James Bancker was a member of a prominent Philadelphia family. His father, Charles Nicoll Bancker, established the Franklin Insurance Company. The Banckers had a long history of business and merchant endeavors dating to the colonial era.
James Bancker was educated at the University of Pennsylvania. He later assisted his father at the Franklin Insurance company, working from their offices on Wall Street in New York City. In the 1840s, he left for China to explore trading opportunities. He returned to the United States in 1850 and continued working as a merchant. He died in 1897 in New York City.
46 items.
Gift from Sarah B. Mortimer and accessioned, 11/--/1962 (1962 2289ms).
As a merchant in the China trade, Bancker was witness to the early efforts of the United States Navy to project its power into east Asia, especially in Macao, Canton, and Hong Kong.
This collection of letters (40+) consists primarily of James Bancker writing to his family from Asia in the 1840s. The collection offers a vivid depiction of an American's life abroad in the nineteenth century. The letters convey quotidian information, such as the type of food he is eating, to more remarkable events, such as witnessing a comet. Bancker also witnessed a number of significant political events while in China, including the acquisition of Hong Kong by Great Britain and resistance to this takeover from the Hong Kong residents (1842-1843). These events, the rioting in particular, are recounted in his often long and detailed correspondence to his Philadelphia-based family. Bancker spent much of his time in Canton, but he also described visits to the Philippines and voyage to and from China. Combined, the collection provides a lens in the experiences of a wealthy American traveling abroad in the midst of the nineteenth century.
