Introduction

The importance of the non-Western civilizations is recognized not only by scholars but by librarians as well. The Chinese books constitute the first non-Western language collection in the Library should not be surprising. Chinese book collections in America date back to the 1840’s when the library of the American Oriental Society possessed some 140 volumes which were donated by the Rev. W. Jenks, Caleb Cushing, and Elijah Coleman Bridgman, respectively. Although secondary sources have been used extensively in identifying the various initiating forces, the study is mainly based upon the primary sources in the Library of Congress. The annual reports of the Librarian of Congress are located in various parts of the Library. In the Exchange and Gift Division, correspondence relating to exchanges and gifts was useful for tracing the exchange relations between the US and China. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.