China Records Project miscellaneous personal papers collection

The collection consists of more than 380 boxes, with no individual accounting for more than three linear feet. Some collections that were formerly part of this record group have now been given separate record group numbers.

The papers in the first series of this collection are arranged alphabetically by name. When the information was available, each missionary's sending agency, geographical location in China and period of service have been noted. A key to abbreviations used to represent the mission sending agencies is given below. The designation "L" in the indications of period of service means that these are approximate dates derived from listings in available copies of the Directory of Protestant Missions in China (1902, 1904-05, 1908-11, 1916, 1921, 1923-24, 1926-30, 1932-36, 1940, 1950). An asterisk following the name of an individual means that at least a portion of the papers of that individual are available on microfilm (and therefore accessible via Interlibrary Loan)and through the Adam Matthew "China Through Western Eyes" database: http://www.researchsource.amdigital.co.uk/ASChina.

Some photographs in the collection have been digitized and are available through the Internet Mission Photography Archive (IMPA) - http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/arc/digarchives/mission/. If availability in IMPA is indicated, search the IMPA database using the name of the individual, e.g., search for "Edward Abbott Papers."

The records in this collection include biographical information, correspondence, diaries and journals, writings, printed material, tape recordings, artifacts, photographs and maps. The medical, educational and evangelical work of both men and women missionaries in China is reflected in the material. Social issues such as footbinding, opium reform, education of women, cruelty to animals and child labor are also touched upon. The material is particularly valuable for the descriptions of daily missionary life and work which it provides. Missionary opinion about major social and political issues is less prevalent in the material, although personal accounts of some political events (such as the Boxer Rebellion and the internment of missionaries by the Japanese) are given.

The Oral History Transcripts of Series II are from the China Missionaries Oral History Project conducted at Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, CA in the early 1970s.

For a full list of personal papers that are part of the China Records Project see: https://web.library.yale.edu/divinity/china-papers.

Abbreviations for missions agencies used in this finding aid: