IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0102 MS 291571
Held at: School of Oriental and African Studies
Title: Aylward, Gladys
Date(s): Created 1936-1970s
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 1 box
Name of creator(s): Aylward | Gladys | 1902-1970 | missionary
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Gladys Aylward was born in 1902 in Edmonton, North London. Following service as a housemaid, and rejection by the China Inland Mission, she went to China as an independent missionary. Travelling on the Trans-Siberian Railway to Tientsin she then continued to the province of Shansi in North-West China, where she worked from 1931. She became a Chinese citizen in 1936. In 1940, against the background of government, communist and Japanese warfare she led a group of orphans on a perilous journey to Sian. She returned to England during the Second World War, but returned to work with children at the Gladys Aylward Children's Home in Taiwan from the late 1940s until near her death in 1970.
Her life was the basis of the 1959 film 'The Inn of the Sixth Happiness' starring Ingrid Bergman. A number of books have also been written about her life including: Gladys Aylward, One of the Undefeated by R O Latham (1950); The Small Women by Alan Burgess (1957); London Sparrow by Phyllis Thompson (1989); and Gladys Aylward: the Courageous English Missionary by Catherine Swift (1989).
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers, 1936-1970s, of Gladys Aylward, comprising correspondence (1936-1939) with the Whiskin family during her time in China, press cuttings (1936-1970s), publications, notices, Chinese texts for children, calendars, photographs and miscellaneous items including Chinese accessories.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English and Chinese
System of arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 7 sections: correspondence; press cuttings; publications; notices; Chinese texts for children; calendars; photographs; miscellaneous. Within each section, material is arranged chronologically.
Conditions governing access:
Unrestricted.
Conditions governing reproduction:
No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Unpublished handlist.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
The material was donated via the Archivist of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in 1973.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Date(s) of descriptions: 15 May 2000