Describing archival materials isn’t often glamorous or exciting. For the most part, it’s just you, an Excel spreadsheet, and the Archival Box Of The Day. Wikipedia quickly becomes your best friend, followed closely by the selection of relevant (but out-of-print) books you’re lucky enough to find on Internet Archive. Every so often, though, you come across something a little bit different, a little bit unexpected, that you just need to research a little more to give full context to the document you’re describing.
The Robert Paine letters (MSS 404), held at Pitts, include nineteen letters (and one lonely envelope) from Bishop John Early (1786-1873) of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, written to his colleague, Bishop Robert Paine (1799-1882). Most of these letters discuss the management of the various regional conferences for which Paine and Early were responsible, including disciplinary matters, preacher appointments, and annual meeting reports. One letter, however, dated May 25, 1860, includes something a little different: a glimpse at an important event in United States diplomatic history. In his letter, Bishop Early writes, “I came home two days ago and found that the commissioners from Japan had gotten [their] Treaty ratified, & Exchanged, & well nigh spent the time [allowed] them to stay [in Washington, D.C.] and would in less than a week leave here for New York…” These commissioners (read: diplomats) from Japan are Muragaki Norimasa (1813-1880), Oguri Tadamasa (1827-1868), and Masaoki Shinmi (1822-1869), who arrived in Washington, D.C., on May 14, 1860, with a retinue of samurai and retainers in order to formally ratify the 1858 Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States.[2,4,5] The treaty formalized the forced opening of Japanese borders to American trade following the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry (1794-1858) in Tokyo Harbor on July 8, 1853, and marked the official start of U.S./Japan political and economic relations.[1] The Japanese delegation’s visit to Washington, D.C., reveals the American public’s burning interest in foreign visitors, despite the looming threat of Civil War. In fact, their arrival was marked by “…5,000 cheering spectators; [and] an additional 20,000 [who] climbed trees and hung out of windows for a look…”[5] Throughout their stay, the Japanese delegation attended numerous banquets and received many visitors, one of whom was Bishop John Early. In his letter, Early shares that John B. Floyd (1806-1863), the U.S. Secretary of War, arranged for Early and several other Christian leaders to meet with the Japanese delegation. His description of the visit, and of the delegates, reflects Early’s, and likely many Americans’, prejudiced perceptions, “They are small & evidently an inferior race – The Chiefs are [unobtrusive] & dignified – very little parade and no [great] extravagance in [dressing]- They are evidently [greatly] impressed with the magnificence of this Country & with the [great] attention showed them by great men…” The remainder of Early’s letter reveals that the Bishop was far more interested in Japan as a new ground for missionary work than in the Japanese people or their culture. Indeed, Early’s letter, particularly when contrasted with the various accounts of the Japanese diplomats themselves, demonstrates what Yasuhide Kawashima calls “a fundamental problem of intercultural relations: how people from one country look at another country.”[3] Where Early states with confidence that the delegates were “[greatly] impressed with the magnificence” of the U.S., detailed accounts by Muragaki indicate a resigned attitude towards Western foods (specifically the abundance of steak and butter) and noisy social events, which he describes as “a drinking bout of day laborers in Edo [Tokyo].”[3]
Early’s letter is one part of a multifaceted collection of personal accounts of the Japanese delegation’s visits to the U.S. and Europe in 1860, offering a glimpse of a 19th Century, Southern Methodist view of foreign peoples and countries during a tumultuous period for international relations around the world.
Written by Brinna Michael, Cataloging & Metadata Librarian
1 Columbia University. “Commodore Perry and Japan (1853-1854).” Asia for Educators: http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/japan_1750_perry.htm
2 Consulate General of Japan in New York. “Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the First Japanese Delegation to New York City.” Japan-NYC 1860-2010: A Heritage of Friendship (2010): https://www.ny.us.emb-japan.go.jp/150JapanNY/en/about.html
3 Kawashima, Yasuhide. “America through Foreign Eyes: Reactions of the Delegates from Tokugawa Japan, 1860.” Journal of Social History 5, no. 4 (1972): 491–511.
4 Stambler, Benita. “Ambassadors of Exchange: The 1860 Japanese Mission to the US.” Education About Asia 16, no. 2 (Fall 2011): 21-24. https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/ambassadors-of-exchange-the-1860-japanese-mission-to-the-us/
5 Treese, Joel D. “The Japanese Mission of 1860.” The White House Historical Association (April 23, 2015): https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-japanese-mission-of-1860/