Finding Aid to Guenter B. Risse Research Files, 1853-1925 and 1963-2017, SFH 86

Finding aid prepared by Tami J. Suzuki.
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
sfhistory@sfpl.org
Sept. 19, 2023

Note

Finding aid originally covered Risse's plague book research. Revised in 2023 to include his pest house book and Chinese Hospital article research.


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.

Boxes 1-2

Series 1. Plague, Fear, and Politics in San Francisco's Chinatown Book, 1897-1905 and 1999-[2007]

Physical Description: 1.2 cubic feet

Scope and Contents

Contains research documents for Risse's book, Plague, Fear, and Politics in San Francisco's Chinatown, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012. Included are Risse's daily notes about plague-related events in San Francisco; a log with brief notes on plague articles from the Chung Sai Yat Po; translations of selected articles from the Chung Sai Yat Po (Chinese Western Daily) newspaper from 1900 to 1905; photocopies of the Chung Sai Yat Po and English-language newspaper articles; clinical and pathological information for each plague case as well as unpublished correspondence between federal health officials of the Marine Hospital Service, also from 1900 to 1905 (from the National Archives in Washington DC and College Park, Maryland); and documentation on the politics involved.
Under a 2007 grant awarded by the National Library of Medicine, a team of scholars and graduate students from the University of California, Berkeley, created a log and summaries of plague-related articles published in the Chung Sai Yat Po. From these summaries, Risse determined which articles would receive full translation. Materials received in 2017 included correspondence and the grant application.
Box 3

Series 2. Driven by Fear: Epidemics and Isolation in San Francisco's House of Pestilence Book, 1853-1924, 2012 and 2017

Physical Description: 1 cubic foot

Scope and Contents

Contains the research documents for Risse's book, Driven by Fear: Epidemics and Isolation in San Francisco's House of Pestilence, University of Illinois Press, 2015. Included are his notes on English newspaper accounts and laws targeting the Chinese, photocopies of articles from English newspapers, and a spreadsheet of relevant advertisements published in the Chung Sai Yat Po (Chinese Western Daily). Also includes an unpublished paper delivered April 28, 2012 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the History of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, "Policies of Disgust, Stigma and Exclusion: The San Francisco Pesthouse;" and an unpublished lecture delivered Jan. 6, 2017, "Grotesque Appearances: 'The Chinese Must Go,' Perceptions of Race and Revulsion in San Francisco's Chinatown, 1849-1908."
Box 2

Series 3. Chinese Hospital Journal Article, 1896-1925 and 1963-2011

Physical Description: 3 folders

Scope and Contents

Contains materials for Risse's article, "Translating Western Modernity: The First Chinese Hospital in America," published in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University Press, Fall 2011. Documents institutional efforts of the Chinese Hospital during the pre-plague period, and early years until the post-earthquake situation. Includes Risse's notes, photocopies of English-language newspaper articles, translations from Chinese-language newspapers, and Risse's journal article. Upon donating this collection, Risse encouraged graduate students to continue and complete this subject study.