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Karl L. Rankin Papers
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Karl Lott Rankin was born on September 4, 1898 in Manitowc, Wisconsin to Emmet Woollen and Alberta Rankin. He grew up and lived in Topeka, Kansas before attending the California Institute of Technology from 1917-1919. In the 1920-1921 academic year, Rankin studied at the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich. He received his degree in civil engineering from Princeton University in 1922.
His studies were interrupted by active duty in the U.S. Navy during World War I. Following his Princeton graduation, Rankin became a field engineer in Turkey and supervised construction for Near East Relief in the U.S.S.R. (Caucasus region) between 1922 and 1925. After this, he returned to the United States to run a New Jersey real estate company. This career was short-lived, however, and, in 1927, he enlisted in the Foreign Commerce Service. He served in Prague (1929), Athens (1932), Tirana (1932), Albania, and Brussels (1939). By 1940, he achieved the rank of consul while serving in Belgrade. In 1941, he was interned by the Japanese in Manila while en route to an assignment in Egypt. He held subsequent assignments in Athens (1944-1945, 1947-1949) and Belgrade (1945-1946), Vienna (1946-1947), Canton (1949), Hong Kong (1949), and Taipei (1950-1953). He was an ambassador to China from 1953-1957 and to Yugoslavia from 1958-1961. He officially retired in 1961, and in 1964, he wrote a book, China Assignment which discusses his years in Taiwan.
Rankin's first wife, Pauline Jordan (they were married in 1925) died in 1976. In 1978, Rankin married Ruth Thompson Garcelon. Rankin died on January 15, 1991 at the age of 92.
This collection contains mostly correspondence and memoranda between Rankin and other Government officials. There exist some writings, mostly official reports. A list of correspondents and subjects identified by year follows the container listing.
Two boxes of declassified papers were housed at the State Department prior to being sent to Princeton in 1974. A small number of additional documents were initially retained for review by the State Department; most of these were then declassified and forwarded to Princeton but a small number were not sent on to Princeton.
Ambassador Rankin deposited his papers in the Princeton Library in 1973 and then formally donated them in 1977.
The guest books in Series 8 were donated by Ned Allen on behalf of the Bridgton Historical Society in September 2015. The accession number associated with this donation is ML.2015.035.
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Edward J. Jaramillo (Princeton Class of 1996) in 1993. Finding aid written by Edward J. Jaramillo (Princeton Class of 1996) in 1993.
No information about appraisal is available for this collection.
Organization
Subject
- Ambassadors -- United States -- 20th century
- Commercial attaches -- United States -- 20th century
- Communism -- China
- Diplomatic and consular service -- United States -- 20th century
Place
- China -- Photographs.
- China -- Foreign relations -- United States -- 20th century.
- Greece -- Photographs.
- Greece -- Foreign relations -- United States -- 20th century.
- Hong Kong -- Photographs.
- Middle East -- Politics and government -- 20th century.
- United States -- Economic policy -- 20th century.
- United States -- Foreign relations -- Greece -- 20th century.
- United States -- Foreign relations -- Yugoslavia -- 20th century.
- Yugoslavia -- Photographs.
- Yugoslavia -- Foreign relations -- United States -- 20th century.
- Publisher
- Public Policy Papers
- Finding Aid Author
- Edward J. Jaramillo (Princeton Class of 1996)
- Finding Aid Date
- 1997
- Access Restrictions
-
Collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
-
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
These diaries are just basic reminders about what events occurred on a given day. There exist few details about conversations and meetings. Rankin probably used his diaries to remember important events about a given day. He apparently stopped writing diaries after 1953.
Arranged chronologically.
Physical Description1 box
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This folder contains personal information regarding Rankin's academic and employment records. One can find information such as his employment salary, academic transcripts, transfer records, and certificates of service. Also, one can see Rankin's identification cards, passports, visas, and unusual personal objects (such as meal cards) here.
Arranged chronologically.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
This series is a collection of Rankin's correspondence with other government officials, friends, and family. It covers a broad range of topics, from business schedules to official requests and thank you notes. See the index, pp.# 13-25, for a list of names and subjects by date for this series.
Arranged chronologically.
Physical Description10 boxes
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This series is composed mostly of official reports created by Rankin regarding the situation in a given region. In this section one can also find some of his writing (poetry, mostly) during his Philippine imprisonment during the 1940s. See the index, pp.# 13-25, for a list of names and subjects by date for this series.
Arranged chronologically.
Physical Description2 boxes
1 folder
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This section contains clippings about Czechoslovakia and Greece during the later 1920s and earlier 1930s. Rankin was interested in gaining knowledge on the economic aspects of these regions in order to increase his effectiveness as consul. Most papers here have multiple dates and/or scribbles which make them difficult to classify chronologically.
Arranged chronologically.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
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Rankin or his staff collected several scrapbooks of newspaper clippings about important events that involved him either directly or indirectly. These volumes have been disbound and reformatted on acid free paper. Generally, the scrapbooks are grouped by region(s).
Loosely arranged chronologically and then by country.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
1 folder
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1 folder
Rankin kept photos of himself, family, friends, and others in photograph albums. He also has photos of certain regions during wartime, as evidenced in his pictures of South Korea. Like the scrapbooks, they lack organization for the most part. Estimates have been made regarding the time frames of these albums when possible.
Loosely arranged chronologically and/or by country.
Physical Description6 boxes
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
The six embassy guest books include information about events hosted by the embassies where Rankin served, particularly the names of the attendees and occasionally the menus.
Physical Description2 boxes
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