Register of the George H. Kerr papers
Finding aid prepared by Lisa Miller
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2003
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003
hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu
Title: George H. Kerr papers
Date (inclusive): 1943-1951
Collection Number: XX381
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
7 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize folder
(3.6 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Reports, notes, press summaries, clippings, and writings, relating to political and economic conditions in Formosa under Japanese
rule, transfer of Formosa to China in 1945, Formosan rebellion against Chinese rule in 1947, American foreign policy regarding
Formosa, and political and economic conditions in the Ryukyu Islands after World War II.
Creator:
Kerr, George H., 1911-1992
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Access
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquisition Information
Acquired.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], George H. Kerr papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Biographical Note
| 1911 Nov. 7 |
Born |
| 1935-1937 |
Student, Japan |
| 1937-1940 |
English teacher, Taipei, Taiwan |
| 1942-1943 |
Analyst and consultant on Formosa, U.S. Department of War |
| 1944-1946 |
Director, Formosa Research Unit, Naval School of Military Government and Administration, U.S. Navy, Columbia University, New
York
|
| 1946-1947 |
Foreign service staff officer and vice consul, U.S. Department of State, Taipei, Taiwan |
| 1947-1949 |
Lecturer, University of Washington |
| 1949-1950 |
Lecturer, Stanford University and University of California at Berkeley |
| 1950-1955? |
Research Associate, Hoover Institution |
| 1952 |
Published
The Ryukyu Islands: A Preliminary Checklist of Reference Materials Arranged Alphabetically (with Higa Shuncho and others)
|
| 1953 |
Published
Ryukyu Kingdom and Province Before 1945
|
| 1958 |
Published
Okinawa: The History of an Island People
|
| 1959 |
Published
Science Information Services in Japan, a Brief Survey
|
| 1961 |
Published
Bibliography of the Ryukyus
|
| 1965 |
Published
Formosa Betrayed
|
| 1974 |
Published
Formosa: Licensed Revolution and the Home Rule Movement, 1895-1945
|
| 1986 |
Published
The Taiwan Confrontation Crisis
|
| 1992 Aug. 27 |
Died, Honolulu, Hawaii |
Scope and Content Note
The George H. Kerr Papers provide information about economic and political affairs in Taiwan in the 1930s and 1940s, Taiwan's
transition from Japanese rule before and during World War II to postwar Chinese rule, Taiwanese rebellion against Chinese
rule in 1947, and U.S. foreign policy toward Taiwan. Some information about economic and political conditions in Okinawa and
the Ryukyu Islands after World War II is also included.
The series CHRONOLOGICAL FILE OF EVENTS IN TAIWAN covers the period during which Kerr served as U.S. vice consul at Taipei.
It consists chiefly of translated local press reports, many of which were issued by the United States Information Service,
Taipei, and handwritten chronologies of local events in Taiwan. Some of the chronologies are written in composition notebooks
that span several months in a single notebook; these are filed under the first month listed in the notebook.
Most of the material in the SUBJECT FILE series was collected during Kerr's service as a Taiwan specialist with the U.S. military
during World War II. Included are translations of selected chapters of
Taiwan Jijō (
Conditions in Taiwan), 1939, and
Taiwan Keizai Nempō (
Taiwan Economic Annual Report), 1943, prepared at the Military Government Translation Center of the Naval School of Military Government and Administration
at Columbia University. Also included are outlines of a series of lectures that were directed toward U.S. civil affairs officers
assigned to Taiwan. The dates provided in the container list for this series are limited because many of the documents do
not bear dates, some have only a translation date, and others have only a publication date. The few photographs available
depict Taiwan's geographic features.
The CLIPPINGS FILE series also relates primarily to Taiwan, with the vast bulk dated 1950. The articles were cut from English-language
newspapers in the U.S., such as the
San Francisco Chronicle,
Chinese World (San Francisco), and the
New York Times.
The UNIVERSITY SEMINAR FILE series relates to courses on East Asia at the Hoover Institution and the University of California
in which Kerr served as instructor or co-instructor. The files are incomplete, consisting of miscellaneous course materials
and a few student papers. Other student papers are interfiled in the SUBJECT FILE series.
In addition to material in the WRITINGS series, some notes and drafts that were probably written by Kerr are interfiled with
other documents in the SUBJECT FILE series. In the series CHRONOLOGICAL FILE OF EVENTS IN TAIWAN, a few brief memoranda by
Kerr are interfiled from January 1947, and syllabi in the UNIVERSITY SEMINAR FILE series were probably written by him.
Most of the papers in this collection are in English; a few are in Japanese. Folders consisting entirely of material in Japanese
are indicated in the container list.
A major portion of Kerr's research collection is held by the East Asian Library at the University of California at Berkeley;
additional Kerr papers are held at the 2-28 Memorial Museum Archives in Taiwan and the Okinawa Prefectural Archives.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Diplomats -- United States
Taiwan -- Politics and government
Okinawa Island (Japan)
Ryukyu Islands
Taiwan -- Economic conditions
Taiwan -- Foreign relations -- United States
Taiwan -- History
United States -- Foreign relations -- Taiwan
United States. Department of State
United States. Consulate (Taipei, Taiwan)
Writings,
1947-1948
Scope and Contents note
Draft and notes, arranged chronologically by title
box 1, folder 1
Report on CNRRA and UNRRA operations,
1947 February
Scope and Contents note
Notes
box 1, folder 2-4
Memoranda on the Taiwan crisis: Taipei and Nanking,
1947 March
Scope and Contents note
Notes
box 1, folder 5
"Industry,"
1945-1947 1948
Scope and Contents note
Draft. Typescript
Chronological File of Events in Taiwan,
1945-1947
Scope and Contents note
Chronologies, clippings, drafts, memoranda, notes, pamphlets, translated press reports, arranged chronologically
Subject File,
1900-1950
1939-1946
Scope and Contents note
Charts, clippings, laws, letters, lists, maps, notes, outlines, photographs, printed matter, reports, translations of publications,
arranged alphabetically by subject
box 3, folder 1
Aborigines
undated
Scope and Contents note
In Japanese
box 3, folder 3
Glossary of terms, divisions, charts
1946
box 3, folder 7
Personnel problems, classes, hierarchy
undated
box 3, folder 8
Police system (Japanese period)
undated
box 3, folder 9
Administrative organs and gun administration (Japanese period)
1939-1941
Formosan Agricultural Review
box 3, folder 13
1940 November
Scope and Contents note
In Japanese
box 3, folder 14
Contents of volumes 27 to 35
1944
box 3, folder 15
Organization, farmers associations, etc.
1939-1944
box 3, folder 16
Policy, crop rotation
undated
box 3, folder 17
Related industries, raw materials
undated
box 4, folder 1-2
Bibliographies,
1943-1944
box 4, folder 3
Commerce--Commodity prices and wages,
Jijō
circa 1939
box 4, folder 4-5
Japanese postal laws
circa 1970
box 4, folder 8
Conversion tables and terminology
1944
box 4, folder 9-10
Banks and other enterprises (Formosa)
1940
box 4, folder 13
Report for British trade mission
1946
box 4, folder 14
Mitsui interests in Formosa
1941
box 4, folder 15
Monopolies, from manuscript prepared by Japanese, retained by Chinese government for the year
1945-1946
box 4, folder 16
Taiwan Keizai Nempo,
1943
box 4, folder 17
Trade and finance (
Taiwan Jijō)
circa 1939
box 4, folder 19
Factionalism, leadership problems
1949
box 5, folder 1
Index to manuscript on finance, prepared by Japanese, retained by Chinese government
1946
box 5, folder 2
Notes on finance, banking, Chinese actions (from conversation with Suzuki, et al.)
1946
box 5, folder 9
Bibliography project
1950
box 5, folder 10
Development of Hainan Island
1943-1949
box 5, folder 12
Coal field areas, North Formosa
1936
box 5, folder 13
Kōtōsho (Botel Tobago)
1944-1945
box 5, folder 15
Meteorology, weather
1939-1946
box 5, folder 23
Government in industry
1946
box 5, folder 26
Plants, 1945 takeover conditions
1945
box 5, folder 30
Investigation of marine product industry in the Pescadores
1930
box 5, folder 31
Irrigation--Kanan system
1932-1940
box 5, folder 32
Japan--Maene's memorandum regarding rehabilitation
1949
box 5, folder 33
Japanese government organization
undated
Scope and Contents note
In Japanese
box 6, folder 1
Legal affairs--Japanese legislation
1900-1944
box 6, folder 3
Military affairs--Japanese army
1942
box 6, folder 5
Notes for and from MIS memos, letters
1943
box 6, folder 7
Okinawans in Taiwan
n.d.
Scope and Contents note
In Japanese
box 6, folder 8
Personnel of concerns
1940
box 6, folder 10
Place names and surnames
n.d.
box 6, folder 11
Population--Cities
circa 1940
box 6, folder 14
Postwar Japanese in Formosa
undated
box 6, folder 15
Propaganda and public information
1945-1947
box 6, folder 16-17
Property survey--Japanese properties
1944
box 6, folder 22
Power development
undated
box 6, folder 23
Separatism, independence, resistance to outside control
undated
box 6, folder 24
Sino-Japanese war, transfer to Japan (Pescadores)
undated
box 7, folder 1-2
Takeover report prepared for Chen Yin government
1946
box 7, folder 3
Transport--Railways
1938-1947
box 7, folder 4
Treaties, agreements, etc., as legal basis of empire
undated
box 7, folder 5
Wei Tao-ming (Gov.) anti-American speech
1947 Dec. 3
Clippings,
1947-1951
1947-1951
Scope and Contents note
Arranged alphabetically by subject
box 7, folder 9
American aid (other than military)
1950
box 7, folder 10
Chinese Communists and the U.N.
1950
box 7, folder 11
McCarthy, Kohlberg; China lobby
1950
box 7, folder 12
And other diplomatic, consular representation
1950
box 7, folder 13
Military aid and strategic estimates
1949-1950
box 7, folder 16
And SCAP--Representation at Tokyo, etc.
1950
box 7, folder 17
And Tibet, Philippine Islands, Indo-China
n.d.
box 7, folder 18
As American domestic political issue
1950
box 7, folder 19
As refuge for mainland Chinese
1950
box 7, folder 20
Chiang Kai-shek--Activities, policies, history, rivals; Mme. Chiang
1950
box 7, folder 21
Communist China's preparations for military invasion; defense activities
1950
box 7, folder 22
Communist Chinese attitudes, demands, proclamations
1949-1951
box 7, folder 23
Defections, subversion, retreats, spy hysteria
1950
box 7, folder 24
June 27 declaration and consequences
n.d.
box 7, folder 25
Actions, announcements, etc., having propaganda value
1950
box 7, folder 26
Activities, policies
1950
box 7, folder 27
Organization on Formosa
1950
box 7, folder 28
MacArthur, Douglas. "L'Affaire MacArthur,"
1950
box 7, folder 29
Self-determination issue, nationalist sentiment
1947-1950
box 7, folder 32
Trade with mainland
1948-1950
box 7, folder 33
U.N. issue and action
1949-1950
box 7, folder 34
U.S. policy (after ), crisis and conflict
1945-1950
box 7, folder 35
Leadership--Chiang-Li feud, other rivals
1950
University Seminar File
1949-1952
Scope and Contents note
Book lists, enrollment cards, memoranda, printed matter, student papers, syllabi, arranged numerically by course number
box 7, folder 36
276, Nationalism, socialism, democracy in contemporary Far East
circa 1950
box 7, folder 37
283, Dependent areas and world politics I: Island areas
1950-1952
box 7, folder 38
284, Dependent areas and world politics II: Southeast Asia
1950-1951
box 7, folder 39
S192, American and the expansion of the Japanese Empire
1949-1950
box 7, folder 40
S193, Japan in Formosa
1950
