A Note on Dating Conventions – Pieces of History

Today’s post comes from Andrew Salyer, an archives technician at the National Archives at Philadelphia.

The holdings of the National Archives tell stories. And not just stories about the United States, but also about the greater world stage. Case files created during the period of the Chinese Exclusion Act testify to this global scale.

The act, and the regulations issued as a result, generated thousands of pages of transcribed interviews with Chinese laborers. These interviews are now held in National Archives facilities nationwide and are available online in the National Archives Catalog.

In these interviews, we not only find a wealth of detail about the persons wishing to enter the United States but also a fascinating juxtaposition of Imperial Chinese Regnal calendar dates with federal document formatting conventions of 1907. The following page, taken from an interview with Mark Guie, a Chinese laborer in Philadelphia, conducted by Examining Inspector A. F. McLaughlin, shows both dating systems within the document:

Take note of the date on the top right: November 4, 1907. Drafted by and for a state using a Gregorian calendar, this date appears perfectly intelligible to a Western audience. Continue further, however, and another date appears—this time following a wildly different set of conventions:

The notation “K. S. 27” may bewilder the reader when first encountered in the wilds of the archives. Pull on that thread, however, and one can gain a unique insight into a a very different time and place from our own.

It is difficult to truly appreciate how different an upbringing in Imperial China would have been, as very little today can compare to it.. The subject of this interview, Mark Guie, was born during the final stages of China’s Imperial Qing rule (1644–1911)—the last breaths of a dynastic tradition stretching back to prehistory, now facing uncertainty under the tumultuous years of the Guangxu Emperor (and the Empress Dowager Cixi).

Guangxu was the man by whom Mark Guie would measure the days of his life. The formula of this calendar is described in a publication produced by the Department of Labor: “During the period of the Empire, the common method of designating the years was to regard the reign of each Emperor as constituting an era by itself, and numbering the years as the first, second, third, etc., of his reign. Since the overthrow of the Empire the era has been that of the Chinese Republic.”

Despite having been in the United States for over a decade, Mark Guie of 938 Race Street (upstairs), Philadelphia, PA, continued to recount the pertinent events of his life with all due reverence to his Emperor, Guangxu. “Guangxu” was transcribed in this instance as “Kwong Sui” (among other variations) and appears time and time again in Chinese Exclusion Act case files abbreviated as “K. S.”

Being aware of details such as this and how they appear in our holdings reveals context that can add rich insight into otherwise routine government documents.