Cultural Evolution: A Study Of Social Origins And Development

267 Pp. Green Cloth, Gilt. First Printing, Code 2107. Lightly Used But Spine Gilt Weak. Ownership Stamp And A Few Pencil Underlinings By Professor J. Stewart Burgess.John Stewart Burgess (1883-1949) Was The Son Of An American Manufacturer Of Pottery And China Who Served For A Time As A United States Consul To England. In 1905 He Graduated From Princeton And Went To Work In Kyoto, Japan Teaching English At A School Of Commerce, And Became A Missionary For The Ymca. Burgess Left For Peking, China, Where His Home Was A Large Brick House Within A Walled Compound Just Behind The Ymca Building On One Of The Major Thoroughfares In Peking. Stewart Was Working "Under The Auspices Of Princeton University And Soon Became Metropolitan Secretary For The Ymca. In That Capacity He Led In The Establishment Of Modern Social Work And Was Instrumental In Organizing A Student Social Service Club As Well As A Federation Of Community Councils. He Was Active In Famine Relief And Established A Maternity Hospital." Stewart Finished His First Book, Peking Survey, Describing Various Existing Institutions In Peking: Prisons, Hospitals, Prostitution Centers, And Labor Guilds. He Later Wrote A Book On The Guilds Of Peking Which Constituted His Doctoral Thesis. Stewart And His Wife Stella Returned To The United States While Stewart Did Graduate Work At Oberlin From 1915 To 1916. They Returned To China In August Of 1917 . October 22, 1920, The Family Sailed For Kobe, Japan From Tientsin, China, Then Sailed On The S.S. Nanking To San Francisco With Stella's Mother, Emma Haigh Fisher, Who Was Retiring After 38 Years Of Service In Japan. They Stayed In The United States Until 1922. He And Stella Did A Lecture Tour And Fund Raising For Princeton In Peking. They Left Their Sons In An Orphanage For Three Months While They Did Their Lecture Tour. The Family Returned To China Sometime In 1922. They Left The Peking Compound And Went To Live In The Small Town Of Tungchow Some Eighty-Five Miles From Peking In 1924. Stewart Burgess Left The Ymca And Became Head Of The Sociology Department At The Newly Established Yenching University On The Outskirts Of Peking. He Lived At Yenching University During The Week And Came To Tungchow On Weekends. Eventually A Company Of U.S. Marines Arrived And Set Up Camp In Tungchow To Protect The American Citizens. Burgess Was Called To Become Chairman Of The First Department Of Sociology At Yenching University, (He Held This Post Until 1926.) And In 1928, (He Returned To China Alone) Organized The University's College Of Applied Sciences. His Many Years In China Developed Within Him A Great Love For The Chinese People Which He Maintained Throughout His Later Life. He Was Loved By His Students Some Of Whom, Later Became Prominent In The Mao Regime And Others In The Taiwan Regime. The Precarious Health Of His Family, The Lack Of Adequate Health Facilities In China, His Desire To Get His Ph.D. Degree And The Unstable Political Situation Persuaded Him That It Was Time To Move His Family Back To The United States. For The Next Two Years He Attended Classes And Studied At Columbia University In New York City And Eventually Earned His Ph.D. Degree In Sociology In 1928. He Decided To Return Alone To Yenching University In Peking And To Resume His Teaching There As Head Of The Sociology Department. Burgess Returned To The United States In 1930 After Two Years In China, Going To Pomona College In California To Accept An Associate Professorship In Sociology, And Then Became Chairman Of The Department Of Sociology At Temple University.…