Finding aid for the Theodore Hsi-en Chen papers 3266
USC Libraries Special Collections
2010
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, California 90089-0189
specol@usc.edu
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Theodore Hsi-en Chen papers
Creator:
Chen, Theodore Hsi-en, 1902-1991
Identifier/Call Number: 3266
Identifier/Call Number: /repositories/3/resources/1527
Physical Description:
6.56 Linear Feet
6 boxes
Date (inclusive): circa 1940s-1971
Date: 1991
Abstract: The Theodore Hsi-en Chen papers consist of administrative and faculty papers from Dr. Chen's chairing of the East Asian Studies
Center and its predecessors from 1960 to 1971. The collection also includes material from the 1940s and 1950s, a scrapbook
of newspaper clippings on Dr. Chen's career, photographic slides showing Theodore Chen and Wen Hui Chen's tour of Hong Kong
and Southeast Asia in 1962, research reports and theses, and a photocopied biography of Theodore Chen. Lastly, the collection
contains an oral history interview with Theodore Chen conducted by Ken Klein in 1986. Theodore H.E. Chen (Ph.D. 1939) was
chairman of USC's Department of Asian Studies from 1940 to 1968, and from 1960 to 1971 he directed the East Asian Studies
Center, in support of which he had obtained the first federal grants. Chen also secured outside funding for a project to
help train and advise high school teachers of Chinese and Japanese. A native of Fuzhou, China, Chen was president of Fukien
Christian University in 1946 and 1947 while on leave to participate in postwar rehabilitation. He also helped organize Tunghai
University in Taiwan as a representative of the United Board of Christian Colleges. He was the author of nine books, including
Thought Reform of Chinese Intellectuals and
Maoist Educational Revolution and Chinese Education. Dr. Chen died on May 7, 1991.
Language of Material:
English,
Chinese.
Scope and Contents
The Theodore Hsi-en Chen papers consist of administrative and faculty papers from Dr. Chen's chairing of the East Asian Studies
Center and its predecessors from 1960 to 1971. The collection also includes material from the 1940s and 1950s, a scrapbook
of newspaper clippings on Dr. Chen's career, photographic slides showing Theodore Chen and Wen Hui Chen's tour of Hong Kong
and Southeast Asia in 1962, research reports and theses, and a photocopied biography of Theodore Chen. Lastly, the collection
contains an oral history interview with Theodore Chen conducted by Ken Klein in 1986. Theodore H.E. Chen (Ph.D. 1939) was
chairman of USC's Department of Asian Studies from 1940 to 1968, and from 1960 to 1971 he directed the East Asian Studies
Center, in support of which he had obtained the first federal grants. Chen also secured outside funding for a project to
help train and advise high school teachers of Chinese and Japanese. A native of Fuzhou, China, Chen was president of Fukien
Christian University in 1946 and 1947 while on leave to participate in postwar rehabilitation. He also helped organize Tunghai
University in Taiwan as a representative of the United Board of Christian Colleges. He was the author of nine books, including
Thought Reform of Chinese Intellectuals and
Maoist Educational Revolution and Chinese Education. Dr. Chen died on May 7, 1991.
Conditions Governing Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special
Collections at specol@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Theodore Hsi-en Chen and Wen Hui Chen in several installments, beginning in 1972.
Preferred Citation
[Box/folder# or item name], Theodore Hsi-en Chen papers, Collection no. 3266, University Archives, Special Collections, USC
Libraries, University of Southern California
Processing Information
The Theodore Hsi-en Chen papers used to be split into two separately described collections: one collection designated as USC
University Archives and the other as USC East Asian Library. In 2021, the USC Libraries merged the two collections into a
single University Archives collection and described all of its contents in this finding aid. Many of the boxes in this collection
are still physically labeled with "East Asian Library" box labels. The former University Archives collection (the smaller
of the two) had been given the collection number 5131. The collection record with number 5131, which was never published,
has been deleted.
Ken Klein, former head of the USC East Asian Library, authored a detailed document listing the contents of various donations
to the USC Libraries from Theodore Chen and Wen Hui Chen in the form of personal papers, artifacts, published books, and other
materials. Some of the description in this finding aid was taken from Ken Klein's inventory, which is available on request.
However the inventory authored by Klein describes materials, such as published books, that were separated from the Theodore
Hsi-en Chen papers.
In March of 2022, the USC Libraries deaccessioned ten boxes of artifacts and textiles from the collection, returning the items
to Theodore Hsi-en Chen's family. The ten deaccessioned boxes were numbered two through twelve. The boxes in the collection
are now numbered 1, 13, 14, 15, and 16 (with a ten-number gap from the deaccesioned boxes).
Subjects and Indexing Terms
East Asia -- Study and teaching -- Archival resources
East Asia specialists -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
Education
Universities and colleges -- Faculty -- Archival resources
Administrative records
Dissertations
Faculty papers
Moving images
Scrapbooks
Slides (photographs)
Film reels
Biography
Handbooks
Teaching -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Chen, Theodore Hsi-en, 1902-1991 -- Archives
University of Southern California. East Asian Studies Center -- Archives
University Archives files /repositories/3/archival_objects/615901
Processing Information
The material described under this series used to be described separately as part of a two-box University Archives collection
prior to the 2021 merging of multiple archival collections relating to Theodore H.E. Chen.
Box 1, Folder 1
Friend of Chinese Studies (blank certificates) /repositories/3/archival_objects/615902
Box 1, Folder 2-3
Japanese scholarships /repositories/3/archival_objects/615903
1965-1968
Box 1, Folder 4
Asian Studies Society /repositories/3/archival_objects/615904
1960-1972
Box 1, Folder 5
Faculty /repositories/3/archival_objects/615905
1963-1967
Box 1, Folder 6
Phi Lambda Los Angeles /repositories/3/archival_objects/615906
Box 1, Folder 7
Asian-Slavic Studies Center /repositories/3/archival_objects/615907
1960-1968
Box 1, Folder 8
East Asian Studies Center /repositories/3/archival_objects/615908
1968-1972
Box 1, Folder 9-10
Faculty minutes /repositories/3/archival_objects/615909
1966-1972
Box 1, Folder 11
Asian Studies interdepartmental /repositories/3/archival_objects/615910
Box 1, Folder 12
Asiatic Studies majors /repositories/3/archival_objects/615911
1963-1971
Box 1, Folder 13
ldyllwild Conference /repositories/3/archival_objects/615912
1964-1966
Box 1, Folder 14
Department of Asian Studies, reports and plans /repositories/3/archival_objects/615913
1942-1970
Box 1, Folder 15
Department of Asian Studies /repositories/3/archival_objects/615914
Box 1, Folder 16
Asian Studies Department (General) /repositories/3/archival_objects/615915
Box 1, Folder 17
Department of Asiatic Studies. Research Staff. Information Handbook /repositories/3/archival_objects/615916
Box 1, Folder 18
Theodore Hsi-en Chen oral history transcript, news clippings, and correspondence about the Chen papers /repositories/3/archival_objects/615899
Box 1, Folder 19
Biography [photocopy] /repositories/3/archival_objects/615918
Box 13
Theodore Chen and Wen Hui Chen tour of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia /repositories/3/archival_objects/615828
1962
Box 14
Scrapbook of newspaper clippings on Theodore Hsi-en Chen's career /repositories/3/archival_objects/615917
Box 15
Unidentified film reel /repositories/3/archival_objects/615886
Box 16
Research reports and theses /repositories/3/archival_objects/615900
General
Many of these research reports and theses were created under the direction of Theodore Hsi-en Chen.
Box 17
Additional materials /repositories/3/archival_objects/675455