Anna and Stanley Wilson Papers

Series I - V of this collection primarily document the life and work of Anna Lane Wilson in China from 1918-1923. Detailed letters to family in the United States document her voyage to China, missionary life, Chinese customs and celebrations, dress, architecture, the flu epidemic, climate and relations/conflicts between Japan and China. Most of the letters are from before Anna's marriage to Stanley Wilson in 1923 and the subsequent births of their daughters Helen and Marian. Many of the letters in the collection have been transcribed by Anna Lane Wilson's daughter Helen Wilson Saunders. The transcriptions are available in printed form, filed with the originals, and also on a CD.

In addition to family correspondence, there is a small amount of general correspondence primarily to/from Stanley Wilson. Journals of Anna Lane Wilson from 1918-1919 and 1923 describe her voyage to China, her first year of work and a return trip to the United States. Collected material primarily relates to Peking University, later known as Yenching University.

Photographs in Series V include documentation of North China Union Woman's College, Yenching University, Peking Union Medical College and the Beijing area.

Series VI, Addendum, represents papers of Anna and Stanley Wilson that had been donated to the Library at an earlier times and were previously included in Record Group 8, China Records Project Miscellaneous Personal Papers. The correspondence in Series VI is primarily from a later period and documents Stanley Wilson's period of separation from his family during the Sino-Japanese war, including his internment by the Japanese. Also included are scientific writings of Wilson and documentation relating to Yenching University at the time of the Communist takeover in 1948-1949.

Additional documentation related to the work of Stanley and Anna Wilson at Yenching University is located in YDSL Record Group No. 11, Archives of the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia.