This index to the Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Shanghai, China, 1847-1906, collection provides the dates each reel covers. Government Information MAY NOT hold all of these reels. The record in the library catalog describes the extent of our holdings. For help, or to make an appointment to view a reel, email rad@colorado.edu
On the 53 rolls of this microcopy are reproduced fifty-three volumes that consist, for the most part, of despatches addressed to the Department of State from United States consular officials at Shanghai, China, between March 1, 1847, and August 8, 1906. These despatches, with their enclosures, are arranged, with few exceptions, in chronological order; their contents are registered on the first roll of the microcopy.
Shanghai was classified as a consulate prior to September 2, 1863; on that date it was made a consulate general. For the greater part of the period covered by these volumes the consulate general at Shanghai had general supervisory control over all United States consular posts in China.
A large number of the despatches are covering letters for enclosures of a routine nature forwarded by consular officials to the Department of State, such as tables of consular fees received, arrivals and departures of American vessels, trade statistics, civil and criminal cases brought before the consular court, and other data collected in the ordinary course of consular duty. In accordance with departmental policy adopted in 1870, however, most statistical enclosures were removed from their covering letters and distributed among other records of the Department of State or sent to other departments of the Government.
In addition there are, occasionally, fairly detailed despatches covering a wide range of subjects. Among these are reports of antiforeign disturbances such as the Tientsin massacre, 1870, the riots at Chefoo, 1874, those in the French Concession at Shanghai, 1874, disturbances in the Yangtze Valley, 1891, and in Szechwan Province, 1891-2, the Chengtu riot, 1895, the Kutien massacre, 1895, the Boxer Rebellion, and the Anti-American boycott, 1905-6; the construction of telegraph lines; the cruise of the United States Asiatic Fleet to Korea in 1871; the Chinese Educational Mission to the United States, 1871-73; wrecks of American vessels; Japanese relations with Formosa, 1874-75; the construction of the first Chinese railroad, the Woosung Road, in 1877; and the Russo-Japanese War.
The spreadsheet attached below contains a reel-by-reel description of the complete collection.