Archives of the Institute of Modern History - Academia Sinica

Academia Sinica, the most preeminent academic institution in the Republic of China, was founded in 1928 to promote and undertake scholarly research in sciences and humanities. After the government moved to Taiwan in 1949, Academia Sinica was re-established in Taipei. The growth of Academia Sinica during the transition period was initially slow due to political instability and meager budgets. Thanks to the great efforts of the past and former Presidents, Academia Sinica overcame many difficulties to reach its present success. It is now a modern research institution with a worldwide reputation and a proud tradition. Academia Sinica is making further progress in improving research conditions and results. Many of the twenty-four research institutes and seven research centers are now headed by world-renowned scholars and staffed by highly trained, motivated, and creative young investigators. Major strides have also been made toward raising the standards of academic research, and Academia Sinica is presently positioning itself to move its research activities to the international level. Aside from placing greater emphasis on opening up new areas of intellectual endeavor, Academia Sinica is also taking a leadership role in launching new initiatives in applied areas to meet a broad spectrum of social needs in Taiwan. In order to fulfill these goals, Academia Sinica has adopted various measures to promote the internal integration of research activities in the three research disciplines of mathematics and physical sciences, life sciences, and humanities and social sciences; to improve the planning, implementation, and evaluation of long-term projects in order to enhance the impact of the research activities; to harness basic research results for applications and technology transfer; to engage the entire academic and research community in Taiwan in a modern and forward-looking collective academic vision; to cultivate an intellectual environment that is conducive to the nurturing of young scholars and the recognition of outstanding scholarship in Taiwan; and to promote international cooperation and scholarly exchanges that will accelerate the overall development of academic research in Academia Sinica and the Republic of China.

The archives contain important original historical records, and serve as a major repository for research on modern Chinese history. The archives were established within the Institute of Modern History so that the functions of archival storage and historical research could be carried out in one place, It was hoped that this arrangement would facilitate historical studies and encourage greater interest in modern Chinese history. The records in the archives are divided between diplomatic archives (1860s-1970s), economic archives (1903-1980s), personal papers, etc. The total length of all the files combined is approximately 10,000 meters.