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Guide to the Payson J. Treat Papers
SC0436
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Call Number: SC0436
Creator:
Treat, Payson J. (Payson Jackson), 1879-1972
Title: Payson J. Treat papers
Dates: 1907-1945
Physical Description:
3.5 Linear feet
Summary: Papers include articles and lectures, c. 1910-1940, pertaining to the politics and history of the Far East and World War I;
class lecture notes, 1907-1945, and papers by students, 1911-1943; correspondence, bibliographies, and records pertaining
to book purchases for the Stanford University Libraries; and miscellaneous correspondence, bibliographies, and book reviews.
Language(s): The materials are in English.
Repository:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6064
Email: specialcollections@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 725-1022
URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc
Gift of Mrs. Virginia Davis, 1992 and 2004.
This collection is open for research.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent
is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
Payson J. Treat Papers (SC0436). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries,
Stanford, Calif.
Biographical/Historical Sketch
Payson Jackson Treat, a pioneer in Far Eastern studies, lived from 1879 to 1972. A native of New York City, he earned his
A.B. from Wesleyan University in 1900, and began teaching at Barnard School while working on his A.M. at Columbia. In 1903,
he came to Stanford to work with Professor Max Farrand in the history department, and was appointed an instructor at Stanford
in 1905 . He received Stanford's first Ph.D. in history in 1910 with his dissertation, The National Land System, 1785-1820.
In 1906, Dr. Jordan, intrigued with the Far East, created a professorship in Far Eastern history and appointed Payson Treat
to fill it. Dr. Jordan also planned for him a leave of absence from 1906-07 to visit the Orient and Australasia. This was
to be the first of five extended trips to the Far East. On these trips, he not only took the opportunity to become one of
America's leading scholars on the Orient, but he also began to gather materials from the East for the Stanford libraries.
During his career, he published numerous books and articles on the Far East. He participated in the activities of the Institute
of Pacific Relations in an effort to maintain peaceful relations between East and West. For his efforts along these lines,
he was decorated with the Third Class Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1935 by the Emperor of Japan. He served as department
head of the Stanford history department from 1922-1929, and, even after his retirement from teaching in 1945, he remained
active in the Stanford community.
This collection contains papers of Payson J. Treat from 1907 through 1945. Boxes one and two primarily contain articles and
lecture notes written by Treat on issues relating to the Far East. Box one also contains correspondence, bibliographies, and
other miscellaneous personal documents. Box three contains class lecture notes from the classes that Professor Treat taught
at Stanford and elsewhere. Box four contains business documents relating to the books Treat collected for the Hoover Library.
Boxes five through eight (an addition added to the collection in 2004) contain papers by students in Treat's classes; they
are arranged first chronologically then alphabetically by author. Box eight also contains a few miscellaneous publications,
not by Treat. This collection pertains largely to Payson Treat's teaching career; there is an additional collection of Treat's
papers in the Hoover Institution Archives.
Stanford University. Department of History. Students.
Stanford University. Libraries.
Treat, Payson J. (Payson Jackson), 1879-1972
East Asia--Study and teaching.
World War, 1914-1918 --Study and teaching.