JAPAN THROUGH WESTERN EYES
Manuscript Records of Traders, Travellers, Missionaries and Diplomats, 1853-1941

Part 7: The Papers of Harold S Williams (1898-1987) from the National Library of Australia - the Green Subject files (Folders 1-138)

This project makes available a wide range of English language sources by writers, diplomats, tourists, businessmen, missionaries and others documenting the political, cultural and social history of Japan from 1853 to the present.  Parts 7 and 8 are devoted to the papers of Harold S Williams, Australian writer, soldier and businessman who built up a formidable private library relating to Japan:

“...my purpose has been to gather as much information as possible bearing upon the contributions made by foreigners to Japanese life and culture, the manner in which they have impinged upon Japanese history, and all matters relating to the Foreign Settlements.” 

Part 7 contains the research files compiled by Harold Williams from 1949 to 1987, which he called ‘the green files’. They contain his research and writings on the foreign settlements of nineteenth-century Japan, the history of foreign communities and their influence on, and adaptation to, Japanese culture and society. The files include correspondence, notes, references, press cuttings of his own articles and articles by other writers, copies of typescripts of Williams’ published articles, photographs and other miscellaneous material assembled in the course of his research. These files are arranged alphabetically by the subject names given to them by Harold Williams.