Missionary Collections

Our missionary collections include images from men and women who worked in China for a diverse range of foreign Missionary Societies. This was one of the largest and most widely spread geographically of foreign communities in China. The subjects and locations are equally varied. Missionaries worked in China’s cities and in the countryside. Most were engaged in evangelical work, but Missionary societies were also heavily involved in medical, educational, and social welfare initiatives. Our collections include materials showcasing a wide range of missionary activity, and the world in which foreign missionaries lived, as well as much by way of evidence of the sympathetic curiosity of many of them about the life of those they worked with and lived amongst.