Aylward, Gladys

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0102 MS 291571
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	: 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 & 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.

Finding aids:

Unpublished handlist.

Archival Information

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

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
15 May 2000