Lucy J. Webb Papers

1921-1951, 1977
Manuscript Collection #363
Creator(s)
Webb, Lucy J.
Physical description
0.073 Cubic Feet, 281-page memoir and four items (1921-1951).
Preferred Citation
Lucy J. Webb Papers (#363), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Repository
ECU Manuscript Collection
Access
No restrictions

Papers (1921-1951, 1977) consisting of memoir, political scenario, World War II, Christianity in China.


Scope and arrangement

In August of 1922 Lucy J. Webb landed at Shanghai, China, where she stayed as a Methodist missionary from 1922-1943 and from 1946 to 1951. Her memoir describes the work done by the many missionaries in Shanghai during these years with special emphasis on the work of Moore Memorial Church.

Descriptions of Shanghai and its people, Soochow and its people, Chinese education, Confucian philosophy, the silk industry, the hairnet industry, and uses for bamboo are given. Chinese cooking methods, child raising methods, marriage arrangements and ceremonies, medical care, and farming methods are also discussed in Miss Webb's memoir. In referring to her vacations, Miss Webb describes Korea and Peking in the 1920s, Saigon, Hong Kong, Japan, Phnom Penh and Angkor in Cambodia, and the Philippines in the 1930s.

Miss Webb also discusses the many political upheavals affecting China between 1921 and 1951. A student revolt in Shanghai in 1925 is described. The constant conflict with Japan ignited a Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1932 and again in 1937 when they occupied Shanghai until the end of World War II. Descriptions of the occupation of Shanghai and of the relief work and aid to refugee camps provided by the missionaries during these Japanese invasions are included.

On February 25, 1943, Miss Webb was interned along with hundreds of other foreigners. She describes her seven-month stay there and her subsequent trip on a repatriation ship to Portuguese India where she was put on an exchange ship bound for the United States. On September 23, 1946, Miss Webb returned to Shanghai and continued her work there. After the Communist take-over in 1951 she was expelled from mainland China. Her memoir ends with a description of the economic situation in China after World War II and a description of Shanghai after the Communist take-over in May, 1949.

Miscellaneous papers contain a discussion of Christianity in China in 1977 based on knowledge gained from people who had recently toured China or visited relatives there.


Administrative information
Custodial History

July 24, 1978, 281 pages; Memoir of a Methodist missionary to China (1921-1951). Gift of Miss Lucy J. Webb, Asheville, N.C.

Source of acquisition

Gift of Miss Lucy J. Webb

Processing information

Processed by M. Elmore, April 1979

Encoded by Apex Data Services

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.


Key terms
Personal Names
Webb, Lucy J.
Topical
Concentration camps--Japan
Methodist Church--Missions--China
Sino-Japanese Conflict, 1931-1933
Women missionaries--China
Places
China--Social life and customs--20th century
Shanghai (China)--Description and travel
Shanghai (China)--History--Japanese Invasion, 1932
Shanghai (China)--Politics and government--20th century