The Ursula Griswold Bingham Papers, 1882-1998, chronicles a woman's life from her beginnings in New England society in 1908 through her death in California in 1998. Spanning almost the whole of the 20th Century, the papers include correspondence with family and friends, diaries, travel files covering trips to China and Japan in the turbulent 1930's, and files relating to her volunteer work with the Pacific School of Religion and the Young Women's Christian Associations (YWCA).

Ursula Griswold Bingham, born June 28 1908 in Greenwich, Connecticut, was the descendent of three governors of Connecticut. In 1928, she married Woodbridge Bingham, son of Hiram Bingham, a Governor and Senator from Connecticut. The couple settled in Berkeley, California where her husband became a Professor of Far Eastern History and the founder of the East Asiatic Institute at the University of California. Ursula accompanied Woodbridge on a number of trips to the Far and Middle East, living for two years in China and Japan before World War II.

Number of containers: 6 boxes, 17 cartons, 1 oversize box, 3 volumes, 1 restricted box

Linear feet: 23.5

Copyright has been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the appropriate curator or the Head of Public Services for forwarding. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and the copyright.

Collection is open for research, with the following exception: Contents of Box 7 are restricted until August 2014 except for designated family members. See collection file for list of permitted viewers.