Archives West Finding Aid

The Mae Baucher Papers consist of correspondence, personal papers, and photographs, predominately from her career as a missionary to China from 1926 to 1931. Some correspondence postdates her return to the United States. Although her collection is small, the correspondence contains a great deal of information about conflicts directed at missionaries by the Chinese in particular locales.

Series I, Correspondence consists of outgoing and incoming letters of Mae Baucher. The outgoing letters were sent to her family. She includes information about her Chinese experiences, writing about her language studies, her missionary service as a nurse and a teacher, and Chinese culture. She gives a detailed description of a Chinese wedding feast on September 14th, 1926 and gives her first impressions of China on April 9th, 1926. Her letters account instances of Chinese aggression towards missionaries. Baucher notes instances of military conflict and the stir of anti-Christian sentiments on January 4th, 1927. Her letter of January 20th, 1927 relays the missionaries' flee from Yenping and the bizarre rumors that incited the outrage, as does a letter Baucher sent, written by Jennie Jones. The letters of February 20th, April 13th, 17th and June 16th contain updates of these conflicts throughout China and information about Baucher's refuge in the Philippines. Her letter of September 10th, 1930 describes some military action of the communists. The incoming correspondence, written by relatives, missionaries and Chinese, relates several accounts of political and military turmoil. Uprisings related to Yenping's are chillingly detailed in Dr. Bowers' letter of March 26th, 1927 and accounted in the March 30th letter of Frederic Bankhardt. Alice Wilcox's letter describes political turmoil in Foochow and an uprising in Hwa Nan. The missionary's role in Chinese politics is characterized in K. W. Scheuffler's letter of June 16th, 1927.

Series II, Miscellaneous Papers consists of personal writings of Mae Baucher, a diary and a schoolbook, as well as two published pamphlets and three newsletters of Yenping Christian missionaries. The diary contains brief entries regarding basic daily events from 1926, mostly accounting Baucher's trip to China, her arrival, and her tutelage in Chinese. There is a Chinese vocabulary workbook. There are two published pamphlets, one tells the history of the first twelve years of Fukien University. The newsletters, copies of the "Yenping Pagoda Herald," describe the events in Baucher's circle of peers.

Series III, Photographs consists of photographs and photo albums from Baucher's missionary service in China and nearby countries. There many photos of unique Chinese artifacts as well as snapshots of daily Chinese culture. There are also photos of missionaries, facilities, and the patients and environs of the Yenping Hospital.