Phases of West China Missionary Life Digital Exhibit

Items

• David Crockett Graham Jr's Gravestone
  A stone engraved with "David Crockett Graham Jr, Feb. 14 - Dec. 17, 1914" sits on a bed of ferns with foliage in the background.
  TitleDavid Crockett Graham Jr's Gravestone

  Alternative Title1914-Gravestone-for-David-Crockett-Graham-Jr

  DescriptionA stone engraved with "David Crockett Graham Jr, Feb. 14 - Dec. 17, 1914" sits on a bed of ferns with foliage in the background.

  Abstract"The main events during our second year at Suifu were the arrival and the death of David Crockett Graham Jr. He was born February 14, 1914, and died December 17th, 1914. From birth he was not very strong. He apparently developed kidney trouble, but it was not discovered until the day before he died. He finally got pneumonia. Medical skill was not then what it is now or he would have been cured. We buried him in the foreign graveyard, where only missionaries and their children were interred, on Ch'i Shin Shan, near the foreign bungalows. From Granite Gorge at Mount Omei we brought a large red granite stone, which we used for a gravestone, having his name, date of birth, and date of his death carved on it. It will last at least one hundred years unless the stone is taken away and used for other purposes."

  Spatial CoverageQixingshan Forest Park, just outside of Yibin, Sichuan

  ProvenanceJean Graham Brown and Dorothy Graham Edson, daughters of DCG, and Chris Hoogendyk, grandson of DCG.
• David and Alicia Graham Studying Chinese Language
  David and Alicia are reading Chinese language textbooks, while their Chinese instructor also has a book open in front of him, but he looks at the camera. He is wearing a silk embroidered gown with a scholar's cap. The group are seated at a wooden table and there is a wooden screen and filing cabinet in the room behind them.
  TitleDavid and Alicia Graham Studying Chinese Language

  Alternative Title1912-studying-Chinese-in-Shaohsing

  DescriptionDavid and Alicia are reading Chinese language textbooks, while their Chinese instructor also has a book open in front of him, but he looks at the camera. He is wearing a silk embroidered gown with a scholar's cap. The group are seated at a wooden table and there is a wooden screen and filing cabinet in the room behind them.

  Spatial CoverageShaoxing, Zhejiang

  ProvenanceJean Graham Brown and Dorothy Graham Edson, daughters of DCG, and Chris Hoogendyk, grandson of DCG.
• Chinese Wooden Boats on the Min River
  A group of small wooden boats of the kind common on the Min River between Chengdu and Yibin. The boats are covered with woven bamboo mats through the middle. Most of them have masts for sailing when weather permits. They are sheltering at a sandy beach.
  TitleChinese Wooden Boats on the Min River

  Alternative TitleChinese wooden boats on the Min River, Szechwan.

  DescriptionA group of small wooden boats of the kind common on the Min River between Chengdu and Yibin. The boats are covered with woven bamboo mats through the middle. Most of them have masts for sailing when weather permits. They are sheltering at a sandy beach.

  ProvenanceJean Graham Brown and Dorothy Graham Edson, daughters of DCG, and Chris Hoogendyk, grandson of DCG.
• Graham House in Walla Walla, WA
  Small wood sideboard house where David Crockett Graham lived as a teenager. In his autobiography, he mentions that his father built this house himself, David (at 14 years old) and his brother. David's father was skilled in all kinds of manual labor including farmwork and carpentry.
  TitleGraham House in Walla Walla, WA

  Alternative Title1900-house-built-by-the-Grahams

  DescriptionSmall wood sideboard house where David Crockett Graham lived as a teenager. In his autobiography, he mentions that his father built this house himself, David (at 14 years old) and his brother. David's father was skilled in all kinds of manual labor including farmwork and carpentry.

  AbstractHouse in Walla Walla, Washington, USA, that William E. Graham built with his sons, David Crockett Graham and Joseph Clark Graham, ca 1900, date of photograph unknown, possibly taken on one of D.C.Graham’s return visits to Walla Walla. The house is no longer there, and this part of Walla Walla is now industrial. [Chris Hoogendyk, 2021]

  Spatial CoverageWalla Walla, WA

  ProvenanceJean Graham Brown and Dorothy Graham Edson, daughters of DCG, and Chris Hoogendyk, grandson of DCG.
• Formal Portrait of David Crockett Graham's Natal Family, 1889
  The Graham family sit for a formal portrait in a photography studio after the loss of David's mother, Elizabeth. Within 1888 and 1889, she and his brothers Louis, Mulford and baby Isaac would be dead (mainly by pneumonia) and the family savings totally depleted.
  TitleFormal Portrait of David Crockett Graham's Natal Family, 1889

  Alternative Title1890-DCGrahams-family-of-origin

  DescriptionThe Graham family sit for a formal portrait in a photography studio after the loss of David's mother, Elizabeth. Within 1888 and 1889, she and his brothers Louis, Mulford and baby Isaac would be dead (mainly by pneumonia) and the family savings totally depleted.

  AbstractD.C.Graham’s family of origin in Walla Walla, Washington, USA, ca 1890 or 1891. Graham family, left to right: William Edward (the Father), David Crockett, Elmina Elizabeth, Joseph Clark, John Mills (husband of Mary), Mary Louisa. At this point the family had lost their mother and five children in large part to Tuberculosis. Note the change in William Edward Graham’s hair color from 1882 when he was 41 years old to 1890 when he was 49 years old. D.C.Graham’s mother, Elizabeth Atchley Graham, died in 1888, just after her 44th birthday, when he was only 4 years old. His father, William Edward Graham, died in 1904, at age 63, just after D.C. Graham’s 20th birthday. [Chris Hoogendyk, 2021]

  Spatial CoverageWalla Walla, WA

  ProvenanceJean Graham Brown and Dorothy Graham Edson, daughters of DCG, and Chris Hoogendyk, grandson of DCG.
• Jean Graham and Anne Kennard with Baby Panda
  D.C. Graham's daughter, Jean, and Anne Kennard sitting on a lawn at the WCUU campus Pandora, the panda that became famous at the New York City 1939 Worlds Fair. Jean is holding the baby panda in her lap.
  TitleJean Graham and Anne Kennard with Baby Panda

  Alternative TitleJean and Anne Kennard with the baby giant panda "Pandora" which is now in a zoo in New York City. Taken about April 1938, by Dr. Kennard. Harriet [daughter of DCG]

  DescriptionD.C. Graham's daughter, Jean, and Anne Kennard sitting on a lawn at the WCUU campus Pandora, the panda that became famous at the New York City 1939 Worlds Fair. Jean is holding the baby panda in her lap.

  ProvenanceDavid Crockett Graham and Chris Hoogendyk, grandson of DCG.
• 1941 Graham's Giant Panda Hunt
  After the death in the Bronx Zoo of Pandora and Pan in 1941 and 1940, respectively, officials at the zoo began to search for another pair of Giant Pandas to replace them. On June 17, 1941, Dr. Frank Price, on behalf of the Chinese government, asked David Crockett Graham to procure them. As the first diplomatic gift of pandas from the ruling party of China to a foreign nation, Madame Chiang Kai-shek (Soong Mei-ling) presented them to the American people as a symbol of solidarity between the two nations.
  Title1941 Graham's Giant Panda Hunt

  DescriptionAfter the death in the Bronx Zoo of Pandora and Pan in 1941 and 1940, respectively, officials at the zoo began to search for another pair of Giant Pandas to replace them. On June 17, 1941, Dr. Frank Price, on behalf of the Chinese government, asked David Crockett Graham to procure them. As the first diplomatic gift of pandas from the ruling party of China to a foreign nation, Madame Chiang Kai-shek (Soong Mei-ling) presented them to the American people as a symbol of solidarity between the two nations.

  AbstractAfter the death in the Bronx Zoo of Pandora and Pan in 1941 and 1940, respectively, officials at the zoo began to search for another pair of Giant Pandas to replace them. On June 17, 1941, Dr. Frank Price, on behalf of the Chinese government, asked David Crockett Graham to procure them (6a; 9). As the first diplomatic gift of pandas from the ruling party of China to a foreign nation, Madame Chiang Kai-shek (Soong Mei-ling) was to present them to the American people to symbolize solidarity between the two nations (8). In particular, the gift was to thank Americans for supporting the United China Relief Campaign, which aided Chinese war orphans who were casualties of the Japanese invasion of China that began in 1937 (1; 8). The request for the pandas came at the most difficult time of year. During summer, Giant Pandas retreat to the highest altitudes. During fall hunters are busy with their crops and animals can easily hide in the dense forest (6a; 9). Additionally, Graham was already engaged by the Chinese government to study modern education and ethnography among the Miao thought to live in the panda region (Graham found Qiang there instead) (6b). However, Graham agreed to do the best he could to secure the Giant Pandas. Right away, he wrote to Den Wei Han asking him to assemble a team of hunters. Den was a Qiang headman, a government postmaster, and a Christian pastor who had formerly helped with Graham's natural science collecting expeditions and had previously secured a live panda for the American Museum of Natural History (5; 6b). By July 23rd, both Graham and Den were in Wei Chow [Weizhou], Sichuan, near panda country (6b). Den hired two teams consisting of members of the local Wa Ssu ethnic group, many of whom had formerly captured pandas before the practice was banned by the Kuomintang government (6b). This first attempt was unsuccessful, however (5; 6a). After Graham returned to Chengdu, the pressure mounted to capture the pandas, since the gift had already been announced in the United States and it was a matter of international diplomacy (6a; 9). On Sept. 10th, 1941, Graham headed back to panda country to renew efforts (5). Setting up base camps at Ts’ao P’o [Caopoxiang], and Wei Chow [Weizhou], Sichuan, Graham and Den hired additional hunters and offered increased rewards for capture. They now had over 70 hunters and 40 hunting dogs in seven teams – the largest panda hunt organized to date (5; 9; 8). Each leading a team of hunters, Graham and Den combed the bamboo forests of the mountainous regions of Sichuan province west of Wenchuan (Miansi) between Songpan (Songpan Xian) in the north and Ninguenfu (Xichang) in the south (9). Back in their Ts’ao P’o camp, Graham and Den received news that a baby panda had been captured by some other hunters and was being held by the headman of a village two mountains away. Den set off to purchase it equipped with a letter from a local Kuomintang official, Magistrate Kang, demanding its sale (5, 9). Mr. Lo, who owned the baby panda, was proud to contribute to this important international mission, and so upon payment handed over the panda to Den (5). Arriving at Wenchuan with a female panda about five or six months old, Den found Graham severely ill with the flu (6a). While in Wenchuan, they learned that one of Den's teams had also secured a live baby Giant Panda, which had already been transported to Chengdu (6a). On Sept. 30th, 1941, Dr. Price met Graham and the panda in Kuanhsien (Dujiangyan) to take them to Chengdu in a truck (5). Arriving in Chengdu that evening, Graham’s wife, Alicia Morey Graham, celebrated the success with a “panda party” at which Mr. and Mrs. Price, as well as over ten West China missionaries met the captive pandas (6c). On Sept. 15th, Graham’s hunters brought a second panda to Chengdu. The pair of pandas stayed at Graham’s home at West China Union University for several more weeks. Graham claims that the famous “Panda Lady,” Ruth Harkness, taught him how to care for baby pandas, which are “ten times as hard to keep alive than human babies” (6a). John Tee Van, a trustee of the Bronx Zoo, stayed with the Grahams and the pandas at Chengdu from Oct. 30th to Nov. 6th, 1941. While the two pandas were staying with the Grahams’ screen porch on the WCUU campus, there were plenty of visitors and good fun to be had. The smaller of the two was “as cute and clever as Pandora was,” while the larger one was surly like Pan had been. David Crockett Graham said of the two: “The male barks at you and scolds you, and will bite and scratch, but the female coaxes you with goo-goo eyes to come and pet her. She has no idea of biting or scratching anyone, but might do so by accident” (11). Then Graham and Tee Van flew to Chongqing where there was a media event on November 9th, 1941 (6c; 8). Madame Chiang and her sister Madame Kung (Soong Ai-ling) participated in a radio broadcast about the gift of pandas to the United States (8). American reporters William Dunn and Annalee Whitmore organized the program. Unfortunately, although the Chongqing radio technicians had prepared for every possible contingency, “atmospheric conditions beyond [their] control” prevented the signal from reaching Manila, from which it was to be relayed to San Francisco (10). No American audiences ever heard it. In a journey that lasted six weeks, Tee Van escorted the panda pair across the ocean after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor dodging Japanese aggression by camouflaging the black and white pandas (1). Leaving San Francisco on Dec. 26th, Tee Van brought them from the west coast to New York City by train (1). On Dec. 30th, 1941, the Chinese consul, Dr. Tsuni-chi Yu, officially presented them to the Bronx Zoo (1). For the Soong sisters, the gift was a plea for continuing American assistance in the war against Japan (8). To representatives of the Bronx Zoo, the pandas represented a continuation of their blockbuster attraction, as well as an extension of scientific study of the species, which was new to the Western world of science at the time (2). They expected the male and female pair to procreate in captivity within six years (1). However, it was to be decades before Chinese scientists succeeded in breeding pandas in captivity (7).

  Spatial CoverageThe following locations track the places that appear in the narrative. Two additional places where David Crockett Graham took photographs are included at the end. His spellings are given first, followed by their contemporary place names in English and Chinese. Wei Chow (Weizhou 威州镇), SichuanChengtu (Chengdu 成都), SichuanTs’ao P’o (Caopoxiang 草坡乡), SichuanWenchuan (Miansi 绵虒), SichuanSongpan (Songpan Xian 松潘), SichuanNinguenfu (Xichang 宁远镇), SichuanKwanhsien (Dujiangyan 都江堰), SichuanChungking (Chongqing 重庆)Kuan-Chai (Baitukan 白土坎村) SichuanLi-Fan (Xuechengzhen 薛城镇), Sichuan