Named after the 16th-century Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci, the Ricci Institute was founded in 1984 and incorporated into the University of San Francisco as the research arm of the Center for the Pacific Rim in 1988. The Ricci Institute is a nonprofit interdisciplinary research center housing library and archival materials which focus on the early Jesuit China missions of the 16th-18th centuries, but which also encompass a wide range of disciplines related to cultural contacts between China and the West. The collection contains the tools needed to study traditional Chinese civilization, accompanied by Western works on these early contacts. Although the basis for our inquiries are the early China Jesuits and the Rites Controversy, our studies also encompass historical, philosophical, geographical, and scientific exchanges from earliest times through the Tang dynasty, the age of Marco Polo and the Franciscan missions, the Jesuit era, and Catholic and Protestant missions of the 19th-20th centuries.   

In our work, we derive our inspiration from the example of Matteo Ricci, who approached his studies in the spirit of friendship and mutual respect. The Ricci Institute follows in his footsteps by promoting understanding through Eastern and Western classical scholarship, publications, courses in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Ricci 21st Century Roundtable Database, symposia, lectures, exhibits, and exchange programs with colleagues in academic institutions worldwide.