United Methodist Church Archives

Western Medicine in China, 1800-1950 Guide to Collections in the United Methodist Church Archives, Madison, NJ

Prepared in August, 2011 by Heather L. Bennett

Download a PDF of this document: http://www.yale.edu/adhoc/WMC/WMC-Methodist.html

Introduction
Brief History of Methodist, United Brethren, and Evangelical Medical Missions in China
Agency Records
Serials
Personal papers
Related material

Introduction

The following pages contain brief descriptions of the materials in the United Methodist Church Archives that document the rich history of Western medicine in China as it was practiced by American missionary doctors, nurses, and public health workers as well as the Chinese physicians and nurses who trained in the missionary hospitals and medical schools. The available records include official statistics, strategies, and reports as well as personal observations, struggles, and triumphs. They provide a glimpse into Westerners' perceptions of Chinese medicine and the appropriation of Western medicine by Chinese doctors and nurses.

This guide is divided into five sections: A Brief History of Methodist, United Brethren, and Evangelical Medical Missions, Agency Records, Serials, Personal Papers, and Related Material. For the most part, the collections included in each section are open to all researchers, but some restrictions may apply to the agency records. In general, administrative records are closed for twenty-five years and personnel records are restricted for seventy-five years. The finding aids available at the General Commission on Archives and History website can provide more detailed information concerning the restrictions on individual records.

The first section, “Agency Records,” contains material related to the various mission organizations of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Methodist Protestant Church, United Evangelical Church, Evangelical Association, Church of the United Brethren, Methodist Church (U.S.), and the Evangelical Church. The denominations' records contain a wide variety of materials including correspondence, personnel files, photographs, audio and video cassettes, maps, financial concerns, and oral histories. These documents preserve a glimpse into both institutional and personal experiences of medical missions.

“Serials,” the second section of the guide, includes the annual reports available from each denomination as well as some periodicals that chronicled missionary endeavors. From about 1850 to 1920, these annual reports included portions of correspondence from individual missionaries and therefore contain detailed accounts of the missionaries' work. Missionaries often included what might be called “human interest stories” in addition to their statistics and financial ledgers. These stories document the missionaries' interactions with individual Chinese citizens and provide accounts of not only medical treatments, but also personal responses to the culture and people the missionaries were attempting to serve.

The section entitled “Personal Papers” contains collections that include scrapbooks, correspondence, photographs, and artifacts from individual medical missionaries in China, or from other missionaries who worked closely with them. The extent of these collections can be as small as a single file folder or as large as three or four cubic feet. The materials contained in the personal papers included the missionaries' experiences in providing medical care and education in China as well as details of their day to day existence and the ways in which their medical endeavors were integrated into the routines of their lives.

The final section, “Related Material,” includes collections related to or created by medical missionaries to China, but which do not contain details related to patients, hospitals, dispensaries, public health or medical education. The material may provide the researcher with insight into the personal lives and character of the missionaries, but is not directly related to the practice of Western medicine in China.

Every record related to medical missions contained in these archives tells the stories of men and women of great fortitude, ingenuity, skill, and dedication who responded to the vision the leaders of their denominations possessed for healing the physical ailments of the people of China. The American doctors and nurses who volunteered to serve as missionaries to China encountered the difficulties of learning a new language and providing medical care with short supplies; they persevered through the violence engendered by xenophobia and war and taught their children to care for China as much as they did. Their stories are alternately touching, humorous, and thought-provoking. In compiling this guide, I have heard their voices, read their words, and seen the images that were so familiar to them after many, many years in what became a beloved country. I hope future researchers who utilize this guide will find the stories of these men and women as compelling as I have, both academically and personally.

Heather L. Bennett

Madison, NJ

August 2011

A Brief History of Methodist, United Brethren, and Evangelical Medical Missions in China

The Methodist Episcopal Church, 1846-1900

When the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church resolved to send its first missionaries to Foochow (Fuzchou), China, the Society noted with satisfaction that both Judson D. Collins and Moses C. White had “paid some attention to the theory of medical science,” and that White “attended two full courses of medical lectures.” (1) The two missionaries sailed in 1846 with a chest full of medical supplies and instructions to open a dispensary upon their arrival. By 1850, White was sending not only reports of the medical treatment he provided to the Chinese living in Foochow to the Society, but also the suggestion, “It would be well also to have a Missionary Physician.” (2)

The Missionary Society headed White's advice and in 1851, Dr. Isaac W. Wiley arrived in Foochow with his wife, Frances Jane, and their young daughter. Although he would go on to become a bishop and a hearty advocate for the China Mission, Dr. Wiley's service as a physician lasted only three years; he returned to the United States in 1854 following his wife's death.

For a variety of reasons, including the upheaval of the U.S. Civil War in the 1860s, the China Mission was left without a physician until 1872 when the recently-formed Woman's Foreign Missionary Society (WFMS), operating independently of the Missionary Society, appointed Dr. Lucy H. Hoag to follow Sarah and Beulah Woolston, their first missionaries, to Foochow. The Woolstons took up the educational and evangelistic work to women begun by the former missionaries' wives while Dr. Hoag began to treat the physical ailments of Chinese women who refused to see a male physician. The WFMS was thrilled, having intended to send female missionaries to accomplish “distinctively woman's work.” (3)

For the next decade, women physicians continued to be the main providers of medical care at the mission sites of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The next medical man , Dr. J.L. Taylor, arrived in 1882, followed by Dr. Nehemiah S. Hopkins in 1885. By then, the medical personnel had opened a hospital at Foochow and were nearing the completion of their hospitals in Wuhu, Tsunhua, Peking, and Nanking. By the turn of the century, the missionaries of the Methodist Episcopal Church, supported by the mission societies and local congregations at home, had founded a dozen hospitals and opened dispensaries in every major city in their six China Conferences.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1848-1900

Following the division of the northern and southern branches of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844, the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS) made the establishment of a mission in China one of their first priorities. In 1847, they appointed Reverend Charles Taylor and his wife, Charlotte Jane, along with Reverend and Mrs. Benjamin Jenkins to begin the MECS mission in China.

Rev. Taylor was chosen for his medical degree from Philadelphia College of Medicine as much as for his evangelistic skills. After the missionaries' arrival in Shanghai, Taylor founded a dispensary and began his medical and evangelistic ministries. Taylor continued to provide what care he could, especially following the violence of the Taiping Rebellion in 1853, and was finally joined by a fellow physician, Dr. David C. Kelley, in 1854. Dr. James W. Lambuth and his wife, Mary (McClellan) Lambuth, arrived later the same year to join in the medical efforts in Shanghai.

The U.S. Civil War was especially disruptive to the MECS foreign missions, who quickly found themselves cut off from their board and dependent on their own ingenuity and the kindness of other denominations. Despite the hardships of the 1860s, the remaining missionaries, Young J. Allen, Marquis Wood, and the Lambuths, expanded the mission property from Shanghai to Soochow. Their efforts set the stage for the spread of MECS medical missions to Soochow, where the mission established its first hospital in 1882 under the direction of Walter R. Lambuth and William H. Park.

Doctors Lambuth and Park struggled with a difficulty shared by male missionary physicians of every denomination: due to certain customs of Chinese culture, very few female patients would come to them for treatment. The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the MECS recognized the need for a female doctor in Soochow and, in 1885, sent Dr. Mildred Philips to open a women's hospital at the mission. The Mary Black Hospital under Dr. Philips and her successors, Doctors Anne Walter and Margaret Polk, fulfilled the vision of early missionary wives like Mary Lambuth who recognized the medical needs of Chinese women, who were often afflicted by the complications caused by foot-binding, ovarian diseases, and complications from childbirth, but were constrained from visiting a male physician by the social mores of their culture.

By 1900, the Board of Foreign Missions and the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society boasted less than a dozen medical missionaries and only one hospital in China over the course of fifty-two years, but the missionaries made great strides in training and appointing Chinese workers for evangelistic, educational and medical work. The doctors of the Soochow Hospital and the Mary Black Hospital began training Chinese assistants soon after establishing the hospitals in the 1880s. By the turn of the century, the latter was almost wholly administered by Chinese physicians.

Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Protestant Church, and Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1900-1951

After 1900, the medical work of the Northern and Southern Methodists tended to follow a similar course, often converging through their cooperation in multi-denominational union hospitals and schools. Ultimately, the official merger of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Protestant Church, and Methodist Episcopal Church, South into the Methodist Church (U.S.) in 1939 united the mission efforts of the Methodist denominations in China until the missionaries were forced to abandon their efforts in 1951.

Despite the chaos engendered by the Boxer Uprising in 1900, the medical missionaries of every denomination greeted the new century with determination and energy. Reinforced by new personnel, they continued to establish hospitals and dispensaries. The Methodist Protestant Church especially increased its efforts as it attempted to expand its missionary presence in Kalgan (Zhangjaikou) in the northern Chahar (Hebei) Province. When the MPC opened its work in Kalgan in 1909, the mission property already possessed a dispensary under the direction of a Chinese physician, Dr. Fan, thanks to the efforts of the Congregationalist missionaries who previously ministered in the area. In 1920, eleven years after the first MPC missionaries arrived in Kalgan, the Board of Missions appointed Dr. and Mrs. Harold Hammett along with Dr. Roberta Fleagle to provide medical treatments through the Kalgan dispensary. Dr. Hammett departed in 1923, following the death of his wife, but Dr. Fleagle continued her work until 1927. When she returned home, Dr. Fleagle gave the medical work over to Dr. Ts'ui Shih Feng and his Chinese assistants. Dr. Ts'ui continued to provide medical care long after the remainder of the American missionaries departed.

In other parts of China, medical missionaries of the MEC and MECS began to place greater emphasis on providing medical education to aspiring Chinese physicians and nurses. Individual physicians began training Chinese hospital staff to serve as nurses and physician assistants as early as 1875, and a number of Chinese doctors, including Hu King Eng, Ida Kahn, and Mary Stone, returned to their country to practice after studying in the United States. In the early-twentieth century, however, missionaries made a greater effort to provide a standardized medical education in China. Methodist missionaries therefore served as teachers at union medical schools, partnering with Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans, and United Brethren, as well as members of the Evangelical Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church South, to provide education for Chinese doctors and nurses in their own country.

Political upheaval in China and the global conflict of the two World Wars periodically disrupted the missionaries' work, leaving them short of supplies and personnel and inhibiting their communication with friends, family, and their mission boards. Still, by 1941, the missionaries of the newly-united Methodist Church (U.S.), were scattered throughout fifty hospitals, ten medical schools, and countless dispensaries and rural health circuits.

Progress slowed over the next decade, however. The Japanese invasion of China in 1938 hindered the work of medical missionaries, and in some areas closed medical institutions and services altogether. The medical institutions had barely revived following the war when the Communist government required all missionaries to leave in 1951. The American missionaries returned to the United States or volunteered for other mission fields, but the Chinese doctors and nurses carried on with their medical work, continuing to provide treatment and education to their fellow citizens.

Church of the United Brethren and the Evangelical Church, 1889-1946

The missionary work of the United Brethren and the Evangelical Church in China in many ways resembled that of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Methodist Episcopal Church, South, but these denominations' work often took place in isolation from the other Methodist Church predecessor denominations, largely because the churches chose to open their work in Canton and Hunan provinces, areas unoccupied by the MEC and MECS.

The Church of the United Brethren began its mission work in 1889 in the province of Canton. Medical work opened in the region's capital city the following year with the arrival of Dr. Regina Bigler, whose career as a missionary to China spanned forty years. Dr. Bigler established the Coover Dispensary on the island of Honam and eventually extended her work to include a maternity hospital. These institutions remained the hub of the United Brethren's medical mission work until the Communist government requested the departure of all missionaries in 1951.

The appointment of Dr. Frank Oldt by the Foreign Missionary Society in 1905 allowed the missionaries to extend medical work into Siu Lam where Dr. Oldt opened a dispensary and eventually established the United Brethren Hospital in 1918. By the mid-1920s, the United Brethren maintained the general hospital in Siu Lam, maternity hospital on Honam, and a dispensary in each location. Medical missionaries also participated in the work of Lingnan Medical School and Canton Hospital, which was founded by Dr. Peter Parker, the first Protestant medical missionary in China, in 1835.

In addition, the missionaries of the Church of the United Brethren strove to provide health care to Chinese citizens living in the rural areas of southern China. Dr. A. Clair Siddall was particularly influential in the public health strategies of the mission. His refinement of the production of beanmilk provided an inexpensive source of nutrition for children from poor families. The free provision of beanmilk to especially impoverished families through the mission helped reverse the plague of malnutrition in the area.

The Evangelical Church was formed by the reunion of the United Evangelical Church and the Evangelical Association in 1922. Through the merger, the two denominations brought together a rich history of medical missions in China. The work of the United Evangelical Church stretched back to 1901 when C. Newton and Emma Dubs began their missionary work in Changsha, East Hunan, China in 1901. In 1914, Dr. Benjamin Earl Niebel began medical work in Liling, East Hunan, where he eventually established the United Evangelical Mission Hospital in 1917.

The Evangelical Association began its own work in 1905 in Shenchow, in the district that would become West Hunan. Dr. F.C. Krumling arrived the following year to open a dispensary and to provide medical treatment to Chinese families in the rural areas surrounding Shenchow. In 1913, he moved the locus of his medical work to Tungjen and established the American Evangelical Hospital in the city a year later.

When the two denominations united in 1922, fifteen missionaries provided medical care through hospitals, dispensaries, and rural public health care in Hunan province. Their efforts succeeded in large part thanks to the numerous Chinese doctors and nurses who assisted in and administered the medical institutions and programs.

In 1946, another merger occurred, this time between the Church of the United Brethren and the Evangelical Church. The denominations united to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The newly-formed EUBC inherited Canton Health Center and Tung Yan Maternity Hospital, the successor to Dr. Bigler's dispensary and maternity hospital on Honam, as well as the United Brethren Hospital in Siu Lam and the Kwangtung Health Center, established in 1935, from the United Brethren. The Evangelical Church incorporated the work of the Emma Dubs Memorial Hospital, the American Evangelical Hospital, and the Evangelical Mission Hospital in Liling, China into the united denominations' new Board of Missions.

When the missionaries of the EUBC departed China in 1951, the Chinese doctors and nurses trained by Evangelical and United Brethren missionaries inherited the work of thirty previous missionaries in six hospitals and numerous dispensaries and public health programs over the course of sixty-two years.

1. Missionary Society, MEC, Annual Report, 1847, p. 43

2. Missionary Society, MEC, Annual Report, 1850, p. 26

3. Women's Foreign Missionary Society, Annual Report, 1886, p. 31

Sources

Information concerning the history of medical missions in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and Methodist Protestant Church was drawn from:

Barclay, Wade Crawford. History of Methodist Missions in Six Volumes, Part Two, The Methodist Episcopal

Church, 1845-1939 , vol. 3, Widening Horizons, 1845-1895 . New York: The Board of Missions of the

Methodist Episcopal Church, 1957.

Copplestone, Tremayne. History of Methodist Missions in Six Volumes, Part Two, The Methodist Episcopal

Church, 1845-1939 , vol. 4, Twentieth-Century Perspectives, the Methodist Episcopal Church,

1896-1939 . New York: General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church, 1963.

Daugherty, Ruth A. The United Methodist History of Mission , vol. 1, The Missionary Spirit: The History of Mission of the Methodist Protestant Church, 1830-1939 . New York: General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church, 2004.

Sledge, Robert W. The United Methodist History of Mission , vol. 2, “Five Dollars and Myself”: The History of

Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1845-1939 . New York: General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church, 2005.

Although there currently is no complete history of medical missions in the Evangelical United Brethren Church, I was able to determine the historical narrative from the following sources:

Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Board of Missions. Annual Reports , 1854-1894; 1910-1913; 1946.

Church of the United Brethren in Christ. Women's Missionary Association. Annual Reports , 1898-1917; 1930-1947.

Evangelical Church. Missionary Society. Annual Reports , 1907-1946.

Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New constitution). Foreign Missionary Society. Records of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. Foreign Missionary Society , 1853-1946.

Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New constitution). Women's Missionary Association. Records of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. Women's Missionary Association , 1872-1946.

Evangelical Church. Records of the Evangelical Church , 1921-1947.

United Evangelical Church. Records of the United Evangelical Church , 1891-1923.

____________________________________

Missionary Society, MEC, Annual Report, 1847, p. 43

Missionary Society, MEC, Annual Report, 1850, p. 26

Women's Foreign Missionary Society, Annual Report, 1886, p. 31

Agency Records

Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New constitution). Foreign Missionary Society.

Records of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. Foreign Missionary Society, 1853-1946
29.36 cubic feet
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Abstract

The General Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ of 1841 created a Missionary Society for missionary work at home and abroad. This organization's purpose was to promote and encourage missions, but had no administrative or operational authority to conduct mission work. The General Conference of 1853 reorganized the Missionary Society and revised its constitution and its name was changed to the Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society.

The General Conference of 1905 ordered the division of the Home, Frontier and Foreign Missionary Society into two separate organizations the Foreign Missionary Society and the Home Missionary Society. When the Church of the United Brethren in Christ merged with the Evangelical Church in 1946, the missionary societies of both churches were formed into a Board of Missions.

The subseries “China” in the records of the Foreign Missionary Society is comprised of correspondence, annual reports, and financial reports from the missionaries, institutions, and public health programs sponsored by the United Brethren Church. The files also include two China mission albums with a few photographs of medical missionaries, hospitals, and dispensaries. The “Administration” subseries contains some additional information concerning the China mission sites, such as reports by Bishop G.M. Mathews and corresponding secretary Samuel Stricker Hough.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah6946.htm

Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New constitution). Women's Missionary Association.

Records of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. Women's Missionary Association , 1872-1946
6.15 cu. feet
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Abstract

The Women's Missionary Association of the United Brethren in Christ began with the establishment by Lizzie Hoffman of the Miami Annual Conference Woman's Missionary Association on May 9, 1872. Other conferences created their own branches, using the Miami branch as a model. On October 21, 1875, a national Woman's Missionary Association (WMA) was formed by representatives of nine conference branches, entirely independent of the General Board of Missions, but in cooperation with it. The WMA was recognized by the 1877 General Conference.

The Woman's Missionary Association was incorporated and the first Board of Trustees was elected in 1881. In 1882, the associations established a Chinese mission school in Portland, Oregon. The association also began publishing The Woman's Evangel that year. When the Church of the United Brethren in Christ merged with the Evangelical Church in 1946, the Women's Missionary Association merged with the Woman's Missionary Society of the Evangelical Church to form the Women's Society of World Service.

This series contains some material directly related to Western medicine in China. A poster entitled, “Our Foreign Missionaries,” provides images of some of the medical missionaries supported by the Women's Missionary Association (WMA). In addition, the file, “Contract for the Construction of a Dispensary in Kwang Tung, China,” provides a detailed plan for the dispensary. The annual reports, published in the form of a newsletter, “The Evangel” as well as the minutes of the WMA branches and executive committee may also contain related material.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah4086.htm

Evangelical Church.

Records of the Evangelical Church , 1921-1947
36 cu. feet
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Abstract

The Evangelical Church was formed in 1922 by the merger of the Evangelical Association of North America and the United Evangelical Church. The merger was a reunion of the two churches who originally split in 1894, when a third of the membership of the Evangelical Association withdrew and formed the United Evangelical Church. In 1946, the Evangelical Church merged with the Church of the United Brethren in Christ to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

This collection is made up of records of the various agencies of the church. It also includes material regarding local churches and annual conferences. The collection is made up of thirteen series. The three largest series which make up the bulk of the collection are the Missionary Society, the Woman's Missionary Society, and the Board of Christian Education.

Both the Missionary Society and the Women's Missionary Society contain information related to medical missionaries supported by the Evangelical Church and its predecessors. Some of the files are directly related to the practice of Western medicine in China while others . Materials include slides, correspondence, clippings, and publications as well as property inventories and deeds (in Chinese).

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah4104.htm

Evangelical United Brethren Church. Board of Missions.

Records of the Evangelical United Brethren Church. Board of Missions , 1862-1974
51.27 cu. feet
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Abstract

When the Church of the United Brethren and the Evangelical Church merged in 1946, the Home Mission and Church Erection Society, the Foreign Missionary Society, and the Women's Missionary Association of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and the Missionary Society, Women's Missionary Society, and the Board of Church Extension of the Evangelical Church were united to form the Board of Missions of the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

Following the merger between the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church in 1968, the boards of missions of both churches were united to form the Board of Missions of the United Methodist Church. In 1972, the Board of Missions became the Board of Global Ministries and in 1976 was renamed the General Board of Global Ministries which it is still called today.

This collection is made up of the administrative material from the Board of Missions. Although there is some material from 1862 and the 1970's, the bulk of the material is from 1946 to 1968. Documents related to Western medicine in China may be found in the series entitled “World Mission Division” under the sub-series of the Asian Department. There is detailed information concerning Siu Lam Hospital, the Evangelical Hospital in Tungjen, and the Canton Health Center and Tung Yan Maternity in Honam. The materials include statistical reports, annual hospital reports, property deeds (mostly in Chinese), and blueprints. Some information can also be found in the minutes of the various conference committees.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah4400.htm

Evangelical United Brethren Church. Women's Society of World Service.

Records of the Evangelical United Brethren Church. Women's Society of World Service , 1946-1968
14 cu. feet
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Abstract

When the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church merged in 1968, The Woman's Society of Christian Service and The Wesleyan Service Guild of the Methodist Church and the Women's Society of World Service of The Evangelical United Brethren Church merged to form the Women's Society of Christian Service and Wesleyan Service Guild. Administrative responsibility was assigned to the Women's Division of the Board of Missions. In 1972, the women's organizations in The United Methodist Church merged to form one inclusive organization called the United Methodist Women.

This collection is made up of the administrative material from the Women's Society of World Service. It also includes the records from the Local Branches, Quadrennial Conventions, World Evangel, Literature Department and the Society's area's of emphasis Christian Social Relations, Missionary Education, Missionary Education for Children and Youth, and Spiritual Life.

The collection contains some records related to the practice of Western medicine in China. Two brief historical sketches of the former United Brethren Church and the former Evangelical Church outline the churches' medical work. The records from the quadrennial conventions also contains a photograph of Anna Renninger and Rose Fecker, two prominent missionary nurses involved in medical missions.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah4516.htm

Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions.

Administrative Files Series of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church , 1912-1955
129 cu. feet
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Abstract

The administrative files were created under the Board of Foreign Missions, the Board of Home Missions, and the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church. The Methodist Episcopal Church boards, along with the corresponding boards from the Methodist Protestant Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South merged in 1939. The material in this series represents administrative and financial concerns of the entire board. Much of the financial and administrative concerns where continued by the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church after merger in 1939.

This series contains a variety of administrative files generated by the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Church. There is also material and correspondence related to home missions, the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, and other denominational boards.

Documents related to Western medicine in China can be found throughout the various sub-series, most notably in the geographic series “China” and the series entitled “Retired Missionaries.” The latter contains correspondence and financial records related to many former medical missionaries of the Board. The collection also includes information concerning the China Medical Board, Soochow Hospital, Sienyu Union Hospital, Nanking University Hospital, and Kwangchi Hospital. In addition, materials related to a number of medical schools and public health programs are contained in the administrative files.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah813.htm

Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions.

Mission Biographical Reference Files , 1880-1969
35 cu. feet
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Abstract

The biographical reference file collection was created by the former Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Church. The purpose of the reference files was to provide information quickly about either a person related to Methodism, or of interest to Methodism, or about a Methodist bishop or missionary. The missionary reference files often contain genealogical information as well as information about the person's appointment and interests. As was common at the time of the creation of the series, the files of husbands and wives are often found in the same folder. While the files contain information into the 1960s, the bulk of the collection covers the time period 1880- 1930.

This series contains files regarding many of the missionaries who served as doctors, nurses, public health workers, and medical-school professors in China through the Methodist Episcopal Church or Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Materials concerning these individuals may include correspondence with the Board of Missions, photographs, publications, typed biographies, obituaries, or newspaper clippings.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah2101.htm

Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions.

Missionary files series of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church , 1912-1949
147 cu. feet
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Abstract

In 1939 the Board of Missions and Church Extension was created by the uniting conference of the MEC, MECS and MPC denominations. The Board would go on to be reorganized in 1952 as the Board of Missions. The records in this series were created by the Foreign Missions division and later the World division of the Board.

The correspondence in this series is composed of both in-coming out out-going letters. Most of these are from missionaries who were part of the MEC denomination and continued under the MC board after union in 1939. The correspondence deals solely with foreign mission work and includes letters from a number of medical missionaries.

In addition, the collection contains documents concerning hospitals in six mission conferences: Central China (after 1947, Mid-China), Foochow, Kiangsi, North China, West China, and Yenping. Some of the files contain direct references to patient care and surgical procedures, but the information mainly addresses administrative concerns.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah6753.htm

Methodist Episcopal Church. Board of Foreign Missions.

Administrative files series of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church , 1819-1955
30.82 cu. feet
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Abstract

The Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, known as the Missionary Society from its origin in 1820 until about 1907, oversaw the work of missionaries in Africa, China, Europe, India, and South America. This series from the Board of Foreign Missions contains committee minutes, reports, correspondence, and reference materials related to the organization's administration of missionary activities overseas.

The material related to medical missions in China in this collection is comprised of correspondence between the Board and missionaries, property records, the minutes of the China Committee, and two volumes regarding the history of the North China mission from 1869 to 1940. Both documents are handwritten and the second book contains related newspaper clippings.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah1800.htm

Methodist Episcopal Church. Board of Missions.

Missionary correspondence of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church , 1840-1912
Microfilm, 28 Rolls
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Abstract

The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was created in 1820 and was reorganized in 1907 into the Board of Foreign Missions and the Board of Home Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

The missionary files series is composed of correspondence from missionaries in the field to the Missionary Society (or Board of Foreign Missions) and correspondence from the Society, or Board, to its missionaries. The former we refer to as 'missionary correspondence', while the later is 'board correspondence.' The files may also contain reference material about missionaries, or about mission stations or conferences. Correspondence is typically more full and complete for the files in the early subseries; for the time period of the 1890s until the 1920s. As the series progresses the files become smaller and more formal. Some files are organized by geographic area or mission conference while others are organized by the missionaries' last names.

This series includes a number of files related to medical missionaries in China, including Moses C. White (the first Methodist missionary to establish a dispensary in China) and Isaac W. Wiley (the first Methodist missionary appointed specifically for medical work). While not all of the material addresses the practice of Western medicine in China, some of the correspondence contains direct references to the practice of medicine in mission hospitals, dispensaries, and rural districts. The collection also contains a folder of letters and floor plans from the Alden Speare Memorial Hospital.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah6749.htm

Methodist Episcopal Church. Woman's Foreign Missionary Society.

Map of Asia , 1906
Processed

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Abstract

This accession contains a cloth map of mission sites and stations in Asia. The map appears to have been created sometime between 1899 and 1912 and was prepared by Mrs. John Talbot Gracey (Annie Ryder Gracey).

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Board of Missions.

Administrative Files of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South , 1866-1952
19.18 cu. feet
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Abstract

The mission agency underwent several name changes and re- organizations from its creation in 1846, but finally settled on Board of Missions around 1910. The material in this sub-series represents administrative and financial concerns of the entire board. Much of the financial and administrative concerns where continued by the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church after merger in 1939.

This collection mainly deals with financial matters. Of interest to researchers of Western medicine in China, the series contains information regarding the financial concerns of all three major medical institutions associated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS): Changchow General Hospital, Huchow Union Hospital (Huchow General), and Soochow Hospital.

In addition, the collection includes the series “Retired Missionaries,” which contains the personnel files of many of the missionaries supported by the MECS Board of Missions. These files are comprised of correspondence, applications, and contracts created by both the missionaries and the Board. A number of the doctors and nurses involved in medical missions in China through the MECS are included in this series.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah1562.htm

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Board of Missions.

Missionary files series of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South , 1897-1940
6 cu. feet
Processed
Unrestricted Access

Abstract

The missionary agency underwent several name changes and re- organizations from its creation in 1846, but finally settled on Board of Missions around 1910. The material in this sub-series represents the foreign missionary concerns of the Board.

The missionary files series is composed of correspondence from missionaries in the field to the Board of Missions and correspondence from the Board to its missionaries. Some files also contain biographical information and reference material concerning the missionary, the mission conference he or she was associated with, or institutional information. A number of the files in the subseries “China” contain correspondence from some of the personnel involved in the medical missions work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in China.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah6752.htm

United Evangelical Church.

Records of the United Evangelical Church , 1891-1923
6.62 cu. feet
Processed
Restricted Access (See Finding Aid for Details)

Abstract

The United Evangelical Church is one of the predecessor denominations to the United Methodist Church. The denomination formed in 1894 as a result of a split in the Evangelical Association.

This collection is made up of records of the various agencies of the church. It also includes material regarding local churches and annual conferences. Two series, the Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society and the Home and Foreign Missionary Society, contain information regarding the practice of Western medicine in China. Relevant records are comprised of newspaper clippings, hospital reports, committee minutes, financial reports, and correspondence to and from the corresponding secretaries of the Board of Missions and members of the Women's Home and Foreign Missionary Society. The collection also contains an undated, oversized map of the Evangelical missions in China which appears to have been issued after the merger between the Evangelical Association and the United Evangelical Church in 1922.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah4364.htm

United Methodist Church (U.S.). General Board of Global Ministries.

Mission Geographical Reference Files, 1883-1970
69 cu. feet
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Abstract

The Mission Geographical Reference Files were created by the former Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Church. The collection contains files pertaining to institutions and mission areas in the United States and around the world.

The subseries “China” includes letters, pamphlets, photographs, blueprints, clippings, annual reports, and other publications from hospitals, dispensaries, and public health programs in which Methodist missionaries in China took part. The files often include a brief history of the institution either as part of an annual report or in a separate document.

Medical institutions and programs founded by the Board of Missions of both the Methodist Episcopal Church and Methodist Episcopal Church, South as well as the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society are represented in the collection. The files also contain information concerning the Methodist missionaries' involvement in union hospitals and medical schools, in which they shared responsibilities with other Protestant missionaries from England, Canada, and the United States. Institutions and programs from every mission conference in China may be found in this collection.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah2120.htm

United Methodist Church (U.S.). General Board of Global Ministries. Mission Education and Cultivation Program Department.

Records of the Mission Education and Cultivation Program Department of the General Board of Global Ministries , 1882-2001
146.36 cu. feet
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Abstract

The Mission Education and Cultivation Program Department, formed in 1997 and later called the Communications Department, served to promote the work of the General Board of Global Ministries through the use of a variety of publications that included articles, photographs, slides, sound recordings, video tapes, electronic images, and written narratives.

A number of organizations within the predecessor denominations of the United Methodist Church initially produced the material included in the records of the Mission Education and Cultivation Program Department. The collection contains materials not only from the United Methodist Church, but also the Methodist Church, Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Methodist Protestant Church, and the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

Black-and-white photographs comprise the majority of the material related to Western medicine in China in this collection. The accession contains portraits of individual medical missionaries as well as the work of doctors and nurses involved in public health programs. In addition, the files include images from the Women's Christian Medical College (Shanghai), the China Nurses Association, and hospitals in every former Methodist mission conference in China. This collection also contains an audio cassette, “Medicine & Public Health,” that contains an interview with Dr. A. Clair Siddall in which he reflects on his experiences in China and the trajectory of Chinese medicine after 1949.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah830.htm

United Methodist Church (U.S.). General Board of Global Ministries. Women's Division.

Records of the Women's Division of the General Board of Global Ministries , 1838-2001
252.00 cu. feet
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Abstract

The Women's Divsion of the General Board of Global Ministries traces its roots back to women's missions boards and societies established by the predecessor denominations of The United Methodist Church, the oldest being the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which was founded in 1869. Ultimately all of the predecessor denominations created women's home and foreign missionary societies or boards. The work evolved out of the conviction that the work of missions to women should be by and for women.

During the course of the mergers of the predecessor denominations, the various women's boards and societies were also merged together. The Women's Division of the General Board Global Ministries was established in 1968 by the merger of the former Women's Division of Christian Service of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church and the Women's Service of the Board of Missions of the Evangelical United Brethren. In 1968 the Board's name was the Board of Missions. It was changed to its current name in 1976.

The collection contains administrative records, photographs, artifacts, and audio-visuals from the Women's Division and its various offices, departments, and predecessor organizations. It also includes records from various institutions that were run or supported by the Women's Division.

Materials directly related to medical missions in China include photograph albums, committee minutes, correspondence to and from the various Women's Foreign Missionary Societies, and applications from individual missionaries, some of which may be accessed by researchers. The collection also contains extensive information concerning the creation and proceedings of Women's Christian Medical College as well as documentation from Chinkiang Hospital for Women and Children, Wuhu General Hospital, Nanchang Women and Children's Hospital, and Nanchang University Hospital.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah6622.htm

United Methodist Church (U.S.). General Board of Global Ministries. World Division .

Records of the World Division of the General Board of Global Ministries , 1808-2004
347.29 cu. feet
Processed
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Abstract

The World Division of the General Board of Global Ministries, formed by the United Methodist Church in 1972, dealt with the denomination's missional programs outside the United States. As the inheritor of the foreign missions efforts of the predecessor denominations of the United Methodist Church, the beginnings of the Board stretch back over 150 years with mission work among the Native Americans in Ohio. The World Division over its history has managed mission work overseas on every continent. It has built churches, schools, hospitals, and homes, and has provided scholarships to students from around the world.

This collection contains general administrative files from the World Division of the General Board of Global Ministries. Materials related to Western medicine in China are mainly contained in the Foreign Property and Geographic series. Records include deeds and leases related to hospitals and dispensaries, reports and correspondence from medical schools affiliated with the United Methodist Church and other denomination's mission boards, and committee minutes and annual reports.

The accession also contains files from the China Missions History Project, including the oral histories of a number of medical missionaries and their spouses. These histories often contain detailed accounts of medical practice as well as stories of the missionaries' time in China during the various wars of the early and mid-twentieth century. Brief synopses as well as audio cassettes of the interviews are available.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah6581.htm

Serials

Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New constitution). Board of Missions.

Annual Reports , 1854-1894; 1910-1913; 1946

Abstract

In 1905, the General Conference ordered the division of the Home, Frontier and Foreign Missionary Society into two separate organizations the Foreign Missionary Society and the Home Missionary Society. When the Church of the United Brethren in Christ merged with the Evangelical Church in 1946, the missionary societies of both churches were formed into a Board of Missions.

The Annual Reports to the various forms of the Board of Missions reflect this progress in the Church of the United Brethren's medical missions in China. The reports contain portions of missionary correspondence, financial reports, medical statistics, and personnel lists.

Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New constitution). Women's Missionary Association.

Annual Reports , 1898-1917; 1930-1947

Abstract

The origin of the Woman's Missionary Association began with the establishment by Lizzie Hoffman of the Miami Annual Conference Woman's Missionary Association, May 9, 1872. Other Conferences created their own branches using the Miami Branch as a model. On October 21, 1875, a national Woman's Missionary Association (WMA) was formed by representatives of nine conference branches, entirely independent of the General Board of Missions but in cooperation with it. The WMA was recognized by the 1877 General Conference. In 1881, the Woman's Missionary Association was incorporated and the first Board of Trustees was elected. In 1882, the first issue of the Women's Evangel, the WMA's forum for their annual report, was published.

When the Church of the United Brethren in Christ merged with the Evangelical Church in 1946, the Women's Missionary Association merged with the Woman's Missionary Society of the Evangelical Church to form the Women's Society of World Service.

The annual reports of the WMA, published as the “Women's Evangel,” contain correspondence, statistics, financial reports, and articles by missionaries in the field. Each issue also contains personnel listings.

Evangelical Church. Missionary Society.

Annual Reports , 1907-1946

Abstract

The Evangelical Church was formed in 1922 by the merger of the Evangelical Association of North America and the United Evangelical Church. The merger was a reunion of the two churches who originally split in 1894, when a third of the membership of the Evangelical Association withdrew and formed the United Evangelical Church. In 1946, the Evangelical Church also merged with the Church of the United Brethren in Christ to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

The Annual Reports for 1907 to 1922 contain documents from the Board of Missions of the Evangelical Association, a predecessor denomination to the Evangelical Church. The report of the Missionary Society of the Evangelical Church for 1923 lists the names of missionaries formerly supported by the Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the United Evangelical Church. These missionaries were transferred to the Board of Missions of the Evangelical Church after the merger.

The Annual Reports of the Evangelical Church contain information similar to that of other denominations. The yearly publications include portions of correspondence from missionaries in the field, personnel listings, some financial information, and a list of institutions. Documentation from the denomination's Women's Foreign Missionary Society is included in the publications. Medical missionaries are designated by “Dr.” or “R.N.” and often contributed summaries of their medical work or the needs of a particular institution.

Related Material

The Annual Reports for 1922 to 1946 are also available in the Records of the Evangelical Church.

Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions.

Directories of Foreign Missionaries of the Methodist Church , 1941-1964.

Abstract

The directories lists the names and appointments of missionaries overseas between 1941 and 1964. The documents are a helpful resource for locating the names and placements of medical missionaries to China sent by both the Board of Missions, organized in 1952, and its predecessor, the Board of Missions and Church Extension.

Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions.

Division of Foreign Missions, Board of Missions and Church Extension, Annual Reports , 1940-1951

Abstract

In 1939 the Board of Missions and Church Extension was created by the uniting conference of the. The Division of Foreign Missions inherited the overseas mission work of all three denominations. The Board would go on to be reorganized in 1952 as the Board of Missions.

Between 1939 and 1951, the Division of Foreign Missions did not establish any new institutions in China, but did continue to administer those already established by the former MEC and MECS. The Division did continue to appoint missionaries to the China conferences, but their ability to send new personnel to the field was limited by fighting between the Japanese and Chinese during World War II and eventually by the Communist revolution.

The Annual Reports of the Division of Foreign Missions maintain the format of its predecessor organizations and generally include a summary of medical work from the conference superintendent as well as medical statistics and financial reports. The content mainly addresses the treatment of soldiers and civilians wounded by the wars during this period as well as administrative concerns, especially property damage.

Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions.

Women's Division of Christian Service, Board of Missions and Church Extension, Annual Reports , 1941-1963

Abstract

The Women's Division of Christian Service, like the Division of Foreign Missions, arose from the unification of the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC), Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS) and Methodist Protestant Church (MPC) denominations and the subsequent creation of the Board of Missions and Church Extension in 1939.

The Women's Division continued the work of the women's boards and societies of the three predecessor denominations. It administered and supported the institutions and personnel already in China from the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the MEC and the Women's Missionary Council of the MECS. The organization also continued to send new doctors, nurses, and public health workers to the field. The organizations efforts were, however, hindered by fighting between the Japanese and Chinese during World War II and eventually by the Communist revolution.

The Annual Reports of the Women's Division of Christian Service generally include a summary of the Division's correspondence with individual missionaries as well as documentation of accomplishments, changes, and needs. Much of the content of the reports between 1941 and the early 1950s addresses the treatment of civilians and soldiers during the wars.

Methodist Episcopal Church. Board of Foreign Missions .

Annual Reports , 1907-1939

Abstract

In 1907, the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was reorganized into the the Board of Foreign Missions and the Board of Home Missions. The former inherited the work of the Missionary Society in China, including its support and administration of medical missionaries and institutions.

From 1907 to the mid-1920s, the Annual Reports included excerpts from correspondence written by individual missionaries to the Board of Foreign Missions. Missionaries reported on patient treatment, medical needs, and evangelism within hospitals and dispensaries as well as through public health programs. Beginning in the mid-1920s, the yearly reports from the mission field became more streamlined. These later documents contain brief reports by the conference superintendents summarizing the changes in the mission over the year. The summaries generally include a section entitled, “Medical Work,” and may also contain patient and personnel statistics.

Methodist Episcopal Church. Missionary Society.

Annual Reports , 1840-1907

Abstract

The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was created in 1820 and initially oversaw both home and foreign missions.

Medical missions in China under the Missionary Society began with the first Methodist missionaries, Judson D. Collins and Moses C. White, in Foochow (Fuzhou) in 1846. The latter opened a small dispensary shortly after his arrival. By 1907, the Missionary Society had supported nearly forty medical missionaries and ten institutions.

The Annual Reports of the Missionary Society reflect the establishment and progress of medical missions in China throughout the organization's existence. Early reports from the China mission contain excerpts from letters written by individual missionaries describing their efforts and needs. As the medical work expanded, dispensary and hospital staff as well as public health workers also included treatment statistics, human interest stories, and personnel lists. The Annual Reports also contain treasurer's reports which document the budgets of mission institutions. In addition, the Missionary Society Annual Reports include information related to the personnel and institutions supported by the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society.

Related Material

The reports of the Missionary Society from 1820 to 1895 are also available on microfilm.

Methodist Episcopal Church. Woman's Foreign Missionary Society.

Annual Reports, 1877-1940

Abstract

The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society (WFMS) was established in 1869 by the Female Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a female auxiliary of the Missionary Society based in New York. The impetus for the organization derived from the founders' conviction that the work of evangelizing, healing, and educating women overseas could be accomplished best through the work of female, rather than male, missionaries. The organization acted independently of the Missionary Society until 1884 when it was incorporated into the Missionary Society. However, the WFMS continued to elect its own executive committee and maintained branches throughout the United States until its reorganization into the Women's Division of Christian Service in 1940.

The WFMS sent its first medical missionary, Dr. Lucinda Combs, to China in 1873. By 1940, the organization had appointed one hundred single women to China as nurses, doctors, hospital administrators, and public health workers. It established and administered hospitals, dispensaries, nurse training programs, and women's medical schools during its existence.

The Annual Reports of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society resemble those of the Missionary Society and the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The records include correspondence from individual missionaries, medical statistics, personnel lists, and financial reports. Many of the yearly reports also include a detailed missionary directory of not only missionaries in the field, but also those who had retired, resigned, died, or married.

Related Material

The records of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society from 1887 to 1940 are also available on microfilm.

Methodist Episcopal Church. Woman's Foreign Missionary Society.

Annual Reports , Woman's Foreign Missionary Society Branches, 1871-1940

Abstract

In addition to the Annual Reports of the central board of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society (WFMS), the General Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church, located at Drew University, holds the annual reports of the local branches affiliated with the WFMS. These regional organizations promoted the work of the WFMS, played a vital role in recruiting new missionaries, and raised financial support for individual missionaries in the field.

The Annual Reports of local branches often contain more lengthy reports from individual missionaries, excerpted from missionary correspondence. Some of the branches also published detailed lists of missionaries in the field as well as those who retired, resigned, died, or married. The dates of each event are generally listed next to the missionaries name and, in the case of women who have married, the branch usually lists her married name as well.

Annual Reports are available for the following branches:

Baltimore 1877-1940

Brooklyn 1889

Cincinnati 1880-1927

Columbia River 1895-1939

Des Moines 1894-1940

Minneapolis 1894-1927

New England 1888-1939

New York 1885-1940

Northwestern 1870-1940

Pacific 1889-1939

Philadelphia 1871-1940

Rock River 1871-1940

St. Louis 1874

Topeka 1890-1940

Western 1879-1892

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Board of Missions .

Annual Reports , 1871-1940.

Abstract

The mission agency of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS) was originally formulated as the Missionary Society in 1846. The denomination reorganized the society and formally changed the name to the Board of Missions around 1910. However, the title appears on earlier documents as well.

The MECS appointed its first missionaries, Rev. Charles Taylor and Mrs. Charlotte Jane Taylor, and Rev. and Mrs. Benjamin Jenkins, to Shanghai, China in 1848. The first medical missionary did not arrive until 1878. Dr. Walter Lambuth, the son of pioneer missionary parents, established the first MECS dispensary in Shanghai and laid the foundation for future medical missionaries. When the MECS united with the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Protestant Church in 1939, the Board of Missions had supported over fifty medical missionaries as well as their own hospitals and dispensaries. In addition, MECS missionaries participated in the work of union colleges and hospitals.

The Annual Reports of the Board of Missions contain portions of missionary correspondence, mission statistics, and treasurer's reports. Medical work in China is discussed either as a unique subject heading in the larger report of the China Mission or in the context of a specific conference's report. The reports also contain personnel directories in which doctors and nurses are often helpfully designated by “M.D.” or “R.N.”

Related Material

The MECS Board of Missions Annual Reports from 1866 to 1942 are also available on microfilm.

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Missionary Society .

Annual Reports , 1846-1854

Abstract

The Missionary Society was formed by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1846 shortly after its formation as a denomination. The Missionary Society oversaw both home and foreign missions. It was formally renamed the Board of Missions around 1910.

These early reports from missionaries in China to the Missionary Society do not directly address the practice of medicine in China as the first medical missionary did not begin work in Shanghai until 1878. However, the reports do contain some indications of the Society's philosophy of missions and the ways in which medical missions were to be integrated into that philosophy.

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Board of Missions.

Missionary Voice , 1911-1932
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Abstract

The magazine, Missionary Voice , was produced by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South as a forum for distributing information concerning home and foreign missions. The series contains editorials, articles, and human interest stories related to the work of medical missionaries in China.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/xmlui//handle/10516/1128

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Women's Foreign Missionary Society .

Annual Reports , 1882; 1891-1910

Abstract

The Women's Foreign Missionary Society (WFMS) of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South was formed in 1878 with the expressed purpose of sending female missionaries to preach to women in other nations.

Women's health work in China began before the creation of the WFMS with the anti-foot-binding campaigns of Mary Lambuth, wife of the pioneer missionary Rev. J.W. Lambuth, and an English missionary named Lady Little. Following its establishment, the executive board of the WFMS began to send “lady doctors” to the field, beginning with Dr. Mildred Phillips in 1884. The WFMS also established hospitals and dispensaries to China, supported rural medical work, and continued to send doctors and nurses to the field until 1910 when the WFMS was reorganized into the Women's Missionary Council.

Although the WFMS of the MECS was never a fully independent organization like its northern counterpart, the Annual Reports of this organization nonetheless address the particular efforts of the women appointed by the WFMS. The reports contain accounts from individual missionaries, financial reports, personnel lists, and medical statistics.

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Women's Missionary Council .

Annual Reports , 1911-1940

Abstract

Around 1910, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South reorganized and renamed the Women's Foreign Missionary Society. The organization's new incarnation, the Women's Missionary Council, inherited the work of the WFMS and continued to appoint new missionaries and administer institutions.

The Annual Reports of the Women's Missionary Council mostly follow the format of the former organization. Reports include accounts from individual missionaries, financial reports, personnel lists, and medical statistics. In the mid-1920s, the reports became more streamlined and were often written by conference superintendents or the leaders of hospitals or medical schools, but the content remained similar to earlier reports.

Personal Papers

Armistead, George R.

Scrapbook, 1801-1956
0.5 cu. feet
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Abstract

The scrapbook in this collection is composed of photocopied items from books and other sources which give information about the Lambuth family. Some information concerning Dr. James W. Lambuth's work in China is included. Dr. Walter R. Lambuth is mentioned occasionally, but with little reference to his time in China.

Canright, Harry Lee

Papers , 1902-1945
Processed
Unrestricted Access

Abstract

Harry Lee Canright (1864-1959) was a pioneer medical missionary with the Methodist Episcopal Church in China. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1889. Prior to becoming a missionary he practiced medicine in Battle Creek, Michigan from 1889-1891. In September 1891 he married Margaret M. Markham, and later that month they sailed for China. He was an ordained Methodist minister.

In 1892, the Canrights arrived in Chengtu (now Chengdu) in the West China Mission. Between their arrival in Chengtu and Canright's retirement in 1927, Harry Lee led the medical work in the district, served as the physician in charge of the Chengtu Hospital in 1905, and a year later began teaching nurses and medical assistants at Chengtu College, which later became a part of West China Union University. Canright is credited as the founder of the Medical School of the University and became the first dean of the school in 1917. Although he retired to the United States in 1927, he continued to teach medical classes to prospective missionaries at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.

This collection contains papers related to Harry Lee Canright, including his autobiography and business card, four letters, floor plans, six black-and-white photographs, and a poster announcing a lecture by Canright. In his autobiography, Canright recounted the nature of some of his medical work in China at Chengtu General Hospital as well as his involvement with West China Union University as the dean of the Medical School. Two of the photographs and the floor plans also pertain to Chengtu Hospital.

Related Materials

For additional information on the Canrights, refer to:

Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions, Biographical Reference Series

Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions, Missionary Files Series

Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions, Administrative Files Series

Annual Reports of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Chuch, the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Board of Missions, Methodist Church.

Conrow, Marion Lane

Papers , 1906-1983
11.43 cu. feet
Processed
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Abstract

Marion Lane Conrow (1894-1986) was a missionary in Korea from 1922 to 1962. Conrow's papers document her life as a missionary and educator in Korea. More significantly for the researcher of Western medicine in China, the collection contains an obituary of Harold Brewster (1906-1965), a medical missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church to China where Harold and his wife Dorothy worked in the Wiley General Hospital in Kutien and the Willis F. Pierce Memorial Hospital in Foochow (Fuzhou), beginning in 1931. There is also a brief letter written by the Brewsters during their later service in Korea.

Related Material

For additional information on the Brewsters, see the Missionary Files Series of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church and the Records of the Mission Education and Cultivation Program Department of the General Board of Global Ministries.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah1048.htm

Downie, Gerald L.

Clippings and Photographs , 1981-1984
Processed
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Abstract

Gerald L. Downie (1900-2000) was a Methodist Episcopal Church medical missionary assigned to the China mission field with his wife Maurine from 1932 to 1950.

While in China, Downie worked at the Nanping Methodist Hospital. His wife was a children's school teacher during her missionary years. They were forced to leave China in 1944 when the Communists came to power. While in the United States, Downie completed a residency at the Chicago Wesleyan Hospital. In 1946 the Downies returned to China and remained there until a furlough in 1950. The Downies later continued their missionary work in India, Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), Taiwan, Malaysia, and Honduras.

This accession contains clippings and photographs related to Gerald Downie and his work in China. There are newspaper clippings which have been photocopied from the origianals. One is dated 1981, and the other is dated 1984. Both are from "The Journal, Sunday Edition," located in Kankakee, Illinois.These clippings contain biographical information on the Downies.

There are eight black and white photographs in this collection. All appear to have been taken from one large long photograph, so it is possible to piece it together to make the complete picture. Each individual in these photographs has been identified with a number. There are two sheets with numbers on them to aid in identification, but not all individuals have been identified. Of those identified, a number are fellow medical missionaries, including Drs. Harold Brewster, Margaret Tucker, and Bruce Jarvis. This list is included at the end of the photographs. The picture was taken in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Methodist Episcopal Church in China. It was taken on November 17, 1947, at the Ting An Tan Church in Foochow, Fukien, China.

Related Material

For additional information on Gerald Downie, refer to the:

Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions, Mission Biographical Reference Files

Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions Missionary Files Series

Records of the United Methodist Church, General Board of Global Ministries

Records of the Mission Education and Cultivation Program Department of the General Board of Global Ministries

Records of the United Methodist Church, General Board of Global Ministries, World Division

Erickson, Alma

Slides and audio tapes , 1950
0.25 cu. feet
Unprocessed
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Abstract

Alma Elvera Erickson (1898-1989) was born in Barnholm, Denmark and received her early medical training in the country before emigrating to the United States in 1927. Erickson continued her medical and missionary training in the U.S., eventually traveling to China through the Women's Foreign Missionary Society in 1936. She worked as a public health nurse as well as in obstetrics and pediatrics at the Chengtu General Hospital in West China (Szechuan) until 1943 when the upheaval of World War II forced her and many other missionaries to leave the country. Erickson returned after the war to continue her public health work, but found that the Communist government was opposed to any missionary work. Erickson departed from China in 1953 and went on to serve as a missionary in Malaysia until her retirement in 1968.

This collection contains slides and audio tapes created and used by Alma Erickson during her time as a missionary in China and Malaysia. The audio tapes mainly address her work in Malaysia, but the slides contain some images of her medical work in China.

Related Material

For more information on Alma Erickson, see the Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions, Mission Biographical Reference Files.

Herbert, Anne E.

Papers , 1946-1967
0.23 cu. feet
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Abstract

Anne E. Herbert (1897- ) was a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, missionary to China from 1925-1940. She received her B.A. in 1917 from Lander College (South Carolina) and a diploma from Scarritt Bible and Training School in 1921 (Missouri). She also attended Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in 1925. In 1946 she earned a M.S. in nursing from Western Reserve University.

Prior to becoming a missionary, Herbert taught high school in Denmark, South Carolina, from 1917 to 1918, and was an assistant in the English department at Lander College (1918-1919). In 1925 she began her mission work as a teacher and supervisor of nurses at the Margaret Williamson Hospital School of Nursing in Shanghai. She held these positions until 1940 when she began work with the Women's Division of Christian Service, part of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church.

The Papers of Anne E. Herbert is a varied collection which contains correspondence, programs, and articles. Of note to researchers of Western Medicine in China, there is a copy of an April 1946 report prepared by Frank T. Cartwright entitled Report on the Special Mission to China. A news clipping from the Alta Advocate (Dinuba, California) dated March 28, 1968, contains a biographical sketch of Ann Harder who was associated with Herbert while both were in Hong Kong. Additional miscellaneous unrelated items are also included in this material.

Related Materials

Additional material related to Anne E. Herbert can be located in the Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions, Missionary Files Series and in the Annual Reports of the Board of Missions, Methodist Church. A single letter from Herbert, dated 1980, is located in the Records of the United Methodist Church, General Board of Global Ministries, World Division.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah760.htm

Herbert, Anne E.

Papers , 1914-1988
3.0 cu. feet
Unprocessed
Unrestricted Access

Abstract

In addition to the processed files listed above, the General Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church at Drew University holds a collection of unprocessed papers created by missionary nurse Anne E. Herbert. This accession includes correspondence, pamphlets, photographs, and clippings as well as board and financial records from Margaret Williamson Hospital, Shanghai Union School of Nursing, the Nurse's Association of China, and Women's Christian Medical College in Shanghai (Beijing).

The bulk of the correspondence is from Anne to her parents during her time at Scarritt Bible and Training School and throughout her service in China. There is also a folder of the letters and writings of Dr. Josephine Lawney and one containing a lecture by Young J. Allen, both Methodist Episcopal Church, South medical missionaries. In addition, Herbert's papers contain correspondence with Chinese doctors and nurses and short biographies, with photographs, of many of the Chinese students of the School of Nursing and Women's Christian Medical College.

Related Materials

Jett, Wenona Wilson

Memoirs , 1983
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Abstract

Wenona Wilson Jett (1892-1984), Methodist Episcopal church member who served as a missionary to Yungchan, South Fukien, China. She was born in Anderson, Indiana and graduated from Baker University in 1916. She married Rev. Harry Carmichael Jett on August 26, 1919 and started missionary work, with her husband, in 1920. From 1933-1950 Wenona started served the English Presbyterian church in Yungchan.

Although the main file of the accession is Jett's autobiographical sketch, “To China: A Missionary Remembers, 1920-1950,” the collection also includes material related to Western medicine in China. The collection contains a memoir of Dr. James C. Thoroughman (1904-1972), a medical missionary to China with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Dr. Thoroughman served as a physician in the Soochow Hospital beginning in 1929. A letter written from Soochow (Suzhou) in 1938 from Dr. Thoroughman and his wife, Verna, to A.C. Stubbs is also attached to the memoir.

Related Material

For more information on Dr. James C. Thoroughman, see the:

Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions, Biographical Reference Series

Administrative File Series of the Board of Missions of Methodist Episcopal South

Annual Reports of the Mission Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South

Lambuth, Walter Russell

Papers , 1907-1924
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Walter Russell Lambuth (1854-1921), an American bishop, medical doctor and missionary, was born in Shanghai on November 10, 1854 to missionary parents. In 1877, he was ordained an elder in the Tennessee Conference and was sent to China, where he worked in Shanghai (Beijing) and adjacent areas. He organized medical and hospital service at Soochow and Shanghai founded the Japan Mission of his church and schools in Japan. In 1894 he was elected General Secretary of the Board of Missions . Lambuth was elected bishop by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1910 and was assigned to Brazil, but instead directed the founding of a mission in what was then the Belgian Congo. During World War 1he went to Europe and visited the front and made arrangements for establishing Southern Methodism in Belgium, Poland and Czechoslovakia. In 1921 he tried and failed to establish a mission in Siberia. He died in Yokohama, Japan, on September 26, 1921.

The Walter Russell Lambuth collection reflects the Bishop's activities outside the United States in a series of manuscripts, articles and letters. Of note to the topic of Western medicine in China, there is one typed manuscript of his book, Medical Missions: The Twofold Task. There is a good chance that most, if not all, of the other typed manuscript articles of Lambuth's trips around the world were published by the Southern Methodist Church in their various periodicals. The correspondence is addressed to family, friends, colleagues and associated groups. Clippings are either death notices and/or tributes for both Lambuth and his wife.

Related Material

Annual Reports of the Board of Missions, Methodist Episcopal Church, South Papers of Mary Lambuth

Paul Bentley Kern Collection

Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions, Biographical Reference Series

United Methodist Church (U.S.). General Board of Global Ministries. Mission Education and Cultivation Program Department Collection

Videocassette: “From Pearl River to the Ends of the Earth: The Life Story of Bishop W.R. Lambuth,” Methodist Church (U.S.) General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

Link to Finding Aid: http://archives.gcah.org/publicdata/gcah4569.htm

LaRue, Eunice

Papers , 1946-1957
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Eunice LaRue served as a medical missionary to China and India. Her term in China lasted from 1947 to 1951 when the Communists established their government in the country. LaRue's work included time at Soochow Hospital and in the surrounding areas where she established a program that provided public health nurses and well-baby clinics to rural districts.

This collection mainly contains correspondence to and from Eunice LaRue. It also includes portions of a scrapbook, photographs from China and India, a program for a missionary commissioning service, a book of negatives from India, Chinese currency, and news clippings.

Related Material

For more information concerning Eunice LaRue, please see Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions, Mission Biographical Reference Files.

Rice, Edmond L.

Papers , 1940-1980
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The collection contains the papers of the missionaries Dr. Edmond L. Rice (b. 1905) and Mary O. Holler Rice who served as missionaries to China and Pakistan through the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mary Oni Holler began her service in China in 1933 with the Women's Foreign Missionary Society; Edmond Rice arrived in 1934. The pair married in 1936 and had one daughter, Marian. They continued their work in East China, with some interruptions due to furloughs, uprisings in China and disturbances caused by World War II, at the hospitals in Changchow (Zhangzhou), Soochow (Suzhou), and Huchow (Huzhou) until 1947. In 1953 the Rices accepted a new appointment to the mission field in Pakistan.

This accession is mainly comprised of correspondence, handwritten and typed, with family members and friends, as well as with one another during Mary's return to the United States in 1938. A number of the letters include details concerning fellow medical missionaries Doctors Snell, Thoroughman, Paty, and Manget. The files also include photographs, passports, clippings, medical records, and Edmond's autobiography.

Related Material

Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions, Administrative Files Series

Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions, Biographical Reference Series

United Methodist Church (U.S.). General Board of Global Ministries. Mission Education and Cultivation Program Department Collection

Ritzman, M.E.

Papers , 1917-1949
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This accession contains pamphlets, a poster, periodicals, and clippings dealing with work in China. Some of the material is in Chinese. Some of it refers to Dr. B.E. Niebel (1886-1936), who served as a physician at the Evangelical Hospital in Liling, China. The folder also contains an article about the Evangelical Hospital as well as a brief article written by Rose Fecker, R.N., for “The World Evangel.”

Related Material

More information for B.E. Niebel and Rose Fecker can be found in the Records of the Evangelical Church as well as the Annual Reports of the Evangelical Church.

Smith, J. Hal, Mrs.

Biography , 1942
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This file contains a short biography of Regina M. Bigler, a medical missionary to China for the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. The work is entitled, “The Beloved Physician of Cathay: The Story of Dr. Regina M. Bigler, M.D.,” and was published in 1942.

Related Material

For additional information concerning Dr. Regina Bigler, see the Annual Reports of the Foreign Missionary Society of the United Brethren Church and the Records of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Foreign Missionary Society.

Snell, Grace Birkett

Autobiography , 1965
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Grace Birkett Snell (1882-1967) was a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, missionary to China for twenty-seven years. She graduated from Peabody Normal College in 1903 and attended the Methodist Training School for a year prior to her missionary work. In 1908 she was appointed to China to work at the Soochow Hospital with her husband, Dr. John A Snell (d. 1936). Their medical missionary work also took them to the regions surrounding Soochow (Suzhou). Grace Snell retired in 1936 after the death of her husband.

This collection contains a seventy-six page typed manuscript by Grace Birkett Snell entitled "The Life of Grace Birkett Snell: An Autobiography." Her account includes descriptions of her time in China with her husband and children as well as impressions of Dr. Snell's work and the medical buildings in Soochow. The autobiography also contains descriptions of interactions with numerous other missionaries in Soochow, among them Doctors W.H. Park, R.M. Campbell, and James C. Thoroughman.

Related Material

Additional material concerning the Snell family can be found in the autobiography of Grace and John's son, Walter Arthur Snell in the Methodist Archives at Drew University. See also:

Administrative Files of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South

Administrative Files Series of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church

Annual Reports of the Mission Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Spreng, Minerva Strawman

Reports and Correspondence , 1907-1923
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Minerva Strawman Spreng (1863-1924) was organizer and president of the Woman's Missionary Society (W.M.S.) of the Evangelical Association from 1892 to 1924. The W.M.S. began in 1884 after Spreng and two other women wrote a letter, signed by fifty other petitioners, requesting permission from the Board of Missions to establish and organize women's missionary societies.

The Minerva Strawman Spreng Papers contains reports and correspondence related to the Woman's Missionary Society of the Evangelical Association. Two of the folders contain correspondence from the China Mission and include letters from Anna M. Renninger, a missionary nurses in the field. Some of the letters contain brief accounts of Renninger's medical work.

Related Material

For more information concerning Anna Renninger, please see:

Evangelical Church, Records of the Evangelical Church

Evangelical United Brethren Church, Records of the Evangelical United Brethren Church. Board of Missions.

Weiss, Ernest Walter

Papers , 1939-1954
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Ernest Walter Weiss (1908-1985) and Hilda (Seiter) Weiss were medical missionaries to China and Korea through the Methodist Church (U.S.). The couple arrived in China in 1939. They spent their first year at the College of Chinese Studies for their language training and then proceeded to Shanghai (Beijing) to begin medical work. Their stations included work in Shanghai and Nanchang, though their work was often interrupted by the warfare of the decade. Ernest and Hilda Weiss, with their daughters Betty and Beatrice, returned to the United States in 1951. Dr. Weiss worked as a surgeon for the University of Cincinnati Medical Center until 1954 when the family departed for a new mission assignment in Korea.

This collection contains one roll of microfilm which documents the Weiss's work in both China and the United States. The collection contains correspondence to friends, family, and other missionaries, publications and form letters from the Board of Missions, and miscellaneous documents from the Weiss family. Some of the letters, mainly written by Hilda to family members, contain details of Ernest and Hilda's work in the hospitals in Shanghai and Nanchang.

Related Material

Also see the papers of Hilda Weiss-Ardus, 2008, and Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions, Missionary files series of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church.

Weiss-Ardus, Hilda

Memoir , 2008
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Abstract

The accession contains a memoir by Hilda Weiss-Ardus, a medical missionary in China and Korea, entitled “Hilda's Book, Faithful to the End: American Medical Missionary to China and Korea in the Mid-twentieth Century.” The memoir includes detailed information concerning the medical work of Hilda and her first husband, Ernest Weiss, at a hospital and clinic in Nanchang, China from 1939 to 1943 and 1947 to 1951. The document was edited by the Weiss's daughter, Elizabeth Weiss Richardson

Related Material

Also see the Weiss Family Papers, 1939-1954, and Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions, Missionary files series of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church.

West, Hester Dale

Photographs , 1935-1939
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Abstract

Hester Dale West (m. Moore) was a missionary to China with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South for from 1932 until 1952. Her photograph collection contains three images. One is from the Soochow Hospital Clinic and two are from the McTyeire School. Fellow medical missionaries Elizabeth McIntosh, Anne E. Hubert, and Mary Hood are included the latter.

Related Material

Additional information on Hester Dale West is located in the Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions.

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Benn, Rachel

Artifacts , 1904
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Rachel Benn Dunkel (1853-1927) was a medical doctor and missionary to China for the Methodist Episcopal Church. She was born near Try Center in Pennsylvania in 1853. Benn graduated from Northwestern State Normal School and Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. In 1890 she was sent to China by the Philadelphia Branch of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society where she served for eighteen years. Her medical service included the Tiensten (Tianjin), Peking (Beijing) and Taianfu (Tai'an) areas. Benn retired in 1911 and later married Peter Dunkle in 1924. She died in Meadville, Pennsylvania on May 4, 1927.

This collection contains a s ilk banner awarded to Rachel Benn, M.D., upon her retirement from China and a paper scroll. The banner is almost seven feet long and three feet wide with a number of Chinese characters on its face. The scroll contains seven sheets. Each of the sheets has two images possible done in water color and pen and ink. There are Chinese characters on the scrolls as well.

Related Material

For more information concerning Dr. Rachel Benn see the Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions, Biographical Reference Series.

Bigler, Regina

Artifact , 1932
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Dr. Regina Bigler was a noted missionary for the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and a distinguished physician for women and children in Canton, South China. On November 16, 1892, she left for China to begin her forty-year career of medical service in that country. From her early years of work, she eventually acquired a maternity hospital building on the Beth Eden Compound, along with the Coover Dispensary where she conducted clinics. After her 40th anniversary, she returned to the United States to attend the General Conference of 1933, which convened in Akron, Ohio. The Board of Missions voted to grant her emeritus missionary status; she was the first person under the Foreign Board to be given such an honor. The board arranged for her to return to China and to continue the work she loved. On December 15, 1937, Dr. Bigler died in the Matilda Hospital in Hong Kong. She was buried in China.

This accession consists of a Chinese silk embroidered wall hanging with carved wooden hangers. The item was presented to Dr. Regina Bigler to commemorate her 40th anniversary as a missionary in China.

Related Material

For more information about Dr. Regina Bigler, see Mrs. J. Hal Smith's biography, “The Beloved Physician of Cathay: The Story of Dr. Regina M. Bigler, M.D.”

Dubs, Emma M.

Papers , undated
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Emma M. Dubs was a missionary to China with her husband C. Newton Dubs for the United Evangelical Church. The Emma Dubs Memorial Hospital in Yu Hsien, Hunan, China, founded by missionaries of the United Evangelical Church, was named for her.

This folder contains a description of the grave of Emma M. Dubs, photographs of the grave, and an unidentified group photograph.

Related Materials

Photographs of Emma Dubs and her husband C. Newton Dubs are included in a Scrapbook of Evangelical China Mission, 1903-1912 in the Records of the Evangelical Church.

Stritmatter, Albert.

Letters , 1869-1880
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Albert Stritmatter (1847-1880) was a Methodist minister and missionary to China. Born October 30, 1847 in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, he moved to Ohio with his family in 1858 and remained there until leaving for China in 1873. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church when he was nineteen, but had known from his youth that he wanted to enter the ministry. He attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, from 1868 until 1872, where he was an excellent overall student, even though he did not attend regularly. He left as a missionary for China in 1873. On his way to that country he met Dr. Lucy Combs, one of the first medical missionaries sent to Foochow, China by the Women's Foreign Missionary Society. The couple married five years later. In 1880, the couple returned home because of Albert's illness; he died in Denver, Colorado on November 22nd of that year.

This collection includes two sets of typed correspondence from Albert Stritmatter. The first contains letters to his sister, Rose, dating from 1868 to 1879. Two letters penned by Lucy Stritmatter, including one announcing Albert's death, end the correspondence. The letters also include mentions of other medical missionaries to China: Drs. Lucy Hoag, Letitia Mason, and William Tarbell. The second set of letters, or articles, were originally submitted to and published by the Athens Messanger during Albert's service in China. A brief biographical note on Albert's life dated March 30, 1979 is also included.

Related Material

For additional information on Albert and Lucy (Combs) Stritmatter, see Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions, Biographical Reference Series as well as the Annual Reports of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Chuch, the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Board of Missions, Methodist Church, and the Women's Foreign Missionary Society, Methodist Episcopal Church.

Wiley, Isaac William

Correspondence , 1851-1874
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Isaac William Wiley (1825-1884) was the first medical missionary sent to China by the Methodist Episcopal Church. Dr. Wiley along with his wife Frances Jane and their daughter arrived in Foochow on July 9, 1851 and served until January 1854 when Isaac and his daughter left the mission field following Frances's death. Wiley subsequently became the bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1972. He died on a visit to China in 1884. Wiley General Hospital in the Kutien District, Foochow, which opened in 1893, was named for him.

This collection contains two handwritten letters. One is addressed to Kidder, and one is addressed to Bishop Andrews.

Related Material

Other material related to Isaac William Wiley can be found in the Missionary Correspondence of the

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United Methodist Church Archives

Western Medicine in China, 1800-1950 Guide to Collections in the United Methodist Church Archives, Madison, NJ

Prepared in August, 2011 by Heather L. Bennett

Table of Contents

Introduction

A Brief History of Methodist, United Brethren, and Evangelical Medical Missions in China

The Methodist Episcopal Church, 1846-1900

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1848-1900

Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Protestant Church, and Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1900-1951

Church of the United Brethren and the Evangelical Church, 1889-1946

Agency Records

Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New constitution). Foreign Missionary Society.

Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New constitution). Women's Missionary Association.

Evangelical Church.

Evangelical United Brethren Church. Board of Missions.

Evangelical United Brethren Church. Women's Society of World Service.

Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions.

Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions.

Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions.

Methodist Episcopal Church. Board of Foreign Missions.

Methodist Episcopal Church. Board of Missions.

Methodist Episcopal Church. Woman's Foreign Missionary Society.

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Board of Missions.

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Board of Missions.

United Evangelical Church.

United Methodist Church (U.S.). General Board of Global Ministries.

United Methodist Church (U.S.). General Board of Global Ministries. Mission Education and Cultivation Program Department.

United Methodist Church (U.S.). General Board of Global Ministries. Women's Division.

United Methodist Church (U.S.). General Board of Global Ministries. World Division .

Serials

Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New constitution). Board of Missions.

Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New constitution). Women's Missionary Association.

Evangelical Church. Missionary Society.

Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions.

Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions.

Methodist Church (U.S.). Board of Missions.

Methodist Episcopal Church. Board of Foreign Missions .

Methodist Episcopal Church. Missionary Society.

Methodist Episcopal Church. Woman's Foreign Missionary Society.

Methodist Episcopal Church. Woman's Foreign Missionary Society.

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Board of Missions .

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Missionary Society .

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Board of Missions.

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Women's Foreign Missionary Society .

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Women's Missionary Council .

Personal Papers

Armistead, George R.

Canright, Harry Lee

Conrow, Marion Lane

Downie, Gerald L.

Erickson, Alma

Herbert, Anne E.

Herbert, Anne E.

Jett, Wenona Wilson

Lambuth, Walter Russell

LaRue, Eunice

Rice, Edmond L.

Ritzman, M.E.

Smith, J. Hal, Mrs.

Snell, Grace Birkett

Spreng, Minerva Strawman

Weiss, Ernest Walter

Weiss-Ardus, Hilda

West, Hester Dale

Related Material

Benn, Rachel

Bigler, Regina

Dubs, Emma M.

Stritmatter, Albert.

Wiley, Isaac William