Finding Aid to the Eli Taylor Sheppard Papers, ca. 1858-1927

Processed by The Bancroft Library staff

The Bancroft Library.

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California, 94720-6000

Phone: (510) 642-6481

Fax: (510) 642-7589

Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu

URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu

Note

Geographical (By Place) --United States (excluding California) History --History, California Geographical (By Place) --California Social Sciences --Political Science --International Relations

Finding Aid to the Eli Taylor Sheppard Papers, ca. 1858-1927

Collection number: BANC MSS 71/253 cz

The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California

Contact Information:

The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu

Processed by:: The Bancroft Library staff
Date Completed:: January 1989
Encoded by:: James Lake

Collection Summary

Collection Title: Eli Taylor Sheppard Papers,

Date (inclusive): ca. 1858-1927

Collection Number: BANC MSS 71/253 cz

Creator: Sheppard, Eli T.

Extent: Number of containers: 3 boxes, 3 cartons, 1 oversize folder Linear feet: 5

Repository: The Bancroft Library

Berkeley, California 94720-6000

Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Abstract: Eli T. Sheppard papers: Chiefly relating to his diplomatic career as U.S. Consul to China and later as Advisor on International Law to the U.S. Minister to Japan. Includes correspondence, diaries,chitbooks, writings, certificates, scrapbooks and clippings. Includes some material pertaining to his ownership of the Madrone Vineyards near Sonoma in the 1880s.

Miscellaneous family and other papers : Includes accounts of his father-in-law, Lewis Lewton, 1864-1889 (the earliest including accounts for the Ohio National Guard) and of the Lewton estate; records of the Glen-Ellen Viticultural Club (minutes, constitution and by-laws); account by Marguerite Brindley (E.T. Sheppard's daughter) of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English and Chinese

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not 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 Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred Citation

[identification of item], Eli Taylor Sheppard Papers, BANC MSS 71/253 cz, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Removed or Separated Material

Pictorial materials have been transferred to the Bancroft Library's Pictorial Collections.
Some published materials have been transferred to the Bancroft Library's book collection.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

The Eli T. Sheppard papers came as a gift to The Bancroft Library, June 16, 1971, from his granddaughter, Mrs. William E. Hilbert. A small number of additional items were received from the estate of Mrs. Hilbert, through the assistance of her cousin, Mrs. Evelyn Stewart.

Biography

When the distinguished professor of history of the University of California at Berkeley, Henry Morse Stephens, returned some letters he had borrowed from Eli Taylor Sheppard, he wrote the former American Consul to China, "May I beg you to see that this most interesting correspondence...is preserved in some safe place, -I dare not suggest the Bancroft Library, -on account of its very real historical value." Fifty-four years later, the Bancroft Library, through the generous gift of Mrs. William S. Hilbert was indeed to receive the fascinating and rich collection of Papers of her grandfather, Eli Taylor Sheppard.

Eli Taylor Sheppard, lawyer and diplomat, was born in Belmont County, Ohio, on September 26, 1842, and spent his early years on his father's farm. By 1858, he had begun teaching in the nearby Pumpkin Ridge county school. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted with the 85th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving until April 1863. Encouraged by Mr. John A. Bingham in his desire to read law, Sheppard entered the Union Law College in 1864, graduating with honors in March 1865. His early practice with the firm of Bingham, Stanton and Lewton led to his appointment as Proctor in Admiralty in the Circuit and District Courts of the United States, and in 1867 as Register in Bankruptcy.

Soon after the visit in 1868 of the first Chinese Ambassador to the United States, the commercial exchanges between the two countries necessitated the sending of American officials to China. At the instigation of Anson Burlingame, who had been instrumental in the development of relations with China, Sheppard, eager to apply his knowledge of international law, applied for, and obtained an appointment as U.S. Consul to China in April of 1869. He took up residence in Chinkiang for two years, after which he was transferred, with the title of U.S. Consul for North China, to the port of Tientsin.

Throughout these years, Mr. Sheppard gained a reputation for dealing with firmness and tact in such varied matters as his intervention in the case of the persecution of an American missionary at Chimi near Chefoo. His friendly relations with the metropolitan viceroy, Li Hung Chang, the real ruler of China, were instrumental in Sheppard's ability to adjust differences between China and the treaty powers, especially in the Formosan difficulty with Japan in 1873, and later in disputes arising between China and Japan concerning Korea and the Lew Chew Islands.

At this time, however, his mentor, Mr. Bingham, now minister to Japan, urged Sheppard to come to Japan as Advisor in International Law. Upon his arrival in Japan in 1877, he found the country to be undergoing exciting changes in its transition from insular feudalism to the mainstream of international life, responsive to outside aid, and generally more in touch with the West than was China. Here Sheppard assisted in establishing a consular service modeled on European and American systems, worked in clarifying rights and duties of foreigners residing in China and Japan in relation to treaty revisions and extraterritoriality. Other legal questions to be untangled included the nature of the rights of foreign vessels in offshore Japanese waters, issues of naturalization, etc.

Suffering from ill health, Sheppard decided to abandon his post, returning to California in 1881. He settled down temporarily in Napa, then near Sonoma, growing grapes at the Madrone Vineyards which he later sold to Senator George Hearst in 1889. After traveling in Europe, he resumed his law practice in San Francisco in 1890. He travelled to Mexico and Washington D.C., lectured at the University of California, Berkeley on international law and on the American Consular Service, and from 1912 spent his remaining years in Oakland, where he died in 1927.

Scope and Content

The correspondence, diaries and photographs, carefully preserved all these years, depict the day to day life of a diplomat --revolving around Chinese officials, intricate ceremonials, and ticklish questions of diplomacy, the whole interwoven with accounts of revolts and political intrigue. In addition to rich details of Chinese life and customs, and of travels throughout the country, one finds in these papers accounts of innumerable receptions, interaction with consuls from Germany, England, and France, as well as details of the delicate negotiations between the Chinese and the Peruvian commission over an accusation of coolie trafficking. Herein also are described small pox epidemics, the death of the old Emperor and the subsequent period of official mourning, negotiations to curb Chinese taxes on imported foreign goods, the Transit of Venus in 1874 with attendant scientific dignities, and the funeral arrangements for the United States Minister to China, Benjamin P. Avery.

Outgoing letters, 1871-1927

Physical Description: (4 folders)

Box 1

Transcripts of outgoing letters, 1871-1879

Additional Note

(N.B.: Originals of some letters, particularly those written from Japan in 1877-1879, are lacking)

Letters from his wife, Lida (Lewton) Sheppard, 1871-1928

Incoming letters

Box 1

Single letters in an A-Z Miscellany

Physical Description: (2 folders)

Miscellany, unidentified

Physical Description: (1 folder)

Incoming, A-K.

Physical Description: (15 folders)

Additional Note

Two or more letters, arranged alphabetically by author, then chronologically within each folder. A partial list of correspondents may be consulted at the end of the report.

Box 2

L - Z

Physical Description: (39 folders)

Transcripts of miscellaneous letters

Letters, 1858-1880, written to Mrs. Sheppard by girlhood friends in Ohio, some of them concerning the Civil War

Physical Description: (3 folders)

Calling cards and miscellaneous publications

Box 3

Calling cards and miscellaneous publications

Diaries, accounts, and chitbooks

Ctn. 1

Diary, 1869: Begun in May when in Washington D.C., prior to beginning his consulship and kept during his trip across the country to the west coast.

Diary, 1873-1875: Kept as U.S. Consul in Tientsin, China

Diary, 1875-1876: Kept as U.S. Consul in Tientsin, China

Diary, 1877-1878: Describes return voyage from San Francisco to Tokyo and his duties as advisor upon international law to the Japanese Office of Foreign Affairs.

Diaries, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889: Madrone Vineyards, farming near Sonoma

Diaries, 1892-1895: San Francisco

Physical Description: (4 v.)

Diaries, 1896-1898: Oakland

Diary, 1900: Washington, D.C.

Account book for U.S. Consulate at Tientsin, 1873-1875

Check stubs, 1874/5-1875/6

Chitbooks, 1886-1881

Physical Description: (6 v.)

Miscellaneous papers and writings

Misc. papers

Ctn. 2

Certificates of appointments, passports, etc., relating to his military, consular and legal careers, 1862-1899

Physical Description: (some oversize)

Accounts, 1872-1876, relating mainly to his consular service in China

Map of Mexico, annotated

Misc. relating to consular service including:

Copy of John A. Bingham's speech in support of General Grant, July 10, 1872, translated into Chinese and published in Tientsin, China.

Notice of the reception of the ministers of western powers by the Emperor of China. Printed, 1873.

Memorandum of an interview between E. T. Sheppard and the Toutai at Chefoo, May 4, 1874

Program for entertainment, Jan. 1875

Order of funeral procession for Benjamin Avery, Nov. 1875

Invitation for consular celebration of U.S. Independence in Tientsin, July 14, 1876

Program, printed on silk, for July 1876 celebration in Shanghai

Inventory of public property of U.S. Consulate at Tientsin, Sept. 30, 1876

Testimonial to E. T. Sheppard, Oct. 1876

Memo of articles proposed by Mr. Wade in settlement of the Yin Nan affair, n.d.

Sketch map of Tientsin, annotated

Invitation to reception in Tokyo in honor of General U. S. Grant, ex-president

Agreements with R. B. Mostyn, 1873, re rental of consular buildings

Communications in Chinese

Madrone Vineyards (Napa Valley): Account Book, 1884-1888, kept by Eli Taylor Sheppard.

Scope and Content Note

Also included are other accounts, not for the vineyard, 1874-1888.

Accounts of Sheppard's father-in-law, Lewis Lewton, 1864-1889.

Physical Description: (3 v.)

Scope and Content Note

Early accounts were for the Ohio National Guard. Accounts of the Lewton estate also included.

Misc., including minutes, constitution and by-laws of the Glen-Ellen Viticultural Club, 1885; account by Marguerite Brindley, oldest daughter of E. T. Sheppard, of the San Francisco Earthquake and fire around the "Flag House," April 20, 1906.

Writings of Eli Taylor Sheppard - manuscripts, reprints, clippings

Ctn. 2

American Consular Service

An American Missionary Statesman

[China]

Korean War

The Future Of China

The Future of the Pacific Ocean

General Grant in the Orient

Ideals of American Diplomacy

[Japan]

Memoirs of Li Hung Chang

Our Relations with the Orient

The Pacific Ocean in the Twentieth Century

A Pilgrimage to Dai Butz

Port Arthur, The Tragic Monument to Li Hung Chang's Diplomacy

Prince Ito, The Maker of Modern Japan

Results of the War in the Orient

Russia and Japan

Russian Expansion in Asia

[Theodore Roosevelt]

A Traveler's Notes

Additional Note

(articles written for the Napa Register, 1889)

Treaty Revision

Notes

Ctn. 2

Autobiographical; John A. Bingham; China; Japan; railroads and traveling; miscellaneous

Biographical material

Ctn. 2

Hilbert, Mrs. William E.: Fugitive Scraps and Patches

Scope and Content Note

Drafts of her biography of Eli Taylor Sheppard, and notes assembled for this purpose

Kellogg, Annie (Sheppard): [Reminiscences]

Scrapbooks and clippings

Ctn. 3

Scrapbooks containing clippings, programs, menus, calling cards, etc. relating to China and to Eli Taylor Sheppard, including some articles written by him

Physical Description: (2 v.)

Clippings

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Roughly arranged by subject: John A. Bingham, China, William Denman, humor, Japan, Abraham Lincoln, Divie Bethune McCartee, Mexico, San Francisco, Eli Taylor Sheppard, trains, Mark Twain, miscellaneous

oversize Oversize folder

Bachelor of law degree from Ohio State and Union Law college, 1865

Certificates of appointment as United States Consul to China

April 19, 1869

April 19, 1871

A-Z Miscellany

Balfour, Frederic Henry

Letter, March 16, 1875

Beard, James E.

Letter, n.d.

Bigelow, Samuel C.

Letter, March 25, 1899

California, University. President, written by secretary Victor Henderson

Letter, March 21, 1901

Campbell, John Allen, 1835-1880

Letter, June 19, 1876

Carr, Wilbur John, 1870-1942

Letter, April 3, 1902

Chipman, Norton Parker, 1838-1924

Letter, August 30, 1917

Davidson, George, 1825-1911

Letter, May 13, 1899

Deering, Frank Prentiss, 1855-1939

Letter, February 13, 1902

Delano, M. M., re his efforts as U.S. Consul at Foochow to obtain telegraphic service in China.

Letter (with transcript), February 3, 1875

Denman, James, 1829-1909

Letter, January 28, 1900

DuBois, James T., 1851-1920

Letter, March 19, 1902

Estee, Morris M., 1838-1903

Letter, March 29, 1899

Fitz, W. W.

Letter, June 2, 1875

Flint, W. Ston., 1835-1906

Letter, January 5, 1874

Garcia y Garcia, Aurelio, as Peruvian emissary to China

Letter, June 16, 1874

Grant, Ulysses Simpson, 1822-1895, received Correspondence from O. E. Babcock

Letter, February 3, 1873

Hanks, Abbot Atherton, 1869-

Letter, n.d.

Hayes, Rutherford Binchard, 1822-1893

Additional Note

Includes autographs and photographs

Hopkins, Anna B., re her experiences in Mexico

Letter, March 14, 1913

Japan, Department of Foreign Affairs, received letter by Terashima Nuneori concerning Sheppard's appointment as assistant adviser to the Japanese government upon international law

Letter, October 23, 1876

Johnson, Hiram Warren, 1866-1945

Letter, June 20, 1917

Johnson, N. M., re consular activities at Hankow

Letter (with transcript), January 3, 1875

Jordan, William H., 1849-

Letter, March 23, 1899

Li, Hung-chang, translation in Sheppard's handwriting

Letter, October 20, 1874

Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924

Letter, February 18, 1902

Low, F. C.; contains recollections concerning her father, F. F. Low

Letter, March 22, 1914

Martin, William Alexander Parsons, 1827-

Letter (with typed transcript), September 15, 1876

Meadows, John A. T., d. 1875

Letter (includes transcript), April 6, 1872

Montgomery, Douglass William, 1859-

Letter, September 22, 1925

See also: Chit-Chat Club

Moore, M. T.

Letter, July 28, 1874

Murray, David, 1830-1905

Letter, September 7, 1902

Nichols, William Ford, 1849-1924

Letter, October 25, 1909

Osborne, Antrim Edgar

Letter, n.d.

Pacific Commercial Museum, letter from Irving M. Scott

Letter, November 10, 1900

Porter, Robert Cushman

Letter, April 13, 1899

Priestley, Herbert Ingram, 1875-1944, enclosed copy of an article on Low

Letter, n.d.

Seward, Kate (Sherman), (Mrs. George Frederick Seward)

Letter, July 1, 1876

Sheppard, C. A.

Letter (includes typed transcript), August 1, [1873?]

Shepard, Morgan, 1865-1947

Letter, March 4, 1902

Stevens, Durham White, 1852-1908

Letter, February 25, 1902

Taussig, Rudolph Julius, 1861-1922

Letter, June 3, 1917

See also: Chit-Chat Club

Twinem, James

Letter, March 23, [187?]

U.S. Library of Congress, written by J. F. Jameson

Letter, December 21, 1928

Wilson, Henry, 1812-1875

Letter, February 1, 1873

Woodruff, Francis Eben, 1844-1914

Letter, March 25, 1875

Separately foldered correspondents

Adams, Ephraim Douglass, 1865-1930

17 letters, 1915-1925

Additional Note

Copies of his pamphlets, Why We Are At War With Germany also included (no. 1 missing).

Avery, Benjamin Parke, 1829-1875

17 letters, 1874-1875

Additional Note

Mainly transcripts.

Babcock, Orville Elias, 1835-1884

See Grant, Ulysses Simpson, 1822-1885

Bentley, Charles Harvey, 1869-1922

See Chit-Chat Club

Bingham, John Armor, 1815-1900

5 letters, 1872-1875

Additional Note

Some are transcripts only.

Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893

See U.S. Department of State

Cadwalader, John Lambert, 1837-1914

2 letters, 1877-1878

Additional Note

1877 letter written for U.S. Department of State.

Campbell, Donald Y.

See Chit-Chat Club

Chit-Chat Club

2 letters, 1914-1919

Additional Note

1914 letter signed by F. H. Wheelan, Charles A. Murdock, Donald Y. Campbell, Horace Davis, H. Moses Stephens, Rudolph Taussig, Bradford Leavitt, James Eaves, Henry M. Sherman, W. A. Doble, C. H. Bentley, James K. Moffitt, Louis T. Hengster, D. W. Montgomery, O. L. Elliott, E. P. Lewis, J. M. Stillman, M. W. Haskell, Payson J. Treat.

Clark, George Thomas, 1862- 1940

See Stanford University. Library

Cornabe, W. A.

3 letters, 1874-1875

Additional Note

With transcripts.

Davenport, James LeRoy, 1845-1914

See U.S. Bureau of Pensions

Davis, Horace, 1831-1916

2 letters, 1902-1916

See also: Chit-Chat Club

Davis, John Chandler Bancroft, 1822-1907

See U.S. Dep't of State

Doble, W. A.

See Chit-Chat Club

Elliott, Orrin Leslie, 1860-1940

2 letters, 1902 and n.d.

See also: Chit-Chat Club

Elmore, J. Federico

4 letters, 1874-1875

Additional Note

Peruvian minister to China.

Forbes, F. B.

3 letters, 1874

Fyffe, Joseph

2 letters, 1876-1877

Additional Note

Transcripts and photographs included.

Gundy, R.

7 letters, 1874-1875

Additional Note

Some for the North China Herald.

Haskell, Melon Woodman, 1863-1948

See Chit-Chat Club

Henderson, Victor Hendricks

See California. University. President

Hengstler, Louis Theodore, 1861-

See Chit-Chat Club

Hinckley, Frank Erastus, 1871-1950

2 letters, 1903

Holcombe, Chester, 1844-1912

6 letters, 1875-1876

Additional Note

With transcripts.

Jameson, John Franklin, 1859-1937

See U.S. Library of Congress

Leavitt, Bradford

See Chit-Chat Club

Lewis, Exum Percival, 1863-1926

See Chit-Chat Club

Lewton, Lewis, 1816-

40 letters, 1869-1879

Additional Note

Father-in-law. 1870-1871 letters are transcripts only. Letters from October 1878 written from Napa, California.

Low, Frederick Ferdinand, 1828-1894

66 letters, 1872-1874

Additional Note

Transcripts only of letters written while U.S. Minister to Peking and upon his return to San Francisco.

Lyman, Benjamin Smith, 1835-1920

2 letters, 1899-1902

McAdie, Alexander George, 1863-1943

5 letters, 1917-1927

McCartney, sir Samuel Halliday, 1833-1906

2 letters, 1875 and n.d.

McCormick, Frederick, 1870

3 letters, 1924-1925

Mills, Susan Lincoln (Tolman), 1826-1912

4 letters, 1900-1902

Mills, William Harrison, 1837-1907

3 letters, 1896-1906

Moffitt, James Kennedy, 1866?-1955

See Chit-Chat Club

Morgan, James

12 letters, 1874-1876

Additional Note

With typed transcripts.

Mori, Arinori Ju-goi, 1847-1890

2 letters, [1876-1880?]

Additional Note

Transcripts and photograph included.

Murdock, Charles Albert, 1841-1928

3 letters, 1899-1927, mainly re Chit-Chat Club.

Additional Note

Memorial on Sheppard's death included.

See also: Chit-Chat Club

Osborne, John Ball, 1868-

2 letters, 1902

Page, Thomas Walker, 1866-1937

3 letters, 1901

Pethick, William N., 1848-

16 letters, 1871-1874

Additional Note

Typed transcripts of most letters and E. T. Sheppard's comments on Pethick included.

Raaslow, W.

8 letters, 1874-1875

Additional Note

With typed transcripts.

Rankin, Henry William

8 letters, 1902-1923, re his work on Dr. McCartee.

Salter, A. E.

2 letters, 1874

Additional Note

Typed transcripts included.

Sandore, Peyton

2 letters, 1880-1892, re his experiences in Tokyo.

Scott, Irving Murray, 1837-1903

See Pacific Commercial Museum

Scott, Winfield, 1879-

See U.S. Bureau of Pensions

Seward, George Frederick, 1840-1910

71 letters, 1874-1904

Additional Note

Some, for 1874-1876, are transcripts only.

Sherman, Harry Mitchell, 1854-1921

See Chit-Chat Club

Smith, Pat R.

2 letters, 1874, from the North China Herald office.

Stanford University. Library

3 letters, 1923-1924, by George T. Clark

Stanwood, Edward B.

2 letters, 1917

Additional Note

re F. F. Low, 1856 Vigilance Committee

Stephens, Henry Morse, 1857-1919

2 letters, 1916-1917

Additional Note

Also included: inscribed copy of his article, Nationality and History.

See also: Chit-Chat Club

Stillman, John Maxson, 1852-1923

3 letters, 1902-1918

Treat, Payson Jackson, 1879-

18 letters, 1917-1927

See also: Chit-Chat Club

U.S. Bureau of Pensions

2 letters, 1903-1926, by J. L. Davenport and Winfield Scott

U.S. Department of State

4 letters, 1871-1881, by J. C. B. Davis and James G. Blaine.

Additional Note

1881 letter is copy only.

See also: Cadwalader, John Lambert

Watson, James Craig, 1839-1880

2 letters, 1874, with typed transcripts.

Wheelan, Fairfax Henry, 1856-1915

7 letters, 1899-1914

See also: Chit-Chat Club

Williams, Samuel Wells, 1812-1884

37 letters, 1873-1876.

Additional Note

Transcripts only (except in one letter, June 8, 1874). (Originals in Library of Congress)

Wood, Arthur B.

3 letters, 1873-1877