Nov 21 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2687 -
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Sale 2687 - Lot 132

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(FINANCE.) Ernest T. Gregory. Diaries as the head of the International Banking Corporation offices in Peking. [149], [142] typescript carbon pages plus a manuscript map and blueprint "Tactical Map, Peking and Surrounding Country" laid in. 2 binders. 4to, 10½ x 8 inches, plain wrappers labeled "Diary, Peking Office" in manuscript, edges worn; minimal wear to contents. Peking, China, 11 October 1916 to 7 July 1917
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Additional Details

These diaries were apparently compiled as a running account of activities at the International Banking Corporation offices in Peking. Most of the entries appear to be authored by executive Ernest Trowbridge Gregory (1883-1965), with some correspondence and reports by Warren R. Austin. They are a combination of first-person narrative with some transcribed correspondence. The entries include frank discussion of specific development projects financed by the corporation, as well as summaries of conversations, and short notes on social activities.

Provenance: George Robblee Howatt (1889-1959), who was raised in South Royalton, Vermont, and in 1910 went overseas with the United States Civil Service as a Department of Education clerk in the Philippines. In 1916 he left to work as manager of the Peking (Beijing) office of the American-run International Banking Corporation through 1921. Howatt was perhaps given access to these diaries after assuming responsibilities upon Gregory's departure in 1917; he is mentioned in the diaries in the third person on several occasions, including the final entry. See lot 260 for his son's military papers.

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