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Taiwan in the Eyes of a Western Traveler--John Thomson’s Footprints in Formosa
Taiwan in the Eyes of a Western Traveler--John Thomson’s Footprints in Formosa

Publication date: 2013
Author: Li Pin-huei |Staff member of the Archives of Institute of Taiwan History

John Thomson（1837-1921）is regarded as a pioneering photographer in the 19th century. He traveled to Far East, documenting the portraits, landscapes and eastern cultures profoundly through his lens and these photographs have become precious historical records. Although John Thomson only stayed in Taiwan for a few days, the images and notes he left are valuable historical materials for the research into Taiwan in the 1870s.His story could be comparable to Shen Bao-zhen, one of the figures in 「Traveling in Time」Exhibition. They were the travelers who came to Taiwan in the same time period. Through their stories, we can learn how they interpret Formosa in the 19th century.
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Introduction to International Collaboration of Taiwan Cultural and Historical Resources Acquisition Project (ICTAP, 2009-2012)

In order to develop knowledge economy and utilize pioneering information technology, our government strongly promoted “Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program (2008-2012)” in 2008, expecting national archive digitization will effectively inherit culture, increase and apply knowledge. The National Sci-Tech Programs covered many areas. It included 8 sub-projects in order to execute and supervise its development in every dimension.

International Collaboration and Promotion of Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program was one of the sub-projects. The theme of this program was connecting Taiwan to a global network. It not only introduced Taiwan’s liberal arts and biological diversities to the international community but also acquired scattered relics and biological materials overseas through various cooperative approaches. International Collaboration of Taiwan Cultural and Historical Resources Acquisition Project (2009-2012) was established in 2009 as the sub-project of International Collaboration and Promotion of Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program. For the goal of supplementing archival source and research materials and improving the environment of academic research in Taiwan, it convened several National-level institutions to jointly acquire scattered archives overseas.

The cooperative strategies of the ICTAP were acquiring digital archives and adding value to the digital content. Each institute took its own role to jointly accomplish the project. The Institute of Taiwan History and the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica, executed the overseas acquiring project of archival documents and geospatial data separately. The National Central Library concentrated on collecting rare books and the National Palace Museum acquired historical maps. These institutes concentrated their efforts in order to:

  1. Establish international collaborative network and acquire Taiwan historical sources scattered overseas.
  2. Improve strategies and practice of international collaboration through field investigation.
  3. Integrate Taiwan’s cultural and historical sources and promote the accomplishments of acquiring sources overseas.

The ICTAP successfully ended in 2012 when the National Sci-Tech Programs was completed. During the executing period, our members had visited 14 archival institutions in China, Japan, Russia, the United States and South Korea. The acquired result can be categorized in four fields: old archival documents, rare books, photographic materials and digital sources. For more details please refer to Gallery page.

ICTAP and ITH ›


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