[CHINA MARINES] TREDER, John P.

Archive of Letters and Photographs of a U.S. Marine in China and the Philippines, 1912-1913

Ripon, CA: S.i., ca.1912-1913. A small archive of photographs and letters relating to the Marine Corps career (1909-1913) of John P. Treder, a Polish-born resident of Ripon, California. Includes 26 original (vintage) photographic prints (a few commercial, but most apparently vernacular) of scenes in China and the Philippines; three pieces of printed ephemera, and 9 ALS. A few photographs with marginal creasing or tears and light soil; letters folded, in original mailing envelopes; overall Very Good.

In February, 1912, a small occupying force of U.S. Marines was sent to Peking to protect American interests during the brief but violent spate of riots that took place there following the Revolution of 1911 and the subsequent abdication of the Dowager Empress. John [born Joannes] P. Treder, a Private in Company "E" of the U.S. 2nd Marines, was part of this occupying force; this small but informative collection of commercial and vernacular photographs would have been collected by him during the brief interval of his Chinese service, between February and April of 1912. The photographs include views of Peking; garrisons of both American and Chinese troops; and a few amateur snapshots of what we presume to be Treder in the company of friends, including a fascinating series of four photographs of a bloody, bare-knuckle fistfight between two soldiers. One commercially produced image depicts a pair of decapitated heads, with the printed caption "A Pair Who Paid / Peking." Another - probably a vernacular image - shows an alleyway littered with dead bodies, the victims lying face-down in the mud, at least one with his hands tied behind his back. As the Marine presence in Peking was small (about 200 troops) and brief (about eight weeks), these photographs must be among the very few images of the Peking Riots extant in the West. This sets this collection apart from those assembled during the Boxer Rebellion of ten years earlier – a broader conflict which spawned a profusion of sensationalistic commercial images not dissimilar from the ones collected here (and for which we mistook these images at first glance).

Also present here are several photographic views of Manila and Subic Bay in the Philippines, the usual home of the 2nd Marines; three pieces of printed ephemera; and a clutch of letters from various members of Treder's family, addressed to him after his return stateside in 1913. In the year prior to his mustering out, Treder was stationed aboard the Receiving Ship Saratoga at Mare Island in northern California; the family writes from their farm in Ripon, situated about midway between Stockton and Modesto in the Central Valley. The letters touch frankly on family matters, including the hardships of farm life; their continued attempts to sell out; and some unspecified financial setbacks suffered by Treder's father. According to genealogical websites, the Treder family, originally from north Poland, emigrated to California from Wisconsin some time around the turn of the century.

Price: $450.00

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