A trip to the archives at International Mission Board
Usually when I visit the archives at the International Mission Board (IMB), I bring a list of questions to ask or a list of items I’d like to examine. This time, I had something to contribute.
I was thrilled to finally show the IMB’s amazingly helpful staff the result of all those questions. After years of researching and enjoying some of Lottie Moon’s artifacts and letters as well as books about her life, I felt honored to add something of value to this vast collection. Earlier this month, I delivered a few copies of Becoming Lottie Moon.
After signing some books, I couldn’t resist looking around and seeing if they had anything new, and they did! Well, newly acquired anyway – it was 150 years old. This window is from Lottie Moon’s house in Tungchow, China. It is one of two window donated to IMB. The first was crafted as a display case for other IMB artifacts. I wonder how they will showcase this one!
Whoever made and donated this scrapbook is a mystery, presently unknown to the archives. Its pages contain the most famous photo of Lottie as a young woman. I laughed when I saw her sister’s name, Edmonia, scratched out and the correct name written under the beautiful script.
Here’s another photo of Lottie in her later years. She helped fill a framed poster of IMB missionaries around the world sometime between 1903, when IMB missionaries went to Argentina, and 1911, when they went to Uruguay, which isn’t included on the poster.
This is one of her letters from March 13, 1875. I snapped a photo of the back with her signature.
It’s one of her longer letters and full of updates on the mission in Tungchow and interesting observations about great pagodas, ancient Chinese beliefs, and “the wonders of Soochow.” In this letter, less than two years into her missionary service in China, she wrote:
“The more I see of mission life, the more impressed I am with the amount of hard work, real drudgery one might call it, of those noble veterans, the pioneers of missions in China, many of whom are now gone to their reward above, others of whom are still toiling at their posts with all the ardor of their early days, & yet with the added experience of years of active service.”
You can read it in full on the IMB archives website: https://archives.imb.org/Documents/Detail/letter-from-l.-moon-to-rev.-h.-a.-tupper-march-13-1875/27425
Two of those “noble veterans” were George and Fannie Pearcy, who went to China in 1850. Southern Baptist women, mostly from southwest Virginia, sent this gorgeous quilt with the Pearcys. They even wrote Bible verses on it to warm the missionaries’ hearts as well as their backs.
Lottie honored these “noble veterans” and even became one herself. I’m grateful that IMB values and honors its 175+ year legacy by carefully preserving missionary letters and artifacts so that we and future generations can continue to learn from the past – its triumphs and challenges.
Thank you, IMB Archives! (Me with Kyndal standing next to Lottie Moon’s actutal, real-life trunk!)
I took these photos during two of my visits to the IMB archives – January 2023 and September 2023 – as I researched for my novel, Becoming Lottie Moon, available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Lottie-Moon-Emily-Hall/dp/B0CFXM6HKK/.
