Methodist Episcopal Church

Overview: The papers detail the life and work of William Richard Johnson, most significantly documenting the years he spent in China, 1906-1942. William Richard Johnson was born in 1878 in Cornell, Illinois. He received a B.A. degree from Northwestern University in 1905 and an M.A. degree from Columbia University Teachers College in 1937. In 1906, Johnson sailed for China to serve as a missionary for the Methodist Episcopal Church. In China, he served as a pastor, educator and school administrator. He...

Overview: Correspondence, writings, photographs, and collected materials document the life and work of the Manly family in China. Political unrest in Chengdu 1911-1912 is well documented, as is the daily work of a Methodist missionary working with native churches. The collection includes valuable photographs of Sichuan from the early 1900s. Wilson Edward Manly, his wife Florence and daughters Marian and Grace were American Methodist missionaries in Sichuan (Szechwan) province from 1893 to 1943.