Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Provenance
Biographical Note
Scope and Contents
Arrangement
Related Material
Processing Information
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
Title: Guenter B. Risse Research Files
Date (inclusive): 1853-1925 and 1963-2017
Identifier/Call Number: SFH 86
Creator:
Risse, Guenter B.
Physical Description:
2 cartons, 1 manuscripts box
(2.4 cubic feet)
Abstract: Contains research files of Dr. Guenter B. Risse for his books,
Plague, Fear, and Politics in San Francisco's Chinatown,
and
Driven by Fear: Epidemics and Isolation in San Francisco's House of Pestilence,
and journal article, "Translating Western Modernity: The First Chinese Hospital in America."
Physical Location: Collection is stored on site.
Language of Material: Collection materials are in English and Chinese.
Access
The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours.
Publication Rights
Copyright for Guenter B. Risse's original documents retained by Risse until his passing. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Guenter B. Risse Research Files, (SFH 86), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.
Provenance
Gift of Guenter B. Risse in 2014 with additional materials received in 2016, 2017, and 2023.
Biographical Note
Guenter B. Risse is a physician, historian, and professor emeritus of the history of medicine at the University of California,
San Francisco. He is also an affiliate professor at the University of Washington, Seattle. Besides
Plague, Fear, and Politics in San Francisco's Chinatown
and
Driven by Fear: Epidemics and Isolation in San Francisco's House of Pestilence,
he authored
Hospital Life in Enlightenment Scotland
and
Mending Bodies, Saving Souls: A History of Hospitals.
Scope and Contents
Contains the research files of Dr. Guenter B. Risse for his books,
Plague, Fear, and Politics in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and
Driven by Fear: Epidemics and Isolation in San Francisco's House of Pestilence, and journal article, "Translating Western Modernity: The First Chinese Hospital in America."
The collection documents Risse's studies of San Francisco Chinatown during the plague years 1900-1905, and the larger plight
of late-nineteenth-century Chinese migrants to San Francisco and into the twentieth century, focusing on healthcare policy.
Included are photocopies of English- and Chinese-language newspapers, translations from Chinese-language newspapers, a spreadsheet
of relevant advertisements published in the
Chung Sai Yat Po (Chinese Western Daily),
Risse's notes on the newspaper accounts and laws targeting the Chinese, his Chinese Hospital article, and two of his unpublished
papers delivered at conferences. His writing sheds light on local political, economic, and cultural contests amidst an environment
of racial discrimination and political power struggles, as well as deep social and cultural divisions during the early twentieth-century
plague epidemic.
Arrangement
Organized into three series: Series 1.
Plague, Fear, and Politics in San Francisco's Chinatown
Book; Series 2.
Driven by Fear: Epidemics and Isolation in San Francisco's House of Pestilence
Book; and Series 3. Chinese Hospital Article.
Within series, arranged chronologically.
Related Material
Risse, Guenter B. Personal Papers, Manuscript Collections, University of California, San Francisco.
Processing Information
Processed by Tami J. Suzuki.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Chinese Americans -- California -- Newspapers.
Chinese Americans -- California -- San Francisco -- History -- 20th century.
Chinese -- Health and hygiene -- Social aspects -- California -- San Francisco -- History.
Chinese Hospital -- History.
Plague -- California -- San Francisco -- History.
Quarantine -- California -- San Francisco -- History.