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Eliza Hughes Davis devoted her life to her family and her work in the Methodist Church. The daughter of Reverend George and Mrs. Abby T. Hughes of Newark, New Jersey, Hughes married Reverend Mayhew W. Davis in 1896, then moved with him from New Jersey, to Pasadena, California. The couple had a total of five children, but their youngest child died soon after his birth, and the other children apparently endured significant health problems in their early years. Although Mrs. Davis also suffered repeatedly for most of her adult life from illnesses that eluded clear diagnosis and treatments, she worked steadily as a homemaker and enjoyed a brief stint in the winter of 1915-16 as a writer for the Home Page of the Pasadena Daily News. Following her father's death in 1900, Mrs. Abby T. Hughes joined her daughter and son-in-law in Pasadena, which she felt was the best compromise for proximity to her children in both the U.S. and abroad.
Mrs. Davis' siblings also followed their father in the work of the church. Mamie, her oldest sister, married a Methodist missionary to India, although she died young under unknown circumstances, while her next-youngest sister Anne worked with a church relief organization in New York City. Mrs. Davis' brother George joined the Methodist Episcopal ministry and established his own church in Corydon, Iowa, while her youngest sister, Jennie V. Hughes, enlisted in 1906 with the Women's Foreign Missionary Service in China, serving for a number of years as Principal of the Knowles Bible Training School, Kiukiang, in affiliation with the Danforth Memorial Hospital.
The collection contains Mrs. Davis' incoming correspondence which are divided into two series. The first series consists almost exclusively of letters written by family members to Mrs. Davis in Pasadena, and it comprises the bulk of the collection. Particularly remarkable here are the letters from her sister Jennie V. Hughes, along with those from other family members which mention Ms. Hughes' work with the Women's Foreign Missionary Service in Kiukiang, China. In her capacity as Principal of the Knowles Bible Training School, Ms. Hughes was responsible for directing an organization run exclusively by and for women, using the tenets of Methodism as a basis for training Chinese women in literacy and hygiene. Along with providing a glimpse into the circumstances of the daily reflections and responsiblilities of a female missionary, Ms. Hughes' letters also illuminate much about the cultural and political circumstances of China following the troubles of the Boxer Rebellion.
Series I: Incoming Correspondence is organized according to two criteria. Since the majority of Mrs. Davis' letters are from members of her immediate family, they are first divided into five sections according to addresser, then arranged chronologically within each section.
Series II: Miscellaneous is a very small series containing a funeral announcement, two placecards, two envelopes from incoming correspondence, and a published version of a letter by Ms. Hughes which details the Nanchang massacre in 1906.