Overview
James Haughton Woods (1864-1935), a scholar of East Asian studies, was a professor of philosophy at Harvard University. The collection consists of correspondence to, from, and about James Haughton Woods, his wife Elizabeth Woods, and other members of the Woods family from 1860 to 1961. Other records include articles, news clippings, lecture notes, photographs, and a diary.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1860s-1961
Creator
- Woods, James Haughton, 1864-1935. (Person)
Researcher Access
Open for research; some access restrictions may apply. Requires review by archivist.
Extent
2.79 cubic feet ((10 document boxes, 3 pamphlet binders, 1 accordion folder) )The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence to, from, and about James Haughton Woods, his wife Elizabeth Woods, and other members of the Woods family from 1860 to 1961. Other records include Woods's articles on comparative religion, languages, and philosophies; his lecture notes on philosophy; news clippings and photographs; memorials written upon Woods's death in 1935; and a diary written in 1903 probably while Woods was studying philosophy in India.
Biographical note on James Haughton Woods
James Haughton Woods (1864-1935), a scholar of East Asian studies, was a professor of philosophy at Harvard University. Woods graduated from Harvard in 1887 and the Cambridge Theological School in 1889. He also studied at the University of Berlin (1889-1891) and the University of Strassburg (1894-1897). Woods was first appointed to the Harvard faculty in 1891 and taught at various times history, philosophy, and anthropology. Woods became a professor in 1913. Interested in comparative religions, Woods investigated the philosophies of India (1902-1903) and Japan (1907-1909), traveling to both countries for that purpose. Woods was Chairman of the Division of Philosophy and the Department of Philosophy and Psychology at Harvard intermittently from 1915 to 1933. Woods published numerous translations of Pali and Sanskrit scriptures, studied Buddhism in Japan, and actively promoted the development of academic positions at Harvard dedicated to the study of East Asia. He also worked to establish a permanent chair in Chinese at Harvard. Woods's most significant achievement was the securing of funding for the founding of the Harvard-Yenching Institute, for which he served as a trustee.
Woods married Gertrude Baldwin (1870-1926) in 1907. He married Elizabeth Robinson (1890-1976) in 1927.
Arrangement
The collection is organized in seven series:
- Correspondence files, circa 1860s-1961
- _____ Correspondence and other papers, [circa 1860s-1936] (HUG 1880.201)
- _____ Correspondence, 1865-1961 (HUG 1880.207)
- _____ Correspondence and other papers, 1930-1934 (HUG 1880.209)
- _____ Correspondence and other papers, [circa 1927-1961] (HUG 1880.211)
- _____ Letters from William Ernest Hocking and Phillips Brooks, [circa 1890s, 1930s] (HUG 1880.205)
- Writings by James Haughton Woods, circa 1887-1935, 1945
- _____ Reprints, [circa 1887-1935] (HUG 1880.272)
- _____ Undercurrents in Greek Philosophy, 1945 (HUG 1880.274)
- Notes, [circa 1887-1935] (HUG 1880.200)
- General box, [circa 1887-1935] (HUG 1880.201)
- Photographs, [circa 1887-1935] (HUG 1880.203)
- Diary, 1903 (HUG 1880.206)
- Lecture notes, [circa 1887-1935] (HUG 1880.240)
Acquisition Information
Specific acquisition information when available is noted at the series level.
- Gift of Gertrude G. Cronk, 1976 January 30; Accession 07795
- Gift of Victor Lowe, 1976 March 29; Accession 07828
- Gift of Gertrude G. Cronk, 1976 May 24; Accession 07861
References
- Elisseeff, Serge and James R. Ware. Foreword to Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 1, no. 1 (April 1936) : 1-5.
- Hocking, W.E., "James Haughton Woods (1864-1935)." Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 72, no 10 (May 1938) : 402-403.
- "Personalia." Journal of the American Oriental Society 55, no. 1 (March 1935) : 114.
Processing Information
This finding aid was created in July 2020 by Dominic P. Grandinetti.
Information for this finding aid was assembled from legacy paper inventories, reference sources, and container management data. The collection was not re-examined.
Dates and titles supplied by the archivist appear in brackets.
In all respects, the archivist attempted to retain and preserve the original arrangement and existing relationships of the documents as established by James Haughton Woods. Processing and arrangement details of each series are noted at the series level.
Alma ID
990006044390203941
Creator
- Woods, James Haughton, 1864-1935. (Person)
- Title
- Woods, James Haughton, 1864-1935. Papers of James Haughton Woods, circa 1860s-1961: an inventory
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hua63020
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard University Archives Repository
Holding nearly four centuries of materials, the Harvard University Archives is the principal repository for the institutional records of Harvard University and the personal archives of Harvard faculty, as well as collections related to students, alumni, Harvard-affiliates and other associated topics. The collections document the intellectual, cultural, administrative and social life of Harvard and the influence of the University as it emerged across the globe.
Pusey Library
Harvard Yard
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2461
archives_reference@harvard.edu