The Yale-China Association Records are the primary source for documenting the history of the Yale-China Association's activities in mainland China (1901-1951), Hong Kong (1951 to the present), and the United States (1901 to the present). In general, the records are of three main types: administrative and policy records produced by the Association's home office in New Haven; correspondence and memoranda written by Association staff members while serving in China; and administrative files and correspondence produced by the Association's office at New Asia College in Hong Kong. The bulk of the records created by the various components of Yale-China during the mainland period of its history (Yali Union Middle School, The Yale-in-China College of Arts and Sciences, and the Hsiang-Ya hospital, medical school, and nursing school) were apparently destroyed during the Second World War. The loss of this material is to some extent compensated by the extensive policy and planning records present in Series I and II, and especially by the staff correspondence from the field which richly documents the day-to-day activities at the Association's facilities in Changsha.

The Yale-China Association Records are arranged in seventeen series and subsequent accessions:

Series I, MINUTES, ANNUAL REPORTS, REPORTS TO THE TRUSTEES, contains the offical policy records and field reports of the Yale-China Association's governing bodies and executive officers:

• Minutes of the Executive Committee 1901-
• Minutes of the Board of Trustees 1921-1973
• Minutes of the Yali Governing Board 1909-1937
• Minutes of the Monthly College Faculty Meetings 1917-1929
• Minutes of the Executive Committe of the Yale-in-China Mission 1932-1935
• Minutes of the Executive Committee of Hua Chung College 1938-1941
• Minutes of the Executive Committee of Hsiang-Ya 1944
• Minutes of the Executive Committee of Yale Middle School 1933-1935
• Minutes of the Special New Asia College Committee 1954-1957
• Minutes of the Yale-China Association Annual Meetings 1902-1971
• Yale-China Association Annual Reports 1909-1976
• Reports to the Executive Committee and Board of Trustees 1903-1973
• Reports of the Trustee's Representatives 1929-1972
• Reports of the Executive Secretary to the Trustees 1926-1958
• Reports of the Executive Director to the Trustees 1966-1973

Series II, NEW HAVEN OFFICE SUBJECT FILES, is the central administrative file compiled by home office staff members from 1901 to 1975. The series contains correspondence, memoranda, and reports which document policy implementation and program administration; the relations of the Yale-China Association with other missionary groups and philanthropic organizations; and the activities of special committees, programs, and projects. Series II also includes correspondence with non-Yale-China Association personnel and samples of routine housekeeping records.

Series III, STAFF CORRESPONDENCE 1900-1974, contains the correspondence of Yale-China Association personnel: bachelors, regular appointees, trustees and officers, New Haven office staff, former Chinese students, and Chinese students on scholarships in the United States. The materials, arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent, consist of both personal and official correspondence and printed material, such as newspaper clippings, relating to the various staff members. The series is one of the richest in the collection. Virtually every aspect of Yale-China's work is touched upon, from its foundation to the construction of New Asia College. Subjects most frequently discussed are: finances and fund raising, property purchases, building plans, educational policies, personnel problems, staff appointments, and individual's reactions to the political and social conditions confronted in China.

Series IV, CABLES AND RADIOGRAMS, contains copies of messages sent to and from Association staff members in the field and the New Haven home office between 1904-1951. Subjects discussed include: routine administrative matters, financial conditions and transfer of funds, land purchases and negotiations, staffing and equipment needs, evacuation orders from the U.S. State Department, policies to follow during periods of student strikes and civil disorders, and relocation plans during World War II. The materials in Series IV are filed chronologically.

Series V, DIARIES AND THE BACHELOR LOG, contains accounts by Yale-China staff members of their day-to day activities while serving in mainland China and Hong Kong. The only diary present is Morris Sanders' "China Journal 1921-23". The diary is a 400 page typescript which describes Sanders' trip to China, his activities as a surgeon at Hsiang-Ya, and several walking tours in the Chinese countryside. The "Bachelor Log" is a compendium of reports by Yale-China Bachelors (teaching fellows) describing their weekly activities at New Asia College from 1958-1972.

Series VI, FINANCIAL, REAL ESTATE, AND ARCHITECTURAL RECORDS, is divided into ten sections:

• Account Books 1902-1971
• Budgets 1909-1968
• Treasurer's Reports 1902-1939
• Financial Statements and Audit Reports 1905-1972
• Fund Raising Campaigns
• Donor Correspondence
• Donors and Contributors by City
• Miscellaneous Financial Files
• New Asia College Financial Records
• Real Estate and Architectural Records

Real Estate and Architectural Records includes correspondence regarding land purchases and property rights, files of the New Asia College Building Committee war damage claims, site plans and blueprints for the Yali Campus and New Asia College and photostats of Changsha property deeds.

Series VII, NEW ASIA COLLEGE OFFICE FILES, contains the administrative files compiled by the Yale-China Association office at New Asia College between 1954-1972. The materials include: routine administrative and housekeeping records; New Asia College council minutes 1963-1972; general correspondence; correspondence with the New Haven office and board of trustees; correspondence with the Yale-China Association executive director; and memoranda and correspondence relating to Yale Bachelors. The files are arranged alphabetically.

Series VIII, SCRAPBOOKS, ARTICLES, AND CLIPPING FILES, contains printed matter regarding Association activities and staff. The series is divided into three sections. Section 1, Scrapbooks, contains newspaper clippings, articles, and publicity materials relating to virtually all of the phases of the Yale-China Association's history. Other topics include Changsha's history, the Sino-Japanese War, and Chinese politics. Section 2, Articles 1900-1959, and Section 3, Newspaper Clippings 1900-195, contain published material covering all phases of the Association's activities.

A grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) allowed appraisal and preservation of all the photographic material in Series IX-X, and XVII.

Series IX, PHOTOGRAPHS, is divided into two sections: 1). Yale-in-China at Changsha, and 2). New Asia College. In both sections photographs are organized alphabetically by subject. All the photographs fall into one of the following board subject categories: campus scenes, physical plant, medical work, students and student life, classroom scenes, faculty and staff, Chinese life, city scenes, and landscapes. There are numerous photographs of high technical quality and historical value. Those which are especially noteworthy include photographs of the inner city Yale Mission Hospital, Chinese revolutionary soldiers treated in the hospital, the campus site outside Changsha before clearing, panorama of Changsha, the old powder magazine used as a hospital during the Civil War, harbor and river scenes, and the Yale-China staff looking at a plan of the campus with the architect Henry Killam Murphy. [An index to photographs of the bachelors, officers, and staff of Yali and Hsaing-Ya during the Changsha era (1901-1951) is available.]

Series X, SLIDES AND NEGATIVES is organized into four sections according to form: 1) Lantern Slides (955), 2) Glass Negatives (229), 3) 35 mm. Slides (558), and 4) 35 mm. Negatives Made From Broken Lantern Slides and From Frames of Motion Picture Film (271). Copy prints from broken lantern slides, glass negatives, and motion picture film have been interfiled into Series IX by subject. The material in Series X falls into one of the following broad subject categories: Hsiang-Ya and Yali staff, physical plant, student life, and medical work, Chinese life, Chinese officials, city scenes, foreign travel, landscapes, Yale-China celebrations, and New Asia College.

Series XII, AUDIO MATERIALS, contains five tape recordings and one phonograph record. Subjects include a Yale-in-China fund raising compaign speech by Henry R. Luce (1947); a speech by the Governor of Hong Kong at the laying of the New Asia College foundation stone (1956); a speech by Kingman Brewster (1965); the December 1966 meeting of the Yale-in-China Association's Trustees; Charles Long's briefing of Sidney Lovett on the people and situation at New Asia College (1973).

Series XIII, YALE-CHINA ASSOCIATION HISTORIES AND PAPERS, contains copies of student papers written on various aspects of the Association's history. Also included are copies of two Association publications: "The Graphic Story of Yale-in-China" (Yale-in-China Occasional Bulletin No. 4., 1920) and "The Story of Yale-in-China" (publicity pamphlet, 1945).

Series XIV, PUBLICATIONS AND PUBLICITY MATERIALS, is divided into three sections: 1) English Language Publications, 2) Chinese Language Publication, 3) Publicity Materials, English Language Publications is composed primarily of Yale-China Association, Yali, Hsiang-Ya, and student publications. Materials in this section include student newspapers, class histories, textbooks, curriculum catalogs, college bulletins, the Yale-China Association Newsletter, and Yali Quarterly.

Chinese Language Publications includes textbooks, nationalist pamphlets and broadsides, student newspapers, and strike literature.

Publicity Materials contains samples of brochures, pamphlets, form letters, and posters used in fund raising campaigns and for explaining the Association's programs.

Series XV, STUDENT ART WORK, contains drawings, paintings, and cartoons by Yali students. Materials include: health care posters, cartoons relating to student life, anti-Japanese cartoons, and miscellaneous landscape drawings.

Series XVI, MEMORABILIA, contains materials used by the Yale-China Association for display purposed. Included in this series are such items as scrolls, banners, flags, and posters.

Series XVII, MOTION PICTURE FILMS, contains original 16 mm. films taken by members of the Yale-China Association staff between 1932 and 1970. In general, the films vary in quality. Most are in deteriorating condition. After appraisal, 16 mm. prints and negatives were made of seventeen films to aid research. Additional preservation resulted in the creation of preservation masters, duplicating masters, and use copies of several of the films. Individual Yali and Hsiang-Ya staff members and important scenes have been highlighted by copying individual frames of motion picture film. These 5 x 7" prints are interfiled into Series IX by subject. The 35 mm. negatives for these prints are filed at the end of Series X. Motion picture film subjects include Hsiang-Ya, Yali Union Middle School, Hua Chung College, trips through the Chinese countryside, student life, faculty and staff, and New Asia College.

Accession 2005-A-019. Bound collection of newsletters related to Yali Middle School, circa 1985

Accession 2009-A-198. Yale-China Association records, 1878-2008