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^[[September 30, 1932 to July 15 1933 Book A
Sept. 30 1932 To July 15, 1933]]

Smithsonian Notes by David C. Graham, Chengtu, Szechuan, China

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On Sept. 30 I reached Chengtu, after a hard journey up the Yangtee and the Min Rivers. One boat was wrecked about 8 miles below Chengtu and some of my books were spoilt. 

My house on the campus was to be ready for us to occupy on our arrival but this is the Orient, and it was not ready. It had not been occupied for three years and was out of repair very badly. The entire inside of the house had to be painted. Painters were engaged to do so in June. A committee of foreigners had been appointed to see that my house was ready. When I arrived I found that the painters had actually been busy two or three days on the house and the kitchen and the second story was so freshly painted that it could not be occupied for two days. The attic was entirely full of other peoples' furniture and the entire first floor was so full that only the front hall was vacant. The front hall had to be painted soon. We therefore could not put a single article of furniture where it belonged. We had to stack everything on the porch, which leaked very badly in several places, so that our things got wet. As a result we have been slower getting settled, and have had a much harder time than we should.

Soon after I arrived I was elected curator of the University Museum. The Museum has very valuable materials but nothing at all has been properly labeled and recorded. My first job will be to get blanks printed and classify all the artifacts in the Museum, numbering them and completing all possible records, classifying the materials, etc., etc.

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The hunter[[strikethrough]]s[[/strikethrough]], Yang Fang Tsang rejoined me a Suifu, and also the skinner Ho Yang had a few specimens which I will mail soon. The mammals I will number from 1000 on. These include numbers from 1000 to 1009. There are about thirteen snakes, a dozen birds and a few insects. The rats ate up most of Yang's insects. 

October 9. Ho and Yang have gone to Kua[[strikethrough]]i[[/strikethrough]]^[[n]] Shien to look over the grounds and to make plans for future work. 

October 14. The carpenters have been making boxes to contain specimens. I expect to mail some specimens soon. I wrote to Dr. Crook at Yachow, requesting him to forward the Smithsonian specimens to me.

[[written in left margin^[[Frank]]]]
October 25. Three armies are entrenched in Chengtu. Numbers of soldiers are quartered in temples, in inns and in private homes. Laborers are being commandeered to work for the armies and other Chinese to become soldiers. War has been expected at any time and last Saturday fighting actually broke out on one of the streets. Mr. [[underlined]]Franels[[/underlined]], a foreigner, had a number of bullets hit his home. Panic spread all over the city. Today all the shops are closed as a protest against the disturbing of the peace by the armies. It is hardly safe for a foreigner to move about in Chengtu and less so for Chinese. I am having Ho and Yang remain here in my house for safety until conditions improve. Meanwhile the carpenters are making boxes. There are nine boxes of specimens to forward as soon as the conditions in the province are improved so it is safe to do so.

Transcription Notes:
Name "Frank" written in left margin is possibly the first name of the underlined "Mr. Franels" in the text?