Liang Sicheng Photograph Collection

Collection

Call Number: VRC 52

Scope and Contents

Collection of 476 lantern slides, 534 negatives and 519 prints of traditional Chinese architecture and construction methods from the personal collection of Liang Sicheng (1901-1972), visiting professor at the Yale School of Architecture ca. 1947. The lantern slides were made in June 1947 for the use of Liang Sicheng, and are labeled and cataloged in English (Wade-Giles Romanization). Note: Lantern slides shot from negative numbers 25180 and 25182 are destroyed. In response to the research interests of Wu King-lui and Wilma Fairbank, prints were shot from the lantern slide negatives in 1978-1979 (one set for Yale, one set for the Harvard-Yenching Institute, and one set for Tsinghua University where Liang Sicheng had established a School of Architecture in 1946.) Note: The total number of prints shot is written on the front of each print envelope. Accompanying materials include: 1) Photocopy of an inventory of the lantern slide collection, compiled by Wilma Fairbank and dated November 1, 1978; 2) Photocopies of the lantern slides from 1978; 3) Photocopies of architectural drawing illustrations from a Chinese-language manuscript by Liang Sicheng.

Dates

ca. 1947-1979

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright has not been transferred to Yale University. Further use of this material may be subject to the copyright laws of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms or conditions.

Arrangement

Arranged in four sections: negatives, prints, lantern slides, and accompanying materials in continuously numbered boxes. 1) Negatives are in individual envelopes, labeled and organized according to negative identification numbers assigned in the 1940s. 2) Prints are individually labeled and organized according to negative ID numbers. The number of copies that were shot in 1978-1979 is written on the front of each print envelope, in addition to the Negative ID number of the print/s enclosed. Please note that some envelopes contain multiple copies of the same print. These copies are not reflected in the stated total number of 519 prints in this collection. 3) Lantern slides are also labeled with corresponding negative ID numbers. Please note, however, that the lantern slides have been organized consecutively according to accession numbers assigned in 2007 when they were digitized.