Guide to the H. Maxcy Smith and Margaret J. Smith Papers

Descriptive Summary

Title

H. Maxcy Smith and Margaret J. Smith Papers

Inclusive Dates

1893-1945

Call Number

RG 464

Creator(s)

Smith, H. Maxcy (Hart Maxcy), 1873-1948.

Smith, Margaret J. (Margaret Jones), 1877-

Quantity

1.25 cubic feet (4 boxes)

Language

Materials primarily in English with several printed items in Chinese

Restrictions on Access

Collection open for research

Repository

Presbyterian Historical Society, 425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147-1516 USA

Biographical Note / Administrative History

Biographical Note

H. Maxcy Smith and Margaret J. Smith were missionaries in China for the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. H. Maxcy Smith was born in Pendleton, South Carolina in 1873, the son of Rev. William Cuttino Smith and Mary Martha Maxcy Smith. He received his B.A. from Hampden-Sydney College in 1894. Between 1894 and 1897, he served as principal of the Wahpanucka Institute (also known as the Wapanucka Mission School and the Wapanucka Academy), a school for Chickasaw Indian children in Indian Territory. In 1897, he left the Institute to attend Columbia Theological Seminary, receiving his B.D. in 1900. He was ordained the same year by the Enoree Presbytery. In 1901, Smith was appointed to the Mid-China Mission by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Executive Committee of Foreign Missions. Margaret J. Jones was born in 1877 in Ontario, Canada, and grew up in Nebraska. In 1900 she was appointed to the Central China Mission by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. In 1905, she married H. Maxcy Smith and resigned from her position with the Central China Mission. She was appointed as a Presbyterian Church in the U.S. missionary and joined her husband at the Mid-China Mission. The Smiths served together in China for nearly 40 years. H. Maxcy Smith was mission treasurer and a member of the Associated Mission Treasurers. Margaret Smith did evangelistic work and raised the couple’s four children. The Smiths were interned by the Japanese from March to December, 1943. Upon their release, they returned to the United States. H. Maxcy Smith died in Asheville, N.C. in 1948.

Collection Overview

The H. Maxcy Smith and Margaret J. Smith Papers document the Smiths’ work as missionaries in China between 1901 and 1943, and to a lesser extent, H. Maxcy Smith’s work at the Wahpanucka Institute. Materials relating to the Wahpanucka Institute include Smith’s sermons and letters to his family written while he was in Indian Territory, 1894-1897. The letters describe in detail conditions and events at the school as well as topics such as the settlement of the territory (which later became Oklahoma) and assays of minerals. There are also several photographs of the school and its students. Materials documenting the couple’s work in China include notes, articles, and lectures about religion and missionary work in China; accounts of the Mid-China Mission, 1941-1942; photographs of mission stations, missionaries, students, congregation members, buildings, and landscapes in China; printed materials in Chinese, including publications of the China Sunday School Union and Presbyterian Mission Press in Shanghai; and correspondence from H. Maxcy and Margaret Smith to family members, 1901-1945. The letters describe the turbulent political and military situation in China during the period the Smiths served there, detailing the effect of events on the work of the mission and on the Chinese population. There are also several copies of letters from other missionaries serving in China, including a detailed description of events in Nanking in 1937 written by George Fitch. The collection also includes H. Maxcy Smith’s lecture notes from Columbia Theological Seminary and a number of photographs of H. Maxcy Smith, Margaret Smith, and their children.

Organization and Arrangement

Summary of Box Contents

Box 1: Correspondence, 1893-1945; writings and lecture notes from Columbia Theological Seminary and Wahpanucka Institute, 1896-1945 and undated; miscellaneous accounts of the Mid-China Mission, 1941-1942

Box 2: Printed materials in Chinese, 1902-1906 and undated

Box 3: Photographs of the Smith family, China mission stations, and the Wahpanucka Institute; photograph album of China, undated; printed materials in Chinese, undated

Box 4: Photograph album of China mission stations, 1912-1917 and undated; photograph of staff of the Associated Mission Treasurers, circa 1934

Related Material

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Received from members of the Smith family in 1976 and 1977.

Processing Information

This collection is minimally processed: materials may not have been ordered beyond their original condition. Guide revised in 2009 by Jennifer Barr, Archives Intern.

Preferred Citation

H. Maxcy Smith and Margaret J. Smith Papers, RG 464, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Catalog Headings

The following headings have been used to index the description of this collection in the society’s electronic catalog.

Personal Name Subject

Smith, H. Maxcy (Hart Maxcy), 1873-1948.

Smith, Margaret J. (Margaret Jones), 1877-

Corporate Subject

Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Mid-China Mission.

Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Executive Committee of Foreign Missions.

Topical Subject

Missionaries--China--20th century.

Women missionaries--China--20th century.

Presbyterian Church--Missions--China--20th century.

Missions--China--20th century.

Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945.

Indians of North America--Education--19th century.

Schools--Indian Territory--19th century.

Geographic Subject

China--History--Republic, 1912-1949.

China--Missions--20th century.

Genre-form

Correspondence. aat

Writings (documents) aat

Lecture notes. aat

Photographs. aat

Personal Added Name

Smith, H. Maxcy (Hart Maxcy), 1873-1948.

Smith, Margaret J. (Margaret Jones), 1877-

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Guide to the H. Maxcy Smith and Margaret J. Smith Papers

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