Written by Barbara Mahaffie 

Samuel V. Constant had been military officer and then Assistant Military Attacheě at the United States Embassy in Peking from 1925 to 1936, serving under Military Attacheě Joseph Stilwell.  During his service at the Embassy, Constant studied for his Master of Arts degree in Chinese language and culture at the College of Chinese Studies where Pettus was the president.  During his Peking time, he was not only a student, but also a member of the college’s board of director.  During his eight-year service in Peking, Constant and Pettus developed a lifelong friendship and professional relationship.  His Master’s thesis turned out to be such an excellent study of Peking civilian life and culture and has become an enormous treasure to study ‘Old Peking.’

Samuel V. Constant, born February 22, 1894, spoke, read, and wrote fluently the Chinese language and was an expert on things Chinese. He served thirty some years in the United States army and spent eight years in China studying the Chinese language, history, customs, and culture. In Peking, he studied at the College of Chinese Studies directed by Pettus and earned his Master of Arts degree and wrote his thesis, "Calls, Sounds and Merchandise of the Peking Street Peddlers." 

In his exceptional work, Constant used visual representations to accompany and illustrate the text of his thesis. Drawings, depicting the street peddlers, suggest stellar aspects of his observational study; they suggest also his creativity and skill in identifying and capturing specific characteristics of Chinese street vendors. This innovative, exemplary study reveals Constant's scholarship; it suggests, also, the nature of graduate study conducted almost eighty years ago. The original thesis came as a gift to Weijiang Zhang by Constant's son, Colonel M. Thomas Constant living in Washington. D.C. Constant thesis constitutes the focal point of connection between Samuel V. Constant and William B. Pettus. His later life in the United States included military organizational and executive responsibilities, as well as the important job of security examination and investigation in the Manhatten Engineers Office in New York in connection with the work on the Atomic Bomb. 

In June 2003, Weijiang Zhang, representing the Pettus Archival Project at Claremont Graduate University, interviewed Colonel Thomas M. Constant, son of Samuel V. Constant. This interview conducted over a two-day period and it provides a personal perspective on Samuel V. Constant and his son, Thomas M. Constant. Thomas M. Constant was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and had a distinguished military career. He was born in China at the Peking Union Medical College and attended the Peking American School during the time of his father's service and study in China. After a successful career in the military, he was engaged in a multitude of responsibilities as Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Corporate Secretary, Panama Canal Company, Consultant of Corporations for business in China, and member of the Board of Governors Army-Navy Club, Washington, D.C. 

In the interview Thomas M. Constant noted that his father spoke about Pettus and felt sure that Pettus has come to their home.  Also during the June 2003 interview, Thomas Constant and Weijiang Zhang initiated plans for the Pettus Archival Project at Claremont Graduate University to receive, as a generous gift, A) Samuel V. Constant's collected books, B) academic papers, C) copies of his personal letters while he studied at the College of Chinese Studies in Peking, two handwritten journals, spanning the period from 1926 to 1929 chronicle events in the writer's life and provide a personal perspective on events in China during that era, and D) interview audio tapes conducted by Weijiang Zhang for the Pettus Archival Project at Claremont Graduate University.

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