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Overview
Biographical Note
Scope and Content
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| Record Creator: | Atkinson, Virginia M. |
| Title: | The Virginia M. (Jennie) Atkinson Collection, |
| Date Span: | 1886 - 1951 |
| Abstract: | Virginia "Jennie" M. Atkinson (1861-1941) was a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, missionary in China from 1884-1940. She worked primarily in the Shanghai and Soochow regions. These papers contain correspondence, an address book, a speech, clippings, and photographs. Much of the material contains her personal recollections about the work and the world in which she lived. |
| Extent: | 0.23 cubic feet |
| Resource ID: | gcah.ms.739 |
Virginia "Jennie" M. Atkinson (1861-1941) was a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, missionary in China from 1884-1940. After graduating from Lagrange Female College in Georgia, she went to China in October 1884 with Laura Haygood. Working primarily in the Shanghai and Soochow regions, Atkinson taught, was instrumental in establishing several schools, and involved in women's work.
In Soochow, she was placed in charge of the city day schools under the Woman' s Board and later established a center in the western part of the city which accommodated four of the schools. She founded the Atkinson Academy for Boys in 1896 and the Davidson Girls' School. When the Boxer Rebellion erupted, she took many Chinese Christians to Japan where they were refugees for four months. In 1901 Atkinson returned to Soochow and continued her work with the day schools. During this period of her work another center, the Embroidery Mission, was opened, providing evangelistic work, teaching, and housing for many Chinese women.
Atkinson also purchased land, with the approval of the Women's Board, to provide buildings for the Davidson Girls' School, the Louise Home for Missionaries, the Moka Garden Embroidery Mission, and the Kindergarten and Kindergarten Training School. She then moved to Changshu to work with Chinese teachers and Bible women (evangelist/teachers for women). With the assistance of her Alabama Conference, Atkinson again purchased land near the Center at Moka Garden, on which the Dowdell Church was built for the Embroidery Mission and the women's work of the church.
Upon her retirement in 1927 with emeritus status she received special permission to stay in China near Soochow, remaining through the Japanese invasion, ministering to the Chinese. Due to poor health and the growing threat of war, Atkinson eventually left China in 1940. She was later buried in China.
This collection contains materials related to Virginia M. Atkinson. Included in this collection is correspondence from 1886-1950. This includes outgoing correspondence written by Atkinson between 1886 and 1941, letters addressed to her friends and associations, and birthday greetings received by Atkinson on her eightieth birthday. Many of these letters are from her former students. There is also an address book kept by Atkinson. Personal reminiscences of Atkinson are contained in these papers. This includes remarks about her travel to China from Georgia, conditions in Shanghai, travel in the interior regions of China, and events in Soochow. There are approximately twenty personal accounts of several Chinese individuals who became refugees during the Sino-Japanese Conflict (1938- 1941). Atkinson had some connection to these people, but it is unclear as to whether she interviewed them for an oral history project or recounted their stories or rewrote what she was told by them. Some of the accounts are handwritten, and others are typed. A charity distribution list kept by Atkinson during this time is available. It contains a record of cash receipts from 1938 and a relief fund record from 1941. Other items in this collection include a few documents written in Chinese, an undated speech given by one of Atkinson's pupils, a 1932 news clippings from an unidentified newspaper on the troubles in China, and three small photographs: one of Atkinson in her later years, one of Yui Soo-Lan, and one of an unidentified man. In addition, there is also some biographical material on a student Atkinson sponsored, Katherine Lew. Included are two undated letters written by Lew and some biographical information on her and her husband, Timothy Tingfang Lew.
Materials have been arranged in the following manner.
The Virginia M. Atkinson Papers have been organized by record type. Items within each record type are arranged chronologically, with all undated materials at the front of each folder.
When citing material from this collection please use the following format: Direct reference to the item or its file folder, Virginia M. Atkinson Collection, United Methodist Church Archives - GCAH, Madison, New Jersey. Do not make use of the item's call number as that is not a stable descriptor.
There are no restrictions regarding this collection.
| Call Number | Folder Title | Date(s) |
| 1305-3-2: 1 | Correspondence | 1886-1942 |
| 1305-3-2: 2 | Correspondence, Friends and Associates | 1922-1950 |
| 1305-3-2: 3 | Correspondence, 80th Birthday | 1941-1942 |
| 1305-3-2: 4 | Address Book | Undated |
| 1305-3-2: 5 | Personal Reminiscences | Undated |
| 1305-3-2: 6 | Refugee Accounts | 1938-1941 |
| 1305-3-2: 7 | Cash Receipts and Relief Fund Records | 1938-1941 |
| 1305-3-2: 8 | Katherine Lew Items | 1950-1951 |
| 1305-3-2: 9 | Speech | Undated |
| 1305-3-2: 10 | News clipping | 1932 |
| 1305-3-2: 11 | Chinese documents | Undated |
| 1305-3-2: 12 | Photographs | Undated |
