Biographical Note: Mary Belle Winn, a native of South Carolina, served as a Methodist missionary in China from 1923 to 1949. She was the daughter of Rev. William Collier Winn and Mrs. Belle East Winn. She had two sisters, Eula and Evelyn. For health reasons, Rev. Winn retired from active ministry in 1913, making their home in the College Place section of Columbia. Rev. Winn died on April 22, 1915. Mary Winn attended Scarritt College before becoming a missionary. In China, she lived in the city of Soochow for much of the 1920s, teaching at the Davidson Girls School. In the 1930s, after returning from her furlough year of 1928-29, she taught at the Laura Haygood School in Soochow and later, she taught in Huchow. Continuing civil unrest in China resulted in her evacuation from Soochow on several occasions, and she taught in Shanghai intermittently in the late 1930s. She returned to Soochow in 1946 and remained there until 1949, when the letters cease.
Organization: The letters are arranged in chronological order and are in 28 folders.
Access: Unrestricted
Summary: The collection consists entirely of Mary Winn's 147 letters to members of her family in South Carolina. The letters discuss issues relating to the preparation of missionaries, the work of Chinese missionary schools, and the social lives of missionaries. They also discuss travel in China and East Asia, civil unrest in 1920s China, war in 1930s China, and touch on the postwar situation in the late 1940s.
Cite As: Papers of Mary Belle Winn, South Carolina United Methodist Collection, Sandor Teszler Library, Wofford College.
Location: Archives, Sandor Teszler Library, Wofford College, Spartanburg, SC 29303
Accessioned March 2002 from Columbia College Library. Processed by Phillip Stone, June 2002
Finding Aid: Calendar listing
Calendar
1923 (13 letters)
Folder 1
Aug. 14, 1923
Aug. 17, 1923
Aug. 22, 1923
Aug. 31, 1923
Sept. 10, 1923
Sept. 20, 1923
Folder 2
Oct. 9, 1923
Nov. 4, 1923
Nov. 11, 1923
Nov. 16, 1923
Nov. 28, 1923
Dec. 31, 1923
1924 (12 letters)
Folder 3
Jan. 7, 1924
Feb. 3, 1924
Feb. 23, 1924
March 8, 1924
March 23, 1924
March 30, 1924
Folder 4
April 5, 1924
April 22, 1924
May 18, 1924
May 29, 1924
June 3, 1924
June 29, 1924
Aug. 2, 1924
1925 (13 letters)
Folder 5
Jan. 11, 1925
March 5, 1925
May 31, 1925
June 21, 1925
June 26, 1925
July 14, 1925
Folder 6
Aug. 12, 1925
Aug. 14, 1925
Sept. 12, 1925
Oct. 3, 1925
Oct. 17, 1925
Dec. 19, 1925
Dec. 29, 1925
1926 (10 letters)
Folder 7
Feb. 17, 1926
Feb. 23, 1926
March 27, 1926
April 24, 1926
June 27, 1926
Folder 8
July 5, 1926
July 27, 1926
Aug. 15, 1926
Nov. 27, 1926
Dec. 10, 1926
1927 (20 letters)
Folder 9
Jan. 9, 1927
Feb. 6, 1927
Feb. 20, 1927
Feb. 27, 1927
March 13, 1927
March 25. 1927, Soochow
March 28, 1927, Shanghai
Folder 10
April 2, 1927, Shanghai
April 15, 1927, Shanghai
April 19, 1927, Shanghai
May 12, 1927, Shanghai
June 7, 1927, Soochow (continued on June 10 in Shanghai and June 16 in Soochow)
Aug. 18, 1927, Soochow
Sept. 4, 1927, Soochow
Folder 11
Sept. 11, 1927, Soochow
Sept. 18, 1927, [Soochow]
Oct. 1, 1927, Soochow
Nov. 7, 1927, [Soochow]
Nov. 27, 1927, Soochow
Dec. 17, 1927, Soochow
1928 (2 letters)
Folder 12
May 23, 1928, Soochow
June 8, 1928, Soochow
[Returns to U.S. on furlough]
1929-1930 (6 letters)
Folder 13
Nov. 10, 1929, [Soochow]
Apr. 27, 1930, [Soochow]
June 1, 1930 [Soochow]
June 8, 1930, [Soochow]
July 6, 1930, Soochow
Dec. 28, 1930, [Soochow]
1931
Folder 14 (8 letters)
Jan. 11, 1931, [Soochow]
Jan. 18, 1931, [Soochow]
Feb. 2, 1931, [Soochow]
July 8, 1931, [Soochow]
Aug. 5, 1931, Kuling
Nov. 22, 1931, Soochow
Dec. 17, 1931, Soochow
Dec. 26, 1931, Soochow
1932
Folder 15 (5 letters)
Jan. 9, 1932, Soochow
Jan. 25, 1932, Soochow
Feb. 15, 1932, Soochow
April 3, 1932, Soochow
April 24, 1932, Soochow
1933
Folder 16 (2 letters)
May 21, 1933, Soochow
July 4, 1933, Huchow
1934 (3 letters)
Folder 17
May 21, 1934, Huchow
Sept. 23, 1934, Huchow
Dec. 2, 1934, Huchow
1935 (4 letters)
Folder 18
April 7, 1935, Huchow
April 21, 1935, Huchow
May 12, 1935, Huchow
July 11, 1935 - July 23, 1935, Penang-Cairo
[Returns to U.S. on furlough]
1936-37 (14 letters)
Folder 19
Nov. 2, 1936, Soochow
Jan. 17, 1937, Soochow
March 21, 1937, Soochow
July 11, 1937, Soochow
Aug. 14, 1937, Soochow
Aug. 14, 1937, Soochow (2 letters with same date)
Folder 20
Aug. 21, 1937, Mukanshau
Aug. 27, 1937, Mukanshau
Sept. 17, 1937, Mukanshau
Sept. 30, 1937, Shanghai
Nov. 7, 1937, Shanghai
Nov. 18, 1937,
Nov. 28, 1937, Shanghai
1938 (13 letters)
Folder 21
Jan. 24, 1938, Shanghai
Feb. 21, 1938, [Shanghai]
March 18, 1938, [Shanghai]
April 30, 1938, [Shanghai]
May 7, 1938, Shanghai
July 17, 1938, Shanghai
July 22, 1938,
Folder 22
Aug. 2, 1938, Shanghai
Aug. 18, 1938, Shanghai
Oct. 29, 1938, Shanghai
Nov. 12, 1938, Shanghai
Nov. 26, 1938, Shanghai
Dec. 10, 1938, Shanghai
1939 (5 letters)
Folder 23
Jan. 15, 1939, Shanghai
Jan. 25, 1939, Shanghai
Feb. 9, 1939, Shanghai
May 7, 1939, Shanghai
Dec. 25, 1939, Shanghai
1940 (2 letters)
Folder 24
June 22, 1940
Sept. 29, 1940
1941 (2 letters)
Folder 25
Jan. 21, 1941
Feb. 28, 1941
[Returns home in March 1941]
1946-1947 (10 letters)
Folder 26
Dec. 14, 1946, Shanghai
Jan. 17, 1947, Soochow
Jan. 30, 1947, Soochow
Feb. 8, 1947, Soochow
March 30, 1947, Soochow
Folder 27
April 9, 1947
April 27, 1947
June 1, 1947
Nov. 9, 1947
Nov. 23, 1947
1948-1949 (3 letters)
Folder 28
Aug. 1, 1948
Aug. 10, 1948
April 3, 1949