Stanford University is to transfer stewardship of records from former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) to Academia Historica, ending a 10-year legal battle over its rightful ownership.
The documents, which include personal diaries of the two presidents, would likely be shipped to Taiwan later this year, Academia Historica President Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深) said on Wednesday, adding that researchers have been in California for the past two months to inventory the collection.
While some of the documents would be published and exhibited at a later date, the most urgent needs are for academic research, Chen said.
Photo: Yang Fu-yi, Taipei Times
The first set to be published in late October of this year would be diaries from Chiang Kai-shek’s first six years in office, from 1948 to 1954, he added.
The Hoover Institution at Stanford has been holding 51 boxes of records from the Chiangs since 2005, when Chiang Ching-kuo’s daughter-in-law Chiang Fang Chih-yi (蔣方智怡) signed a 50-year agreement for the collection to be curated by the institution.
Due to conflicting claims of ownership, the institution in September 2013 filed a civil suit against the claimants, the San Francisco Standard reported on Tuesday.
Seven Chiang family members signed agreements to pass ownership of the documents to Academia Historica, but were refuted by Chiang Ching-kuo’s granddaughter Chiang Yo-mei (蔣友梅), who said they should be kept within the family, the paper said.
Academia Historica initiated its own case in November 2015, which resulted in a 2020 decision by the Taipei District Court granting it ownership over files from when the presidents were in office, and the family ownership over other files.
The decision was upheld on appeal last year, and recognized by the US courts.
The remaining Chiang family members signed agreements to transfer ownership to Academia Historica, ending with Chiang Yo-mei in May, the paper said.
The matter was finally closed on Tuesday last week when the final defendant failed to appear in the San Jose US District Court, ending his claim to the archives, it said.
As the family has agreed to transfer ownership to Academia Historica, “the entire collection could remain complete, without needing to be divided,” Chen said.
The collection includes valuable speeches, correspondence and political files from the presidents, as well as the personal diaries of Chiang Kai-shek from 1917 to 1972 and of Chiang Ching-kuo from 1937 to 1979.
Copies of the documents would remain available for scholarship at the Hoover Institution, the San Francisco Standard said.
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