A. T. Steele Papers

This collection houses original dispatches, newspaper clippings, interviews, printed matter, photographs, memorabilia, and other materials documenting A. T. Steele's work as a journalist in China, India, Southeast Asia, Africa, Central America, and South America between 1932 and 1960. It has been divided into eight series.

Series I: Newspaper Articles and Research has been divided into three sub-series. Sub-Series A: Original Dispatches and Mailers houses Steele's original articles. Published versions of these documents are housed in Sub-Series B. While Steele's originals are very similar to their published counterparts, the originals frequently contain details omitted in the final copy. Among the regions documented are the Far East (including China, Japan, Formosa, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Tibet), Africa (including South Africa, Egypt, and Kenya), and South America (including Arch and Esther Steele's trip from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego on the Pan American Highway). Of particular interest are the materials documenting the Sino-Japanese War (including the Rape of Nanking) and Steele's visit to Tibet.

Sub-Series C: Research Materials houses notes, pamphlets, maps, articles, interviews, and other documents that Steele used to write the dispatches housed in Sub-Series A and B. These materials have been organized alphabetically by topic, although it is unclear whether this organization reflects Steele's original filing system. Of particular interest are photographs, legal documents, and newspaper clippings documenting riots in Cairo and the destruction of the Steeles' possessions in the Shepheard Hotel fire; photographs and letters showing Steele's role in acquiring pandas for a zoo in Chicago during the 1930s; and Steele's interviews with such prominent persons as Mahatma Ghandi, Mao Tse-Tung, and Chiang Kai-Shek.

Series II: Other Written Materials houses monographs, book reviews, and articles by Steele. Among the book manuscripts are Shanghai and Manchuria, 1932: Recollections of a War Correspondent and the unpublished From Alaska to Tierra del Fuego by Jeep. The majority of the books Steele reviewed discuss China from 1930 to 1960, political relations between the United States and the Far East, and contemporary African events. Steele's articles cover a number of topics, including his trip to Tibet and his meeting with Lillian (Erickson) Riggs, the Lady Boss of Faraway Ranch.

Series III: Correspondence and Personal Papers houses a variety of correspondence and memorabilia documenting Steele's career. Among these materials are letters that Steele wrote to his wife; an array of identification papers including entrance and exit permits, guarantees of safe passage, passports, and press cards; and such memorabilia as press collect cards allowing Steele to send collect telegrams to his employers in the United States.

Series IV: Photographs consists primarily of silver gelatin images ranging in size from 1¼" x 1¾" to 8" x 11" and has been divided into three sub-series. Sub-Series A: China, Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet, and Malaya houses 714 images dating from 1932 to 1945. Among the subjects depicted are Japanese aggression in Manchuria and the establishment of Manchukuo (a Japanese puppet state); the falls of Shanghai, Hankow, Peking, and Nanking; the Sino-Japanese War; the China-Burma-India theater; General Joseph W. Stilwell and the Burma Road; and side trips to Tibet, Kashmir, Inner Mongolia, and Malaya during the Communist insurgency of 1949. Of particular interest are the images of journalists on site in the far east, scenes depicting China during wartime (including dramatic evidence of war damage), and pictures of Chinese Communists, military leaders, and political leaders in Yenan after the Long March (1938). The 200 photographs in Sub-Series B: Africa were supplied by government sources and depict the Belgian Congo, the Gold Coast, British West Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. Subjects include customs, people, agriculture, buildings, and wildlife. The slides in Sub-Series C show Steele's four week trip to China in November and December of 1978 (just before President Carter announced his intent to accord full diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China. Although Steele had assignments in Russia, South America, and Central America, no photographs showing these locations are included.

Series V: Writings by Others houses a wide variety of pamphlets, newspapers, articles, and other published materials by authors other than Steele. It appears that Steele used some of these materials while researching his dispatches and collected others as souvenirs during his international travels. It is, however, impossible to determine what precise purpose Steele put these materials to. This series is organized alphabetically by title.

Series VI: Chinese Communist Party Documents houses propaganda materials, wall posters, reprinted telegrams, and other materials produced by the Party. These items were numbered and described individually during the collection's original processing and these descriptions have been integrated into the container list. This series is organized by the document number assigned during processing.

Series VII: Microfilm and Indexes houses two indexes and ten rolls of microfilm showing documents from the collection. Researchers should note that the box numbers given in the index are no longer accurate and that the microfilm shows only a selection of documents regarding China, not the entire collection.