Manuscript Collection MS COLL 00081 - J. O. P. Bland Papers

Identity area

Reference code

CA OTUTF MS COLL 00081

Title

J. O. P. Bland Papers

Date(s)

  • 1883-1954 (Creation)

Level of description

Manuscript Collection

Extent and medium

76 boxes (6.4 metres)

Context area

Name of creator

(1863-1945)

Biographical history

John Otway Percy Bland was born in Malta, second son of Major-General E.L. Bland of County Antrim, Ireland. He was educated in Switzerland, at Victoria College, Jersey, and at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1883 he joined the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs and for some years was also private Secretary to Sir Robert Hart, resigning in 1896 to become Secretary to the Municipality for the Foreign Settlements at Shanghai. He became representative in China of the British and Chinese Corporation Ltd. in 1906, and negotiated four railway loans with the Chinese Government. In 1910 he resigned and left China. He had been Times Correspondent in Shanghai from 1897-1907 and in Peking, 1907-10. After his return to England he engaged chiefly in journalism. He published ten books under his own name, mainly on eastern affiars and current events. He is chiefly renowned for his collaboration with Sir Edmund Backhouse in China under the Empress Dowager, 1910, and Annals of the Court of Peking, 1913.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

The J. O. P. Bland papers were donated to the University of Toronto in 1970 by Mrs. Dolores Coombs.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Correspondence with officials and British authors, journals kept while in China 1883-85 and 1906-1910, typescripts of chapters of his various published books, his unfinished autobiography, scrapbooks, photos and memorabilia.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/stack-retrieval-request.

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • Chinese
  • English
  • French

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Uploaded finding aid

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

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Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

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Subject access points

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Name access points

Description control area

Description identifier

CA OTUTF MS COLL00081

Institution identifier

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto

Rules and/or conventions used

Dates of creation revision deletion

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Script(s)

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Accession area

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