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Title: James A. Rabbitt papers
Date (inclusive): 1895-1967
Collection Number: 71005
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: In English, Chinese, and Japanese
Physical Description:
62 manuscript boxes, 3 oversize boxes, 3 oversize folders
(29.2 Linear Feet)
Abstract: James Aloysius Rabbitt was an American engineer who worked in China and Japan in the first half of the twentieth century and
specialized in the mining of metals. The collection includes correspondence, memoirs, lectures, reports, surveys, patents,
clippings, sketches, and photographs, relating to economic, scientific, and technological developments in the mining and metallurgical
industries of China, Japan, and the Far East, with emphasis on nickel, China labor and dockyard projects, cultivation of rice
in Japan, and related governmental policies of China and Japan.
Creator:
Rabbitt, James Aloysius, 1877-1969
Boxes 19, 24, and 62 may not be used without permission of the Archivist. The remainder of 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.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1971.
[Identification of item], James A. Rabbitt papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
In 2022, archivist Sarah Ainsworth reprocessed this collection. The majority of the original description has been retained
with 4 boxes added. Box numbers may have changed during reprocessing.
James Aloysius Rabbitt (1877-1969) was an American engineer who worked in China and Japan in the first half of the twentieth
century and specialized in the mining of metals. In addition to his engineering business ventures, Rabbitt conducted research
into various industries in the far East, including agriculture. Rabbitt's newsclippings, personal photographs and personal
correspondence reveal what it was like to live as an expat in China and Japan at that time. Rabbitt also dabbled in the arts,
and his papers contain some of his sketches, calligraphy, and poetry. His poetry was published under the pseudonym Shamus
A'Rabbitt.
Rabbitt was born in Stamford, Connecticut, on August 4, 1877 and trained as an engineer at the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics
Institute (now the Rochester Institute of Technology), graduating in 1901.
Rather than pursue further education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rabbitt chose to take a job as an engineer
in Osaka, Japan. He remained in that position until 1909.
From 1911 through 1917, he worked for the Nipponophone Laboratories company, where he helped develop various inventions and
filed patents in both Japan and the United States.
In December of 1917, Rabbitt traveled back to the United States for World War I military service. He served as the Special
Assistant to the Department of State at Washington and as War Trade Attache. Through May 1919, he continued to serve as both
the Commercial Attache and War Trade Attache to the American Embassy at Tokyo.
In July 1919, Rabbitt opened an engineering consulting business in New York City. In December of that year, this business
took him to Canton, China, where he advised on the rebuilding of the Kwangtung Military Arsenal, the Kwangtung Provincial
Mint and the Kwangtung Dockyard. After a trip back to the United States to establish the James Rabbitt Engineering Corporation,
Rabbitt journeyed back to China to work on the mining and railway projects in the Province of Kwangsi.
Rabbitt completed the plans for the Canton Delta Railway System and the Inner and Outer Canton Harbors in 1921, however, because
of the Civil War in South China, was forced to abandon his engineering projects as well as his business.
Back in the United States by 1924, Rabbitt was hired as a consulting engineer for the Asia Development Corp. to write a report
on the Hakata-Wan Harbor and Daibu Railway Project at Hakata, Fukuoka Province, Japan. From 1925 to 1929, Rabbitt continued
to work as an engineer, including in the areas of high temperature combustion, industrial waste, and industrial plant design.
In 1932, Rabbitt founded the Japan Nickel Information Bureau and in 1933 he started the "Japan Nickel Review" scientific magazine,
serving as the publication's first editor.
In January of 1941, Rabbitt and his family were forced to leave Japan. Later that year, he wrote a report on Nickel in Japan
for the U.S. government. He became a technical consultant to the War Department in New York City in 1944 and helped create
a report on the Industrial Disarmament of Japan.
From 1948 to 1952, Rabbitt returned to live in Japan while he worked on projects for the Inco company and on matters related
to ductile cast iron.
In 1952, he returned to Inco's New York office to finish reports on Asia's Industrial Potential. In 1955, he retired from
the Inco company and lived the rest of his years on Water Island, St. Thomas Harbor, U.S. Virgin Islands. He died in July
1969.
Scope and Contents of Collection
The collection includes correspondence, memoirs, lectures, reports, surveys, patents, clippings, sketches, and photographs,
relating to economic, scientific, and technological developments in the mining and metallurgical industries of China, Japan,
and the Far East, with emphasis on nickel, China labor and dockyard projects, cultivation of rice in Japan, and related governmental
policies of China and Japan.
The Biographical File spans from 1908 to 1961 and contains newspaper clippings on Rabbitt's life, career, and inventions,
as well as documents related to his family and ephemera from his involvement in amateur theater in China and Japan.
The Correspondence series, largely comprised of bound volumes, contains letters sent and received over the course of business
activities.
Additionally, Rabbitt wrote extensively throughout his life, from poetry to technical articles to a memoir. The Writings series
consists of these both published works and drafts. He titled his memoir "Yankee Engineer in Asia" and he collected material
related to this memoir in volumes numbered 1-23, though it should be noted that a few volumes are missing. For these volumes,
we have retained the original order as the materials were received by the Library and Archives.
Records related to Rabbitt's engineering career and research endeavors can be found in the Reports and Surveys series, which
spans from 1918 to 1950. These files include engineering projects in Canton, railway projects, data on industries in Asian
countries, and an in-depth survey of the industries of Japan.
The Miscellaneous series features artwork by Rabbitt, his journal and daybook, and a guestbook for his residence in Japan
in the 1930s.
In the Photographic Materials series, there are a significant amount of prints depicting rice cultivation. Additionally, there
are five photo albums with photographic prints from Rabbitt's life and travels.
This collection is organized in six series: Series I. Biographical File, 1908-1961; Series II. Correspondence, 1901-1951;
Series III. Writings, 1903-1967; Series IV. Reports and Surveys, 1918-1950; Series V. Miscellaneous, 1906-1949; Series VI.
Photographic Materials, 1895-1960. Series II through V are arranged chronologically.
Original order has been retained for the Yankee Engineer in Asia Sub-Series within Series III: Writings, as well for the Surveys
of the Industries of Japan Sub-Series within Series IV: Reports and Surveys.
The Hoover Library holds two volumes of Rabbitt's poetry, published under his pseudonym Shamus A'Rabbitt: Ballads of the East
(1937) and China Coast Ballads (1938).
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Engineers
Agriculture -- Japan
Engineering -- China
Mines and mineral resources -- China
Mines and mineral resources -- East Asia
Mines and mineral resources -- Japan
Nickel mines and mining