Scope and Contents
This collection consists of primarily photocopied material. Detailed correspondence documents the life and work of Mason and Louise Young in Soochow, particularly the medical work of Mason, as well as the educational work of Lois Young in Suchowfu. The memoir of Lois Young documents the period when she was interned by the Japanese.
Dates
- 1906-1970
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the Young family.
Arrangement
- I. Correspondence, 1906-1970
- II. Diary, 1941-1942
- III. Collected Material, 1928-1961, n.d.
Extent
1 Linear Feet (2 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
Correspondence, a diary, and collected materials document medical and educational work in China. Mason Pressly Young M.D., his wife Louise, and his sister Lois were Southern Presbyterian missionaries in China from 1916 to 1949. Mason and Louise were stationed in Soochow where Mason worked at Elizabeth Blake Hospital. Lois was in charge of the Mary Thompson Stevens School for Girls in Suchowfu, North China.
Biographical / Historical
Mason Pressly Young was born in Due West, South Carolina in 1887. Following his graduation from Erskine College, he taught at Assiut College, Assiut, Egypt for three years. He returned to the United States for medical training and sailed for China in 1916. He met Louise Oehler on the voyage to China and they were married two months after their arrival. They were stationed at Elizabeth Blake Hospital in Soochow, a 250-bed general hospital which had a large psychiatric department. The Sino-Japanese war forced the abandonment of the Soochow facility in 1937; the hospital continued to function in a nearby village for a short time until the patients could be placed in a Shanghai hospital. The Youngs returned to the U.S. on furlough in 1940 and, following World War II, were reassigned to a hospital in Jiaxing (Kashing). Following his return to the U.S. in 1949, Dr. Young practiced medicine in Anderson, South Carolina for ten years. He died in 1960.
Louise Oehler Young was born in Aiken, South Carolina in 1892. Following her graduation from the University of Texas in 1915, she sailed for China under the Presbyterian Church, U.S. Board of Missions and met her future husband en route. In addition to preparing their two children, Louise (b.1918) and Josephine (b.1924), for high school, Louise taught English and Bible classes, served as bookkeeper and treasurer of the hospital from time to time and did evangelistic work. She died in 1986.
Lois Young, sister of Mason, was born in Due West, South Carolina in 1890. Following studies at Erskine College and the Biblical Seminary in New York City, she went to China and took charge of the Mary Thompson Stevens School for Girls in Suchowfu, North China. During World War II, Lois was held prisoner by the Japanese for seven months before her return to the United States in 1942.
Louise Oehler Young was born in Aiken, South Carolina in 1892. Following her graduation from the University of Texas in 1915, she sailed for China under the Presbyterian Church, U.S. Board of Missions and met her future husband en route. In addition to preparing their two children, Louise (b.1918) and Josephine (b.1924), for high school, Louise taught English and Bible classes, served as bookkeeper and treasurer of the hospital from time to time and did evangelistic work. She died in 1986.
Lois Young, sister of Mason, was born in Due West, South Carolina in 1890. Following studies at Erskine College and the Biblical Seminary in New York City, she went to China and took charge of the Mary Thompson Stevens School for Girls in Suchowfu, North China. During World War II, Lois was held prisoner by the Japanese for seven months before her return to the United States in 1942.
Processing Information
Place names were modernized in the description, with the name originally used in the collection material or in an older version of the finding aid in parenthesis: e.g. “Beijing (Peking)” or “Benin (Dahomey)”.
Creator
- Title
- Guide to the Young Family Papers
- Author
- Compiled by Martha Lund Smalley
- Date
- 1998
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Prepared According To Local Divinity Library Descriptive Practices
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Yale Divinity Library Repository