Prior to her retirement in the United States in 2016, long-time Shanghai resident, author, and US Foreign Service Officer Tess Johnston donated part of her personal archive to the Royal Asiatic Society, China. The library, as part of a digitization project jointly undertaken with Duke Kunshan University, has now scanned all nine boxes of papers, which are now being made available online as searchable PDF files. Each box typically contains several manila folders, each of which has been scanned separately. The original documents may be consulted in the RAS China reading room.
Note that another collection of Johnston’s papers is archived at the Hoover Institution, but these have not yet been digitized.
A full collection of Johnston’s books can be found in the RAS library catalogue.
Chronology
(provided by the Hoover Institution)
| 1949 | Graduated from Harrisonburg High School in Charlottesville, Viriginia |
| 1953 | Joined the foreign service as an office secretary and was promoted to secretary to the consulate general in Dusseldorf, Germany |
| 1958-1967 | Received Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in German from the University of Virginia |
| 1962-1967 | Taught at the University of Virginia and at the College of William and Mary in Virginia |
| 1967 | Joined the Agency for International Development in Vietnam |
| 1975 | Rejoined Foreign Service, assigned to Consulate General in Frankfurt, Germany |
| 1976 | Transferred to Embassy in East Berlin, Germany |
| 1978 | Transferred to New Delhi, India |
| 1981-1986 | First tour of duty in Shanghai |
| 1986 | Named Foreign Service Secretary of the Year for her work coordinating the visit of President Ronald Reagan to Shanghai |
| 1986-1989 | Acted as secretary to the administrative counselor at the United States Embassy in Paris, France |
| 1989 | Second tour of duty in Shanghai |
| 1993 | Co-founded Old China Hand Press with Er Dongqiang (also known as Deke Ehr) |
| 1993 | Published A Last Look : Western Architecture in Old China with Dongqiang Er |
| 1994 | Published Near to Heaven : Western Architecture in China’s Old Summer Resorts with Dongqiang Er |
| 1996 | Retired from the American Foreign Service |
| 1996 | Published Far From Home : Western Architecture in China’s Northern Treaty Ports with Dongqiang Er |
| 1996 | Published God And Country : Western Religious Architecture in Old China with Dongqiang Er |
| 1997 | Published Welcome to Shanghai : A Guide for New Expatriate Residents To Help Them Make The Most of Their Shanghai Experience and The Last Colonies : Western Architecture in China’s Southern Treaty Ports with Dongqiang Er |
| 2000 | Published Frenchtown Shanghai : Western Architecture in Shanghai’s Old French Concession with Dongqiang Er |