Using the Rockefeller archives for research on modern Chinese natural science.

The Rockefeller Archive Center (RAC) is now located permanently in a splendid facility in Tarrytown, New York. It was established there in 1975, two years after the Rockefeller Foundation first opened its archives to researchers. These archives contain rich, unique data on the development of natural science education and research in China from 1913 to 1949. A few scholars have already used these archival sources to some extent in their studies of modern medical edu· cation and clinical practice in China, and of the growth of health care policy and practice during the Republican period (1911-1949). Others interested in that period are just beginning to exploit the archives for what they reveal about the natural sciences and their institutions. In this description and evaluation of the archives, I want to give the reader a practical sense of what they contain for the student of the history of science or of China, how they have thus far been used, and how they might be used in the future. It is essential first to consider the institutions and historical situations which generated the materials in the archives. These situations evoke the larger cultural processes for which the archives provide fragmentary evidence, and suggest questions one might ask of the archival materials.