撰文／陳立元
翻譯／李小慧 (Translated by Jonathan Lee Jr.)
IUP創所55週年暨ICLP成立20週年的學術論壇與維持兩個多月的史料特展已於10/27假臺大總圖隆重舉行，這是何等令人興奮與心慰的美事。2008年秋高氣爽的某天下午，管理員陳平和先生告訴我他找到了一個可能是IUP時代擺放資料的紙箱，我一聽就立即放下手邊的工作，迫不及待想一窺究竟。
The academic forum and the two-month-long historical exhibition which celebrate the 55th anniversary of IUP and the 20th anniversary of ICLP are set to be held at the National Taiwan University Library on October 27th, which is extremely exciting news. On a beautiful fall afternoon in 2008, our custodian, Mr. Ping-he Chen, informed me he had discovered a cardboard box which might contain files dating back to the IUP era. Upon hearing the news, I immediately set aside my work at hand to go find out the contents of the box.
打開塵封的紙箱，首先映入眼簾的是一本粉白金蔥織錦鑲著深檀木框的摺頁冊子，中間有一幅娟秀的楷書，清楚寫著「史丹福大學中國文化研習所成立典禮/中華民國五十一年十一月二日」，打開內頁，一頁頁佈滿著政府要員丶達官顯貴、學術名流等的簽名。
Upon opening the dusty cardboard box, my eyes first came across a booklet with a gold-sprinkled, pure-white brocade inlaid into the dark sandalwood frame. At the center of the booklet, in elegant regular script, was written “Stanford University Chinese Cultural Study Institute Founding Ceremony/November 2, 1962.” Upon opening to the inside of the booklet, spread out among pages were the signatures of key figures and high-ranking officials of the government as well as celebrities in the academic world.
在成立酒會簽名冊下方，是數十個擺放整齊的白色紙本卷宗。隨意抽取出一個，仔細閲讀，是首任所長丁愛博教授為IUP學生Solomon所撰寫申請獎學金的推薦信，這位Solomon先生是史丹福大學的學生。自從1981年進入IUP任教起，時而耳聞老布希總統時代的國務卿Solomon 先生是IUP的校友，難不成正是推薦信中的這一位？
A neat pile of paper files was nestled underneath the booklet for the founding ceremony. Upon closer inspection of a randomly-picked file, I discovered a scholarship recommendation letter written by the first director Professor Albert E. Dien for one of the students at IUP, Solomon, who was a Stanford student. Ever since I started teaching at IUP in 1981, every now and then I would hear that Mr. Solomon, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under President George H. W. Bush, was an IUP alumnus. Could it be the same Solomon from the recommendation letter?
手中捧著泛黃的卷宗，心中的思緒不斷澎湃著，也意識到這箱東西是何等珍貴啊！隨後陳先生又抱了一個紙箱來，打開紙箱一看，有三大本黃色厚紙為封面的冊子，原來是橫跨上世紀80至90年代的學生名冊，有著學生的姓名與照片，在學生名冊下，堆滿了大大小小或黑白或彩色的活動照片，年代最早的一本相簿是1982-83學年度鄧前所長帶領師生環島旅行的影像記錄。
Holding the faded-yellow files in my hands, I was overwhelmed with excitement, realizing how precious they were. Mr. Chen then carried over another cardboard box. I looked inside and saw three booklets with thick, yellow covers. They turned out to be student directories from the 80's and 90's containing a list of the students' names with their photographs. Lying underneath the directories were black-and-white and color photos of various sizes taken during school activities. The oldest album contained photos of students and teachers on a trip around Taiwan led by former Director Shou-hsin Teng during the 1982-83 academic year.
確知紙箱內容後，隨即跟梁前所長報告，梁前所長也向當時的李嗣涔校長報告。據梁前所長的轉述，李前校長希望在校史館設一個IUP-ICLP的史料專區，此一佳音令人殷切期待。自伊始，這些珍貴史料就隨著我職務的更迭，從四樓的所務主任室轉而保存在三樓的教務處。老師們都企盼著收集彙整歷代史料的機會來臨，然而由於臺大高層的更迭，這些史料就靜靜地擺放在我辦公桌的抽屜櫃好多年。
As soon as I verified what I had found in the boxes, I informed the then Director Yanwing Leung of the discovery, who in turn notified the President of NTU, Si-Chen Lee. According to Director Leung, President Lee hoped to display the historical documents of IUP and ICLP at the Gallery of NTU History. It was great news and something to look forward to, and afterwards, those priceless documents came with me wherever I went. I even moved them from my old office on the fourth floor to my new office on the third floor when my position at ICLP changed from director of school affairs to director of academic affairs. All the teachers longed for the opportunity to collect and organize the documents, yet due to changes in the upper management at NTU, the documents remained untouched in the drawers of my desk for many years.
兩年前邱所長和高副所長到任時，我將封存多年的史料給高副所長看，獲得高副所長的迴響。在邱所長大力的支持下，高副所長有了積極的作為，成立了史料工作小組。老師們紛紛主動加入史料組，不久，在四樓貯藏室裡，發現了大批IUP歷代的史料，塵封在層層疊疊的大鐡櫃中。臺大總圖特藏組洪組長親自帶專業人員前來訓練教師團隊如何逐一登録建檔、保存史料，口述歷史成員也開始與海內外歷代所長、校友、資深教師等聯繫，或當面現埸或通過視訊進行口述歷史專訪，策展與論壇相關事宜也相繼展開。如今萬事俱備，就等待10/27的來臨。從此以後，這批上萬筆的珍貴史料有了安身立命的收藏場所，未來也會對外開放，以便於研究國際關係史與對外華語教育等領域的人士進行相關研究。
When Director Chin-jung Chiu and Deputy Director Wei-hung Kao assumed office two years ago, I showed the historical documents to Deputy Director Kao, who responded with great interest, and with the support of Director Chiu, he took it upon himself to start a team dedicated to working on the documents. One after another, more teachers came on board the project. Soon after, a large collection of historical documents from the IUP era was discovered inside the dusty metal file cabinets on the storage room of the fourth floor. Ms. Hung, Director of the NTU Library Special Collections Department, brought her team of specialists to ICLP to train the teachers how to archive and preserve the historical documents. Meanwhile, the oral interview team started to get in contact with former directors, alumni, and senior instructors at home and abroad. Some oral history interviews were conducted in-person or through video calls. The planning for both the historical exhibition and forum followed in close succession. Now that everything is set, all we are waiting for is October 27th to arrive. We have found a home for these thousands of precious historical documents. They will also be open to the public in the future to facilitate those conducting research in history of international relations and teaching of Chinese as a foreign language.
陳立元于臺大國際華語研習所
Li-Yuan Chen, Director of Academic Affairs
Translated by Chao-Chung Huang
Jonathan Lee, Jr.