Arthur William Hummel Sr. (March 6, 1884 – March 10, 1975) was an American

Christian missionary A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...

to China, head of the Asian Division of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

, noted Sinologist, and editor of Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, a biographical dictionary. He was the first president of the

Association for Asian Studies The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) is a scholarly, non-political and non-profit professional association focusing on Asia and the study of Asia. It is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. The Association provides members with an Annu ...

, in 1948. He was father of Arthur W. Hummel Jr., a career diplomat and U.S. Ambassador to China.

Early life

Hummel was born in Warrenton, Missouri, and graduated from the Morgan Park Academy in 1905. He received a bachelor's degree in 1909, a master's degree in 1911, and a Bachelor of Divinity in 1914, all from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. While studying at the

, he was attracted by the Student Volunteer Movement, and went to Japan to teach in Kobe, though not as a missionary. In the summers of 1913 and 1914, he visited his brother, who taught history and religious education at the University of Nanking and became intrigued with the country from which Japan had learned so much.

Career in Library of Congress and Sinology

He returned to the United States in 1914, married, and in November the couple went to China as missionaries of the

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...

. Over the following decade, Hummel taught school in Fenzhou,

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

and pursued language studies. He also began to amass a collection of Chinese maps and coins bought in the local markets; his coin collection eventually included 2,000 varieties. In 1924 the Hummels moved to Peking to teach at the newly formed school of Chinese studies at Yenching University. Along with many of the foreign residents, the Hummels left during the unrest of 1927 following the

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...

. Soon after arriving in the States, Hummel agreed to join the staff of the

. He intended to stay for a short period before returning to China but instead served until his retirement in 1954. As the first Chief of the Orientalia Division. Hummel built the collection into one of the largest and best organized in the country.' In the early 1930s, he became a friend and colleague of

Mortimer Graves Mortimer () is an English surname, and occasionally a given name. Norman origins The surname Mortimer has a Norman origin, deriving from the village of Mortemer, Seine-Maritime, Normandy. A Norman castle existed at Mortemer from an early point; ...

, of the American Council of Learned Societies. Graves and Hummel worked not only to build the Library of Congress collection but to promote the study of Asia in colleges and universities across the country. J.J.L. Duyvendak, of Leiden University in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, met Hummel and encouraged him to turn his longtime interest in the Chinese scholar

Gu Jiegang Gu Jiegang (8 May 189325 December 1980) was a Chinese historian best known for his seven-volume work '' Gushi Bian'' (, or ''Debates on Ancient History''). He was a co-founder and the leading force of the Doubting Antiquity School, and was hig ...

into a serious study of the New Culture Movement's revisionist scholarship on ancient Chinese history. Hummel did so, and his dissertation, ''The Autobiography of a Chinese Historian'' earned him the PhD degree from the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

on September 23, 1931. Graves arranged funding for Hummel's work on the Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, which began in 1934 and was published by the

United States Government Printing Office The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO; formerly the United States Government Printing Office) is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States Federal government. The office produces and distributes information ...

in 1943.

Publications

*Hummel, Arthur W., '' Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644–1912)'', (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1943).

References

Citations

Sources

, The Autobiography of a Chinese Historian Being the Preface to a Symposium on Ancient Chinese History (Ku Shih Pien),"'' Arthur W. Hummel, editor, translator, Issued also as thesis, Leyden, of the editor and translator E.J. Brill ltd., 1931. * E.G. Beal, "Arthur W. Hummel and the Chinese Collection at the Library of Congress," ''Journal of East Asian Libraries ''74.1 (1984): 7–15

* Edwin G. Beal and Janet F. Beal, "Obituary: Arthur W. Hummel (1884–1975)," ''The Journal of Asian Studies ''35.2 (1976): 265–276.

External links

Arthur William Hummel papers, MSS 3841
a
L. Tom Perry Special Collections

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hummel, Arthur W. Sr. American sinologists 1884 births 1975 deaths Morgan Park Academy alumni University of Chicago alumni Protestant missionaries in China American expatriates in China Presidents of the Association for Asian Studies Librarians at the Library of Congress American Protestant missionaries People from Warrenton, Missouri Leiden University alumni