James Augustus Thomas papers, 1895-1988, bulk 1914-1940

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Summary

Creator:
Thomas, J. A. (James Augustus), 1862-1940
Abstract:
The papers of tobacco industrialist and philanthropist James Augustus Thomas (1862-1940) primarily concern his commercial and diplomatic dealings in East Asia, and the opening of the tobacco market in China and other countries in the early 20th century. Materials include many boxes of correspondence, print and ephemeral materials, and photographs. Correspondents include Herbert Hoover, Robert Lansing, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Sun Yat-sen. Includes materials relating to U.S.-China foreign and economic relations; the marketing of U.S. cigarettes in Asia; the British-American Tobacco Company; domestic policies and financial development in China; political events in East Asia and Europe; and philanthropy in China, including Thomas' efforts to bring Chinese students to Duke University. There are also some personal letters and three audiocassettes of an oral interview with Dorothy Read Thomas, Thomas's widow, with a typed transcript; interview topics include her life in China and St. Petersburg, Russia in the 1920s.
Extent:
86 Linear Feet (65 boxes)
Language:
Material in English
Collection ID:
RL.01289

Background

Scope and content:

The papers of James Augustus Thomas comprise many folders of correspondence, printed material, and other papers (chiefly 1914-1940), related to his commercial and diplomatic dealings in East Asia and the opening of the tobacco market in China and other countries. Correspondents include Herbert Hoover, Robert Lansing, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Sun Yat-sen. There are also some personal letters.

The materials document U.S.-China foreign and economic relations; the marketing of U.S. cigarettes in Asia; the British-American Tobacco Company; U.S.-Chinese trade; domestic policies and financial development in China; political events in East Asia and Europe; American foreign policy in East Asia (1920s-1930s); and philanthropy in China, including Thomas' efforts to bring Chinese students to Duke University and other North Carolina institutions.

Printed materials in the collection include reports, economic summaries, essays, conference programs, memos, and ephemera such as admission cards, tickets, and pamphlets. Some materials relate to the World's Fair in New York, and a visit by a Chinese delegation to New York in 1915, illustrated with photographs.

Additions to the collection include three letters pertaining or written to son, Jimmy, by his parents, gelatin silver photographs and a few negatives, and three audiocassettes of an oral interview (by Duke Professor Emeritus Richard Watson) with Dorothy Read Thomas, widow of James A. Thomas, which include a typed transcript. Interview topics include her life in China and Petrograd (now St. Petersburg, Russia) where she taught school briefly; and the social life and customs in Bejing and Shanghai after she married Thomas in 1922.

There are also negative microfilm reels of the series "China Through Western Eyes: Part 3, The Papers of J.A. Thomas c.1905-1923." Positive reels have been sent to the microfilm department.

Biographical / historical:

James Augustus Thomas, tobacco merchant and philanthropist, was born March 6, 1862 in Rockingham County, NC to Henry Evans Thomas and Cornelia Carolina Jones Thomas. At the age of 10, he started working in a tobacco warehouse and in 1881, he graduated from Eastman National Business College in Poughkeepsie, NY. He began working at the British-American Tobacco Company, Ltd. at its inception in 1902 and by 1904, he was serving as Managing Director in China. Thomas is considered the person largely responsible for introducing American cigarettes to China and other countries. He founded the Chinese-American Bank of Commerce and two schools for Chinese children. All in all he spent over 25 years in China.

He retired from the BATC in 1922 and settled in White Plains, New York, where he lived for the rest of his life. His association with the Dukes in the tobacco industry culminated in a relationship with Duke University. In 1928, Thomas donated his Far East Library to the university. He was a member of the Board of Trustees and also served as Chair of the Duke Memorial Association, which built the Memorial Chapel within Duke Chapel, where the remains of Washington Duke, James B. Duke and Benjamin N. Duke are interred.

In 1918, Thomas married Anna Branson who died 7 months later. In 1922, he married Dorothy Quincy Hancock Read on Nov. 21, 1922. Her father, Sheridan Pitt Read, was the American Consul in Tientsin in the early 20th century. They had two children: James Augustus Thomas, Jr. and Eleanor Lansing Thomas.

Thomas was the author of two books: A Pioneer Tobacco Merchant in the Orient (1928) and Trailing Trade a Million Miles (1931).

He died in 1940 in White Plains, New York.

Acquisition information:
The James Augustus Thomas papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 1952-1953, 1989, 1999, 2001, 2013, 2014.
Processing information:

Processed by Rubenstein Library staff.

Encoded by Kimberly Sims, January 2011.

Updated to reflect additions by Alice Poffinberger, 2013, 2014.

Updated description by Paula Jeannet, 2020.

Accessions described in this collection guide: 1952-1953, 1989, 1999, and 2001; 2013-0051; 2014-0097.

Arrangement:

Arranged in two series: Correspondence and Papers.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Audiovisual materials are closed to use; listening copies may be required for access.

Access is partially restricted. Negatives are closed to use; photographic prints of the images are present in the collection.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], James Augustus Thomas papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University