America's first ship to enter the port at Canton was the Empress of China, a New York ship; Major Samuel Shaw of Boston was supercargo. Six months out from New York she arrived at Macao on August 23, 1784. Others of the earliest American visitors to China include Captain Robert Gray sailing the Columbia; ship Hope, James Magee, Master; and the Grand Turk of Salem, Ebenezer West, Master.

Dr. Abraham Flexner, a year ago, sought in his general criticism of American education to put the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in what he thought to be its true and lowly place, by stating that all the Business School was accomplishing was to short-cut experience. “Exactly,” says the Business School, “that is our aim. We hope to lay a foundation of principles by which the future business administrator may make decisions more keen than a lifetime of trial and error would have made possible.” But the function which Dr. Flexner so minimizes is recognized by the Business School as a colossal task, and the members of the faculty are ever seeking devices to aid them in their work.

Since the founding of the Society there has accumulated in its possession a large number of legal documents. These vary greatly in type and value. Among them may be found deeds, leases, business agreements such as articles of copartnership, etc., apprentice agreements, and wills. As it might be expected, those documents which throw some light on the customs of the people in the wide field of human relations are of the greatest value, and yet it is often difficult to follow a logical and reasonable standard in collecting such material.