Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Papers of the Taylor Family, 1846-1989, Accession #9965-b , Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was given to the Library by Dr. Harry B. Taylor, Jr. of Norfolk, Virginia, on November 21, 1989.

Scope and Content Information

This addition to the papers of the Taylor family of Norfolk, Virginia, consists of ca. 2,850 items (12 Hollinger boxes, 4 linear shelf feet), 1846-1989, chiefly personal correspondence and related materials generated by the family while Dr. and Mrs. Taylor served as Episcopal medical missionaries in Anking, China, Anhui Province, on the Yangtze River, ca. 600 miles from the port of Shanghai, 1905-1951.

Dr. Taylor's period of service as Director and Surgeon-in-Chief of the St. James Mission Hospital spanned many of the major historical changes in twentieth century China, including the Chinese revolt against the Manchu dynasty, the beginning of the Chinese Republic under Sun Yat Sen in 1911, the Nationalist Revolution led by Chiang Kai-Shek, during which Dr. Taylor was driven from the hospital by the Nationalist guerillas of the Kuomintang in 1927, the Sino-Japanese War beginning in 1937, the occupation of Anking by Japanese forces in 1938, and the triumph of the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949.

Dr. Harry Baylor Taylor, Sr. (1882-1971) attended medical school at the University of Virginia, 1898-1902, and married Alma Booth (1888- ?) in 1917. Two of the Taylor children also attended medical school at the University of Virginia, Helen Wickham Taylor (1919- ), graduate of 1943, and Harry B. Taylor, Jr. (1926- ), graduate of 1949. For information concerning the two earlier collections of Taylor family papers please consult the guides for # 9965, and # 9965-a.

These papers include personal correspondence, notebooks and bound volumes, manuscripts and typescripts, informal talks, photographs and postcards, printed material, medical records, genealogical notes and charts, business and legal papers, and Chinese memorabilia (including paper money, stamps, government bonds, and visiting cards).

The first series of papers consists of three boxes of correspondence. The folder of correspondence of W.H. Taylor and John C. Taylor (father of H.B. Taylor, Sr.), contains two topics of special note, the request to Purser John De Bree on the U.S.S. Ohio to forward a letter to Lt. R.S. Page from Mrs. Page in Boston (1846 Dec 17) and a mention of the Franco-Prussian War and its effects upon the United States (1870 Sep 6).

The remainder of the correspondence is from members of the Taylor family to each other or other individuals interested in their Chinese ministry. An early letter describes the Revolution of 1911, the election of a new provincial governor, the demand for a protection payment from the soldiers from Kiukiang, the assistance of Dr. Taylor to the Governor who escaped over the walls of the city during a time of civil unrest, the looting of Anking by soldiers and criminals, and the disunity of the Provincial Assembly (Republic of Anhui) (1911 Nov 19).

John Gilliam, an employee of the British American Tobacco Company, wrote a long account of his trip to Anking and the wedding of Alma Booth and Harry B. Taylor, describing his impressions of Wuhu, Chinese junks, beggars, the Great Pagoda of Anking and other sights, and illustrating his letter with photographs of the St. James School, the Episcopal Cathedral, Anking scenes and the city wall, St. James Hospital, and the Great Pagoda (1917 Feb 7).

Other topics include: the celebration of the Armistice in New York City (1918 Nov 11); China's celebration of the Armistice (1918 Dec 19); the birth of Helen Taylor (1919 Apr 18); a discussion of the relation of the "People's Revolution and the government of Kuo Ming Tang to the Christian Movement" (1927 Jan 24); anti-foreign activities in China and the opinion of one Chinese student that "the foreigners should put their hands off in the time of our quarrels, in other words, they should not interfere [in] our business for it is none of theirs." (1927 May 11); the evacuation of foreigners from Anking, the forced closure of the Anking Cathedral Girls' School and antagonism against Chinese Christians (1927 Jun 11); the halt to Chiang Kai-Shek's drive to Shanghai and Taylor's relief at the "failure" of the agrarian revolution (1927 Sep 11).

Other topics include: Dr. Taylor's decision to work at the Peking Union Medical College during the trouble at Anking (1927 Sep 19); a newsletter account of the occupation of Anking by the Nationalist Army, difficulties in leaving the city and the closure of the St. James Hospital [1927 ?]; the Taylors'introduction to the Philippine Sergio Osmena (1878-1961) while on furlough (1929 Aug 20); the condition of the hospital upon their return to Anking (1929 Sep 17); Dr. Taylor's preference for the government of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) over the northern warlords, and a mention of the changes in new China (1929 Oct 21); the looting activities of the troops of Shih Yu-san, former adherent of General Feng and Chairman of the [Anhui ?] Provincial Soviet (1929 Dec 4); military trouble in Nanchang forcing Rev. Lloyd and Marian Craighill out of the city (1930 Mar 30); rumors of the capture of Changsha and Nanchang by the Red armies (1930 Aug 4); descriptions of missionary work in Besao, near Sagada, Philippine Islands (1932 May 25, 1933 May 19, and 1941 Feb 12); and reports of wounded soldiers from fighting the Japanese in north China and the bombing of Canton (1937 Oct 9).

Additional subjects entail the following: the bombing of Anking (1937 Oct 10); the Japanese bombing of civilian targets and mission colleges and hospitals (1937 Oct 14); Japanese atrocities in Nanking (1938 Jan 11); the negative effects of the peace movement in America in encouraging Japan's militarism and imperialism in China and a description of more atrocities (1938 Mar 8); attacks by Japan upon the American ships, the U.S.S. Panay and three Standard Oil Company vessels, and the bombing of Anking (1938 Mar 13); the fall of Anking to Japan on June 11 (1938 Jul 6); the peace movement sentiment [post 1938 Sep ?]; a description of the evacuation of foreign missionaries to Shanghai (1938 Nov 10); the difficulty of getting medicine and mail into the occupied city of Anking (1938 Nov 27); letters of Helen Taylor decribing her education at St. Andrews University, Fife County, Scotland (1938-1939); and the refusal of most countries to accept Jewish refugees, including the United States, and their arrival in China (1939 Jan 1).

Other subjects include: the Spanish Civil War (1939 Jan 23); the condition and appearance of Anking after the Japanese occupation (1939 Dec 7); the Lichwan Rural Project, intended to reconstruct the rural areas devastated by the war between the Nationalists and the Communists along the border of the Kiangsi and Fukien Provinces (1940 Nov 1); Harry Taylor's Red Cross inquiry form (sent on 1942 Sep 15); the uncertainty of the repatriation of American prisoners in occupied China (1942 Oct 12); the release of Harry Taylor from Japanese captivity and his sailing for the United States on the ship Gripsholm (1943 Nov 15); the decline in the power of Chiang Kai-shek, his repudiation in the Communist provinces, and unrest in Arizona mining towns (1944 Nov 6); Harry S. Truman's election (1948 Nov 8); reference to the "unprecedented evacuation to America of mission personnel" due to Communist victories in China (1948 Dec 16); and the activities of the Taylors after leaving China in 1951 (1952 Dec 2).

Also present in the correspondence series are carbons of letters from Blanche Myers concerning the work in Anking, China, during the Japanese occupation and the entrance of the United States into World War II (1937-1942).

Series Two contains notebooks and bound volumes, including a diary, 1914-1918; a guest book kept by the Taylors in Anking; a notebook kept by Walter H. Taylor IV while in China, ca. 1905-1906; and a scrapbook containing material concerning the work at the St. James Hospital, Anking, 1908-1933, including notes about the history of the area, a handwritten diary of events at the hospital beginning February 13, 1919 through June 16, 1923, followed by excerpts from newletters, and continuing from March 2, 1926 to March 23, 1927, with additional newsletters taking the account up to February 1931.

The third series consists of papers, talks, and manuscripts pertaining to China and the Taylors participation in the Monday Club in [Charlottesville, Virginia ?]. These include: "An Anking Diary," two different accounts of the Japanese occupation of Anking, which fell on June 12, 1938, kept by the Rev. Leslie L. Fairfield and Blanche E. Myers; the manuscript for My Cup Runneth Over by Harry B. Taylor, Sr. (see the printed material for published version); an original Chinese manuscript written in Chinese characters entitled "Seventy-four Types of Miao People," by Tze-liang Liu, consisting of drawings and descriptions of this Southwest Chinese ethnic minority, also called the Yi or Lolos; historical sketches concerning the St. James Hospital; and "Sunrise Over Anking" by H.B. Taylor and Emeline Bowne. One of the notable papers presented to the Monday Club (fourth folder) is entitled "Attending the Wedding of the Crown Prince of Nepal" (1970).

Photographs include: Taylor family members; other people; medical work in China; Chinese architecture, scenes, views, ruins, people, statuary, and columns; Peking and the Forbidden City; and the published book Picturesque China by Ernst Boerschmann (1873-1949) presented to Dr. Taylor in 1930.

Postcards consist chiefly of scenes from China, Great Britain, France, and the United States.

The fifth series consisting of printed materials contains copies of The Anking Newsletter, The Shanghai Newsletter, The Craighills of China by Marian G. Craighill (1890-1981), My Cup Runneth Over by Dr. Harry B. Taylor, Sr., newsclippings concerning the Taylor and related families (with many obituaries), and individual pamphlets such as The Cross in a Dragon's Stronghold, The Church's Work in Ngankin, The American Church Mission in China, "The Basic Conception of China as Viewed by the Japanese Army" in The China Weekly Review, and "Immediate Circumcision for Infected Phimosis; Report of Forty-Two Cases" in the Journal of Urology by Dr. Harry B. Taylor.

The topical series contains biographical sketches of Dr. Taylor; business and legal papers of the Taylor family (including copies of the wills of Ella K. Booth, 1920, John C. Taylor, 1907, and Alma Booth Taylor, 1969); Chinese paper money, stamps, Communist government bonds, visiting cards and other items; Civil War related documents; genealogical papers and correspondence concerning the Booth, Sommers, Baylor, Maynard, Buckingham, and Ruffin families, and the Civil War service of Samuel William Booth; records of patients, receipts, payments and medical cases at St. James Hospital; and miscellaneous papers concerning the United States financial reaction to the impending Franco-Prussian War (1870 July 15-Aug 2), incomplete notes concerning a trip to Boston and New York City (1874 Jun 12), and a short journal of a trip to Western North Carolina (1876 Summer).

The Civil War documents include: a Report of Action, August 5-6, [1864], by C.S.A. Brig. General Richard Lucian Page (1807-1901) who commanded the outer defenses of Mobile Bay and was captured at Fort Morgan on August 23, 1864; "Hospital Life and Prison Experience" by Major Richard C. Taylor at Hampton Hospital (n.d.); the commission of John C. Taylor as a 1st Lt. and Aide de Camp in the Confederate forces (May 26, 1862); "The Burial of Latane" (n.d.); "The Campaign of Gettysburg" (n.d.); and the Fort Morgan Log Book [1864 Aug] (in an oversize folder).

Organization

This collection was not received in any particular order and has been arranged in six series based predominately on the type of material involved. These series include: I) Correspondence (Boxes 1-3); II) Notebooks and Bound Volumes (Boxes 4-5); III) Papers, Talks, and Manuscripts (Boxes 5-6); IV) Photographs and Postcards (Boxes 7-9); V) Printed Material (Box 10); and VI) Topical Files (Box 11).