ABSTRACT
For sixty years Rutgers University has attracted scholars who have conducted research on the yatoi phenomenon. During the first half century, they came primarily to use the William Elliot Griffis Papers bequeathed to the University in 1928 and augmented substantially in the mid-1960's. 1 In 1980-1981, due largely to the generosity of Japanese philanthropy and the support of University Librarian Hendrik Edelman, the volume of resources around the core Griffis material increased sharply. It is now accurate to say that one can no longer seriously study the process of modernization in Japan, specifically the technical expertise lent to the Japanese by foreigners in the nineteenth century, without consulting the Griffis Papers and related primary documents. Many individuals—Japanese and Westerners—continue to aid in the creation at Rutgers of a research center for historical materials relating to the very first period of cultural and educational exchange between Japan and the West. This essay outlines the resources currently available and briefly describes their contents.
