James Claude Thomson and James C. Thomson Jr. papers

James Claude Thomson was an ordained minister, missionary, scientist, and educator. He was Professor of chemistry and later Dean at the University of Nanking from 1917 to 1949. Although he began his career pioneering in the analysis and extraction of Chinese wood oil from the tung-oil nut, he began to feel a deep concern for the hungry and poorly nourished people of Asia. Mid-career, he sought the education and training needed to enter into the fields of public health and nutrition. During his long career as a medical nutrition expert and biochemist, he taught in universities and advised governments in China, Japan, Korea, and the Mideast. Serving as a nutrition consultant for the World Health Organization in the 1950s, he conducted major nutritional surveys of Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey. Though Thomson began his work at the University of Nanking in 1917, the bulk of this collection dates from after 1938.

This collection also contains documentation of the life of James C. Thomson, Jr. who was an educator, statesman, and journalist.

Series I, Correspondence, contains detailed letters written by J. C. Thomson to his wife and family during his separations from them in 1938-1941and 1949 in China, and later in the 1950s when he was on assignment in Iran and Pakistan. When evacuated from Nanking, Thomson went with the University of Nanking to Chengdu, West China and also spent time in Indochina during the war. Correspondence of Thomson written while in the United States primarily relates to travel and employment arrangements. There are several letters from Daniel Dye, whose papers are also held by the Yale Divinity Library (Record Group No. 22). Additional correspondence of Thomson from the period when he was at the University of Nanking is available in the Archives of the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, YDL Record Group No. 11.

Series II, Papers, Reports and Speeches, primarily contains material written by Thomson on nutrition and health-related subjects. Series III, Collected Material, includes writings on similar subjects by others, as well as miscellaneous material relating to the Thomsons' travels, and an obituary of Thomson.

Series IV, Photographs, Series V, Slides, and Series VI, Films, contain high quality visual documentation of the areas where Thomson lived and worked. The photographs and slides are individually identified to a large exent. Video use copies of many of the films have been made and are located in the last box of the collection.

Two addendums added to the collection in 2003 and 2009 provide additional documentation of James Claude Thomson, and of his son James Claude Thomson, Jr.