Items

• Dike Workers In the Field
  Wide angle shot of the dike construction project. The background shows several dozen men working along the dike wall with wheelbarrows and shovels. A small group in the foreground appear to be at rest near the bottom of the pits from which they are digging soil for the dike.
• Dike Builders Transporting Dirt
  A very large group of dike workers with carrying poles on their shoulders with pairs of wooden buckets filled with soil. The two supervisors are on the right. In the foreground are pits from which the soil has been taken.
• Dike Builders at Rest
  Picture of a dozen of the dike builders lounging and taking a break. Most of the individuals pictured are looking directly at the cameraman. There are two main groups, the one in the foreground, resting on the side of the dike wall, and another in the background resting near a mound of dirt. Clothes and tools are littered all about.
• Dike Builders on the Move
  Picture shows the dike builders with shovels and moving wooden buckets of dirt. In the upper left of the photo, in the background, a small forest can be seen. There is a supervisor on the right, wearing a hat and shoes, pointing.
• Wide Angle Image of Dike Project
  Wide angle shot of the dike project, featuring several hundred workers digging. The project is taking place in a large field, where a few trees can be seen.
• Famine Relief Workers with Shovels
  Group of several dozen workers with shovels. Two supervisors look upon the men in more formal attire, wearing shoes. Several workers in the background are constructing a yurt.
• Famine Relief Parents and Children
  Group of a dozen parents and children crowded together. The woman in the front has a basket. Most of the people have pained expressions on their faces, and are directly facing the camera. They are wearing simple cotton garments and are standing amongst thatched roof buildings in a street.
• Line for Famine Relief
  A group of about three dozen peasants with baskets to carry away the food the missionaries are supplying for the famine relief project. They also have small white pieces of paper in their hands that may be used to record the food they are given. The group is in front of a brick building, and there is a straw broom in the foreground.
• Famine Relief Line
  A group of about three dozen peasants with baskets to carry away the food the missionaries are supplying for the famine relief project. They also have small white pieces of paper in their hands that may be used to record the food they are given. The group is in front of a brick building, and there is a straw broom in the foreground.
• Little Malnourished Child, 1912
  Young emaciated Chinese child with an unhappy expression, wearing baggy garments and sitting on the ground in the dirt. He and the other person in the picture are barefoot. Taken at the scene of famine relief activities, this photograph was probably taken to illustrate a famine victim for the purposes of gaining support abroad.
• Alfred Johns and Chinese Man Sitting
  Portrait of Alfred Johns and an unidentified Chinese man in a western style suit. Both men are seated on wooden chairs outside a brick building.
• 1912 Famine Relief
  In the winter and spring of 1912, while the West China missionary community was evacuated to Shanghai and beyond, missionaries of all denominations answered the call to help in famine relief work in the nearby provinces of Nganhwai [Anhui] and Kiangsu [Jiangsu]. Alfred Johns was among those who undertook the work and, fortunately, he documented it with photographs and narrative. Many missionaries survived the famine relief work and returned to their stations, but at least three missionaries died of typhus and smallpox contracted from the famine victims.
• 15 Houseboat with Sail on Yangtze River, 1911
  Looking across the front of a houseboat, the photographer captures two crew members on the deck looking over a placid river to another houseboat is making its way through the gorges. If it is 1911-01-02, then the Johns' would be heading upstream for the first time and the Abrey's would be aboard the companion boat to the Johns'. If Dr. Charles Service and his wife were passengers, then it would be late 1911 or early 1912 when the missionaries were evacuating on the way downstream toward Shanghai and safety from the Nationalist Revolution.
• Captain and Crew of a Yangtze River Houseboat, 1911
  Shot from the back end of a houseboat looking toward the bow, five crew members pose while the captain stands with his back facing the camera, looking towards the companion houseboat, said to be the one with fellow missionaries aboard, which is stuck on a sandbar. Note the rope extending up into the cliffs where the trackers are using it to pull the boat.
• 17 Rapids through a Narrow Pass of the Yangtze River Gorges
  A lone missionary wearing a pith helmet stands on a rocky shore next to a narrow passage of water between two cliff faces.
• 16 Rapids with Missionary Standing on Rocky Shore
  A lone missionary wearing a pith helmet stands on a rocky shore overlooking a river rapids with mountains in the background. Passengers or crew members on the bows of both boats watch the procedure.
• 09 Johns' and Abreys' Houseboat Beached for the Night between Hankow and Ichang
  Houseboat with sail down anchored at a rocky shoreline with a calm Yangtze River and rocky opposite shore in background. Inscription on the back describes the scene. The location is likely the first overnight stop on the houseboat after leaving the steamboat at Hankow (current Wuhan), which would have been near present day Yanziwo, Hubei. Frederick William Baller wrote grammar books with Wade-Giles romanization.
• 19 A Chinese Cemetery with a Wealthy Man's Grave in Foreground
  Scene shows a hillside covered with graves. In the foreground is a very large mausoleum with three tiers, said to be the grave of a wealthy man. A lone leafless tree stands on the grave partially obscurring a mountain range in the background behind.
• 14 Trackers Pulling Johns's and Abrey's Houseboats
  A large group of men called "trackers" on a rocky shoreline pull a junk (Chinese houseboat) up river by means of long ropes. These trackers are probably the crew of the junk who would also row the boat when conditions permitted. Further up river in the Yangtze Gorges, up to 100 additional local trackers were needed to get the boats through the rapids.
• 11 Houseboat Stuck on Sandbar with Military Men in Foreground
  Seven men with various guns and amunition stand on the shore in the foreground. In the background dozens of men are attempting to dislodge a large houseboat from being stuck on a sandbar. A group of passengers stand on board awaiting the outcome. The boat flies a Canadian flag of that time period.
• 10 Two Houseboats on Yangtze with Four Missionaries
  Two houseboats are seen anchored on the shore with two missionaries standing in foreground - Gordon Jones on right and unknown on left. Two missionary women are on the boat on the left. Also on that boat can be seen a Chinese mother and child, and many crew members on the deck. Similarly, the crew on the right boat are out on the deck, probably preparing and eating a meal.
• 13 Village on the Yangtze River with Smoke Rising
  This image, which bears the caption "Yangtze Village on River," portrays a village with copious amounts of smoke rising and a pagoda in the background. Is this the normal smoke from evening hearth fires, or a tragic event of warfare or banditry?
• Houseboats Beached on Shore Near Cliff
  Many houseboats are beached on a shore with a large looming cliff behind. Many people stand near the boats and on the shore. Some of the boats have flags, including one American one. The same location as in AEJ_12.
• Houseboat Crew Working when Moored for Night
  In the foreground manual laborers carry buckets and perform other duties for the boat, crew and passengers on the nightly stopover. The houseboat has laundry drying on a line between the mast and cabin, as well as mats covering the deck. In the background a building sits about a quarter way up the steep incline of the opposite shore. The same location as in AEJ_12.
• Houseboat Moored for Night
  In lower right corner of the image is a houseboat on the very calm waters of a very narrow portion or branch of the Yangtze River. In the background is a rocky shore and steep cliff with an elevated building on the left and a pagoda on the peek in the upper right. The same location as in AEJ_14.