Pollard, Samuel
Identity Statement
Reference code(s) | : GB 0102 MMS/Special Series/Biographical/China/FBN 29-30 (Boxes 639-640) |
Held at | : School of Oriental and African Studies Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.soas.ac.uk/Archives/home.html › |
Full title | : Pollard, Samuel |
Date(s) | : 1885-1915 |
Level of description | : Collection (fonds) |
Extent | : 2 boxes |
Name of creator(s) | : Pollard | Samuel | 1864-1915 | missionary |
Context
Administrative/Biographical history:
Born in Camelford, Cornwall, 1864; his father, Samuel Pollard, and his mother were preachers with the Bible Christian Church (from 1907 part of the United Methodist Church); converted, c1875; initially prepared for a career in the civil service, but a London conference influenced him to become a missionary, 1885; appointed Bible Christian missionary, 1886; sailed for China, 1887; attended Ganking Language School, 1887; posted to Yunnan province, 1888; went to Chaotung (Zhaotong), where a new station was opened, 1891; married Emmie (née Hainge), 1891; assigned to the provincial capital (now Kunming); engaged in evangelistic work; worked with the Flowery Miao (A-Hmao, a minority tribe), among whom started in Anshun, Kweichow (Guizhou) province, a religious movement which spread to Chaotung, from c1905; Pollard became its most prominent missionary leader; established a centre for thousands of new believers at Shihmenkan; travelled extensively, planting churches, training leaders, and soliciting justice for Miao Christians from officials and landlords; developed a new script which he used to translate the New Testament into the Miao language; died from typhoid fever while in service as a missionary, 1915. Publications: Tight Corners in China (second edition [1913]); with Henry Smith and F J Dymond, The Story of the Miao (1919); In Unknown China: observations, adventures and experiences of a pioneer missionary (1921); Eyes of the Earth: the diary of Samuel Pollard, ed R Elliott Kendall (1954).
Content
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers, 1885-1915, of the Rev Samuel Pollard, comprising 12 diaries, 1885-1915, describing life and work in China; manuscript and typescript accounts and letters by Pollard and cuttings by Pollard and other authors, 1900s-1910s (some undated), describing missionary work and life and customs in China, including remote regions; eight photographs, undated, including local people, Pollard, and Pollard's grave.
Access & Use
Language/scripts of material:
English and Chinese (Hua Miao dialect)
System of arrangement:
Conditions governing access:
Unrestricted, but only to be viewed on microfiche.
Conditions governing reproduction:
No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.
Finding aids:
Unpublished handlist.
Archival Information
Archival history:
The papers were deposited with the Methodist Missionary Society and form part of the special series of biographical papers of individual missionaries.
Immediate source of acquisition:
Deposited on permanent loan with the records of the Methodist Missionary Society from 1978.
Allied Materials
Related material:
The School of Oriental and African Studies holds the records of the Bible Christian Home and Foreign Missionary Society (Ref: MMS/BC) and its successor the United Methodist Missionary Society (Ref: MMS/UMMS). SOAS also holds papers used by R Elliott Kendall in his work on Samuel Pollard, comprising letters and papers of and relating to Pollard (Ref: MS 380690); papers of the Parsons family, missionaries who worked among the Miao tribe using the script devised by Pollard (Ref: MS 380686); research papers of Frederick Howard Taylor on the tribes of south-west China, including notes on the life of Samuel Pollard (Ref: CIM Box 11 File 124).
Publication note:
Description Notes
Archivist's note:
Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Sources: Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed Gerald H Anderson (1998); British Library OPAC.
Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Date(s) of descriptions:
Mar 2002
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