Collection contains family and professional correspondence, diaries, writings, subject files, scrapbooks, clippings, and other miscellaneous personal papers. Also included is material related to textbooks authored by Professor Bingham; materials related to his East Asiatic classes at the University of California, Berkeley; a 1980 doctoral dissertation (Johns Hopkins) about the Bingham family, by Char Miller; and an 1883 published genealogy titled The Woodbridge Record.

Woodbridge Bingham decided to study Chinese history and language at a time when few people in the U. S. were doing so. As a result, he played a pioneering role in the development of East Asian studies in the United States. In 1924, when he began his studies, there were only a few universities in the entire country offering any Oriental courses and no professional organizations, associations, or publications for support. Bingham began his career at the University of California, Berkeley in 1937, teaching both undergraduate and graduate students the history and civilizations of Asia. The detailed syllabi and reading lists he created for his classes became his Southwest Asia: A Brief History and History of Asia. He was a founding member, in 1941, of the Far Eastern Association, whose purpose was to publish Far Eastern Quarterly (now the Journal of Asian Studies). Bingham served through 1953 as a member of the first board of directors and from 1941 to 1947 was also a member of the editorial advisory board; during 1947-1949, he edited the quarterly's News and Notes and News of the Profession sections.

Number of containers: 45 boxes, 12 cartons, 1 oversize folder Linear feet: 34.25

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 Head of the Manuscripts Division. 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 one exception: Carton 11, folder 4 is sealed until 2000.