All great writers are also great readers and my grandfather was no exception. He had an extraordinary book collection on a wide variety of subject including his two favorite subjects, China and education. Moreover, he had amassed a broad collection of art and Chinese artifacts. My grandfather was not a collector, but he amassed this collection through gifts from many notable and famous people. After his death, my grandmother decided to donate all of these valuables to the USC library. My mother and I went to the opening with my grandmother, and they wrote the following article in the Chinese newspaper. Note the picture behind my mother’s right shoulder.
Dear Robert Cheng,
As Head of the USC Est Asian Library, I was very happy to come across your grandmother’s biography of your grandfather–her husband–Theodore Chen. I was fortunate enough to have known both of them, and to have conducted an oral history interview with him many years ago. Given the important role both played in the development of Asian Studies at USC, I am hoping to get your permission to add the biography to the Library’s collection of e-books, so that it could be made available to the many who knew him and, as well, to others who are interested in learning about his life and contributions. I would also like the chance to meet with you sometime, perhaps at our library, so that you might see how this part of Theodore and Wen-hui Chen’s legacy has progressed.
Ken KLein
kklein@ usc.edu