box 6
Employment inquiries (1979-1981)
Box 6
Equipment/maintenance (1981)
 Box 6
Figures and Fundraising (1979-1980)
Box 6
Gift & Exchange (1980-1981)
Box 6
Japan Foundation ( 1979-1980)
Box 6
Japanese Series
Box 6
Journals ( 1980-1981)
Box 6
Library Committee
Box 6
Mellon Grant
Box 6
Memos received ( 1981)
Box 6
Memos sent ( 1981)
Box 6
Memos (Acquisition, Gift & Exchange), 1982)
Box 6
Memos (Administration, 1981-1982)
Box 6
Memos (Catalog Dept., 1982-1983)
Box 6
Memos (China & Japan Program, 1982-1983)
Box 6
Memos (Circulation, Public Service, 1982)
Box 6
Memos (Mr. Finch, Mr. Oey)
Box 6
Memos (Graduate School - Alison Casarett, 1982)
Box 6
Memos (Mann Library, 1983)
Box 6
Memos (MMN, 1983)
Box 6
Memos (Serials, Binding, 1982-1983)
Box 6
Memos (Outside Library, Cornell U., 1981-1983)
Box 6
Missing books (1982-1983)
 Box 6
National Union Catalog
Box 6
National Repository for Chinese Agriculture Publications
Box 6
Pinyin
 Box 6
Principles of Managing (1979)
Box 6
Printing
 Box 6
Security ( 1979)
Box 6
Selection ( 1979-1981)
Box 6
Serials cancellations (1981)
Box 6
Serials currently received (1979-1981)
Box 6
Statistics reports ( 1979-1982)
Box 6
Syllabi
 Box 6
U.S. corporations in China and Japan (1980)
Box 6
Wason budget and fund (1982)
Box 6
Wason selection policy (1977-1981)
Box 6
Wason statistics ( 1981-1982)
Box 6
Xerox word processing
Box 6
Wason staff
Box 6
Annual reports of the East Asian Librarian, 1972-1988
Box 7
Wason miscellany including correspondence about Boxer Rebellion poster; correspondence, etc. about Ming currency; articles from Pacific Affairs (2 folders); "Translation of Euclid's Elements"
Box 7
Correspondence relating to Wason bequest, 1918-1920
Box 8 Folder 1
Correspondence with Mrs. Wason (mainly Gussie Gaskill), 1921-1949
Box 8 Folder 2
Correspondence about the Collection, 1942-1975
Box 8 Folder 3
Library Reports
Box 8 Folder 4
Reports and articles
Box 8 Folder 5
Clippings
 Box 8 Folder 6
Desciption of Wason's library
Box 8 Folder 7
Photographs of Wason's library
Box 8 Folder 8-11
Chinese dragon flag from Mrs. Wason
 Box 8
Note cards
 Box 8
Three handwritten notebooks by T.F. Crane listing the Wason Collection, ca. 1922
Box 9
RMC China related
 Box 10 Folder 1
Unidentified tables
Box 10 Folder 2
Kumming Hu Album
 Box 10 Folder 3
Wason - Warhol, 2001
 Box 10 Folder 4
Ship logs transcriptions
 Box 10 Folder 5
Hu stuff
 Box 10 Folder 6
Groom, other subjects in Chinese
 Box 10 Folder 7