Thomas B. Gold papers, 1960s-2010s

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Summary

Abstract:
The Thomas B. Gold papers (1960s-2010s) document the activities of American professor of sociology, Thomas B. Gold, during his time in Taiwan, including his meetings with Taiwanese politicians, participation in election campaign rallies, and correspondence with Taiwanese political dissidents in the 1970s and the 1980s.
Extent:
6 manuscript boxes, 1 video cassette box, 4 optical disks (6.7 Linear Feet)
Language:
In English and Chinese
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Thomas B. Gold papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection includes correspondence between Thomas B. Gold and Taiwanese political dissidents in the 1970s and the 1980s; photographs related to Gold's academic activities in Taiwan, meetings with Taiwanese politicians, and participation in Taiwan's numerous election campaign rallies; grey literature published by anti-Kuomintang (KMT) political forces; Taiwanese government statements and reports; printed matter, limited-distribution reports, analytical studies, promotional material, speeches, appeals and leaflets produced by the anti-KMT political movements before Taiwan's democratization; reports on Taiwan's human rights conditions; as well as DVDs and other artifacts produced by candidates from both the Kuomintang Party and the Democratic Progressive Party.

Biographical / historical:

Thomas B. Gold (1948-); professor of sociology; researcher and author of several publications relating to the social and economic conditions of East Asia, particularly the People's Republic of China and Taiwan.

Thomas B. Gold (1948-) professor of sociology, researcher, and author of several publications relating to the social and economic conditions of East Asia, particularly the People's Republic of China and Taiwan. Gold began his study of China as a student at Oberlin College, where he graduated in 1970. He made his first trip to Asia in the summer of 1969 to study Mandarin at Tunghai University in Taichung, Taiwan, and then returned to Tunghai to teach English under the auspices of the Oberlin Shansi Memorial Association from 1970-1972. He received an MA in Regional Studies-East Asia from Harvard University, and completed his PhD in Sociology at Harvard in 1981. For his dissertation, he tested theories of underdevelopment, dependency, and world systems on the Taiwan experience, making him one of the first scholars to bring East Asia into the debates that had focused primarily on developmental failures in Latin America and Africa. He began his teaching career at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1981, and retired as full professor in 2018. In 1979, Gold was in the first group of American government-sponsored exchange students to study in China, spending a year in the Modern Chinese Literature Department at Fudan University in Shanghai. Since that time, he has published widely on topics related to Taiwan's political economy and social change, as well as many aspects of Chinese society such as youth, private business, civil society, and guanxi.

Acquisition information:
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 2022.
Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Box 7 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.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Thomas B. Gold papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
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