Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- July 1941 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
151 photographic prints, black and white, mounted on paper
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Archival history
The photographs are taken by Zehan Chen, undergraduate chemistry student at Southwest Associated University. This album is possibly a gift from Chen to Professor Picken.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Photographs taken during a scientific mission in China in 1941, on which both Laurence Picken and Joseph Needham were present. Each print is numbered and annotated in Chinese, possibly by Picken.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- Chinese
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
On 1st July 1941, Zeng Zhaolun, a chemistry professor of the Southwest Associated University, led a group of scholars and students to investigate the southwestern area of present day Sichuan Province (which at that time was split between Sichuan and Xikang). Zeng published two books, Dian Kang Dao Shang (On the way from Yunnan to Chuankang) in 1943 and Investigation of Daliangshan Yi District in 1945. The content of those books correspond with photographs in this collection.
Note
No further information of Zehan Chen, the photographer, has yet been found, but some of his fellow students in this expedition group who were then undergraduates at Southwest Associated University became renowned scientists. For instance, Guangmao Dai later graduated with a PhD in chemistry at Indiana University, USA, was a chemist working in the USA and China. Shi'e Li studied in Copenhagen and the USA, and was a biochemist contributing to the study of cancer. Both of them are shown in the photographs.