Obituary of Robert Felsing

Robert Herman (Bob) Felsing, Ph.D., age 69, died suddenly and unexpectedly from an apparent heart attack on Sunday, December 1, 2013. Born February 18, 1944 in Sioux City, IA to Marjorie (McLarty) and Herman Felsing, Bob graduated from Central HS in Sioux City and served in Air Force intelligence during the Vietnam War from 1962-1966. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, and often spoke of studying philosophy and the works of Thomas Aquinas. He went on to earn a Master’s degree from the University of Hawaii, where he was awarded an East-West Center Scholarship that included a summer of Chinese language study at National Taiwan Normal University. At the University of Iowa, Bob completed a Ph.D. in Chinese History with a dissertation on the role of secret societies in the Chinese revolution of 1911, and earned a Master’s Degree in Library Science. He was fluent reading and writing Mandarin Chinese. Bob’s earliest job as a boy was at a local library in Sioux City, and he retired after a distinguished career in university libraries, first at the University of Iowa from 1979-1989, then at the University of Oregon Knight Library where he was the East Asian Bibliographer from 1989 until his retirement in 2011. In 1989 Scribner, NY published China Journal, 1889-1900: an American missionary family during the Boxer Rebellion: with the letters and diaries of Eva Jane Price and her family, Foreword by Harrison E. Salisbury and introductory notes and annotations by Robert H. Felsing. Noted for his self-deprecating humor and sardonic wit, Bob was a visionary who early on saw the potential for electronic books in serious scholarship. His e-Asia collection, begun and developed while at the University of Oregon and known world wide, is a legacy to his insistence on the need for bibliographers to develop an internet presence as well as add to the existing collection on the shelves. His colleagues at the University of Oregon often spoke of how Bob led them to the “bleeding” edge of the digital revolution in library science. He was especially interested in preserving works that embodied early 20th century American attitudes and fears toward East Asia. In particular he developed an interest in what he termed “invasion literature” – fictional descriptions of the conquest of the US by Japanese or Chinese forces. Researchers in Asian studies could always count on Bob to get what they needed, no matter how obscure. Extremely generous with his time and talent, Bob also taught research methods to graduate students and fielded research questions from around the country and the world. Arrangements entrusted to Musgrove Family Mortuary. Please access the obituary and you are invited to sign the guestbook at musgroves.com