It is hard to overstate how liberating it felt when after limited success in Nanjing and a total refusal in Changchun I could finally work with the materials I wanted to see. Similarly to Shanghai, I had a really fruitful research-experience at the Tianjin Municipal Archives (天津市档案馆) in just four days, spending both mornings and afternoons at the Fukang Road (复康路) site, across the street to my 100 years-old alma mater Nankai University (南开大学).
Having its back towards the city’s beloved Waterpark (水上公园) and the memorial museum of Nankai’s esteemed alumni, first Premier of the PRC Comrade Zhou Enlai (周恩来) and his wife Deng Yingchao (邓颖超), the Archives is the also next to the large building of the Municipal Library. There are several bus lines that can take you to the closest stop Shoubiaochang (手表厂) or to the subway station ZhouDeng Ji’nianguan (周邓纪念馆), a five minutes-walk from the main entrance. You can enter the gates after registering at the guards’ booth (date, name, purpose of visit, number of people and phone number), a mere daily formality. Then you need to cross the parking lots in front of the yellow-tiled, horseshoe-shaped main building then circumvent it in order to enter from behind. The glass doors with blue stripes might try to mislead you as they read “Tianjin Municipal Archives Museum” (not in Chinese though where its only 天津市档案馆) but don’t be fooled, that’s what you’re looking for.
The TMA building hiding behind the trees (L); the Main Building (C); the misleading script on the back entrance (R)
When entering the main hall, you’ll need to register on the left by the counter with your ID/passport and put your signature that you’ll comply with the rules. Then you’ll be directed to sit by the roundtables at one of the computers on the left at the further end of the hall (档案目录检素区). It is important that you search here using your keywords, because only here will appear those records that aren’t digitized yet. On the right, closer to the entrance where computers are on rows of desks only those records will show up that were already digitized (政府公开信息网上查档区).
The normal routine will be as it follows. You’ll make a list of the call numbers on a piece of paper based on your keyword-searches you did using the computer-database. This you’ll submit to the archivist in the reading room. No other information is needed, but of course you might want to write down the titles and year of the files for your own record. You will do this in the archival reading room (政府公开信息查阅区), entering through the doors on the left after you passed some coffee tables and armchairs by the window. In here, you’ll have to present your letter of introduction (介绍信) as usual, along with your ID/passport. Fetching the documents you requested shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes, sometimes even less, depending on the number of requests. Once they arrive, you’ll sign a form of receipt and hand your cellphone to the archivist, who’ll put it in a transparent plastic case as to prevent you to take photos of the records. You can keep it with you, and even be able to use the touchscreen for checking characters in the dictionary etc.
The main hall (L); the roundtables with computers for keyword-search (C); the archival reading room (R)
Making photocopies, scanning or taking photos is not allowed, you can only take notes of the records, so you might want to keep that in mind when you’re planning your visit. Personally, I found the restriction actually useful, because it forced me to read and engage with the sources by taking notes or transcribing whole sections, instead of collecting hundreds of photos that might just going to sit in my virtual Indiana Jones-like warehouse for until who knows how long. As for reproduction restrictions, there might be some records you’ll actually be permitted to photocopy, however it was unclear to me which ones they were, and I didn’t investigate. Although I saw visitors receiving documents and taking them to the neighboring room that seemed to be the designated place for such activities, I believe that wouldn’t apply to the majority of the materials.
The Archives opens at 8:30 am and closes at 5 pm. While the computer-hall remains open during the day, the archival reading room breaks for lunch and rests between 11:30 and 1:30 when it resumes work until 4:30 pm. In case unlike most visitors you don’t feel like napping, you can use this time for checking out the digitized files or look for new records to request. For lunch, probably the closest options are across the street, just inside Nankai University’s Southwest Gate (西南门) at the little food stalls and restaurants within and around the market place. You can also get good coffee for the afternoon at the almost hidden Ivy’s Café walking a few minutes Eastward on the campus-road Liyun Road (励耘路).
As for the general availability of the archival holdings, I have to admit that I couldn’t really get a comprehensive picture during my short, one-week research visit. At this point, it is really only the keyword-based searching system that offers you the answer whether you’ll find something relevant for your inquiries. Of course, you can check out the usual printed Guide (天津市档案馆指南) via your library, but that won’t guarantee anything as proved earlier by my experience in Changchun. Instead, now you can access online the same (?) database that’s at the archives’ computers, to try some of your keywords before your trip. For your reference, my searches for Central European foreign expatriates showed a wide variety of documents including prewar, wartime and postwar municipal government documents, police and court records from the 1940s and even post-1949, dealing with the treatment of foreign individuals and their organizations. While the digitization of archival titles certainly made research faster and more convenient, there’s almost no way for you to tell what’s left out and not available for you to view. I also noted some interesting changes compared to my last visit in 2017 regarding the digitization process. Several PDF-copies of documents that I saw two years ago using the archives’ computers weren’t available this time, but more luckily instead I was able to access the original physical records. Strangely, they also had different call numbers than their digitized versions I took photos of at my previous visit.
What really made a difference I think at the Tianjin Municipal Archives, is the attitude of the staff. All archivist I had interaction with in these few days were exceptionally helpful, doing their best to accommodate my needs and processing my request surprisingly fast. In fact, when saying goodbye, I asked for their contact information in order to be able to send them call numbers in advance before a future visit. At first, they misunderstood me and thought that I’m criticizing the speed of their operations. When I explained that by no means I meant to say that they work slowly, the chief archivist kindly told me just come next time and submit my list directly. Should there be another opportunity to come to Tianjin again, I think I’ll definitely do so.
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