Items

• Foreign Gunboats on the Lower Yangtze
  Two gunboats in the foreground and another in the background, probably at the mouth of the Yangtze River, near Shanghai. A third gunboat of the same or similar design can be seen in the background. Two Chinese boats are in the water between the two large boats. The two gunboats in the foreground have two masts and a single stack, along with pairs of "torpedo tubes."
• Trackers Pulling Houseboat through Rocky Narrows
  In this scene we see a houseboat apparently passing through a very narrow channel between the rocky shore and a short promontory. Two trackers can be seen pulling the ropes in the foreground. At least two figures stand on the bow of the boat. A low mountain range can be seen on the opposite shore.
• Crew Members Eating Lunch on a Houseboat
  Looking toward the bow of a houseboat, we see a large group of crew members eating lunch in rice bowls. The men wear turbans. One of them has his clothing strapped to his back with his belt.
• WMS Missionaries Treat a Houseboat Crew Member
  Two Women's Missionary Society (WMS, associated with the Canadian Methodist Mission) treat a crew member for lice on board their houseboat while traveling up the Yangtze River to West China for the first time. Another crew member can be seen on top of the cabin. In the foreground are ropes used by the trackers to pull the boat upstream through the rapids.
• Boat with Large Rectangular Sail
  A sailboat floats peacefully on placid water, probably on the Lower Yangtze River. The sun shines through mist close to the horizon.
• Two Men Working in a Salt Evaporating Plant
  Two men work alongside a row of large steaming vats inside a salt processing plant. They are scantily dressed, as it must be very hot inside the building. The nearest man has a surprised expression as if he were not expecting to be photographed.
• Mountain Peeks Above Cloud Cover
  The photographer is looking across a sea of clouds towards mountain peeks far in the distance. Sunlight can be seen in a crack in the clouds behind the peeks. In the sky there appears to be one or two round objects lit by the sun. However, these could also be imperfections in the photographic print. The photo could be taken from an airplane window or from another mountaintop.
• Rooftops of Small Compound in Mountain Valley
  Taken from a hilltop, the camera looks down upon the rooftops of a relatively small compound nestled within a valley. Tile roofs cover buildings and passageways that surround two courtyards. This could be a small temple or an aristocrat's household. Either way, it could possibly be serving as a missionary summer resort, or simply a compound passed on a trek.
• Buddhist Abbot with Six Priests
  The abbot sits in a formal pose on a wooden bench flanked by two large vases with flowers. He is wearing a Ming Dynasty style robe with extra-long sleeves of the type worn by all Buddhist monks. His hat designates his high rank. He is holding a pair of prayer beads. Behind him six monks stand in a row, all with shaved heads and wearing robes with slightly less billowy sleeves (except the man on the far right on whose head one can see the incense burn marks from his initiation ceremony). Behind them is a wooden wall on which are written three very large Chinese characters.
• Graham House in Walla Walla, WA
  Small wood sideboard house where David Crockett Graham grew up. In his autobiography, he mentions that his father built this house himself, as he was skilled in all kinds of manual labor including farmwork and carpentry.
• Formal Portrait of David Crockett Graham's Natal Family, 1889
  The Graham family sit for a formal portrait in what appears to be a photography studio. Although the photo was labelled 1890, it must be 1889 when the family moved to Walla Walla, and before the tragic deaths in the family. From left to right front row: William Edward Graham, Joseph Clarke Graham, David Crockett Graham, Elizabeth Atchley Graham. Back row: Mary Louisa Graham, Louis Israel Graham. It is not clear why David's closest sister, Elmira, is not in the photo. Within 1888 and 1889, David's mother Elizabeth and his brothers Louis, Mulford and baby Isaac would be dead and the family savings totally depleted.
• Willmott Family at Go Home Bay, 1914
  Walter, Margaret, Evie and Earl Willmott pose for an informal portrait at their summer cottage in the Madawaska Club at Go Home Bay.
• George Dodds in Front of his Monument Business Storefront
  George Dodds (far left) stands in front of the storefront for his monument business in Xenia, Ohio, with several relatives and employees. Carved gravestones are on display in the yard or sidewalk. The three story building also housed his family, including his daughter Carrie Dodds Geyer after her husband's death, along with their three children, Mary Katharine among them.
• Margaret Thom Willmott with her son Leslie Earl Willmott, c.1902
  Margaret Thom Willmott and Leslie Earl Willmott pose for a formal portrait in a studio. Margaret is seated on a wooden chair with elaborate carving. She wears a fashionable dress with tiers of black lace over a light-colored undergown with a chocker-style pearl necklace with jeweled drop. Her expression is mildly smiling. Earl wears a breached white linen sailor suit with tall black socks and leather boots. His head is slightly cocked away from his mother, perhaps a foreshadow of the unconventional personality of his grown up self.
• Simpson-Estabrook Photo Album
  Rectangular album with black paper pages. Some of the photos are glued to the page, while others are fastened at the corners. Many of the photos in this album are in very poor condition, evidentally faded with time, or blurred in the original. The content of the album covers some family photographs taken in North America before the couple met in China, Alice's activities while working for the Women's Missionary Society, the couple's work in Penghsien, and their work in Luchow, Sichuan.
• Earl Willmott with Staff of Jenshow Boys School
  Earl Willmott poses at back left with the principal and teachers of the boys' middle school he was in charge of in Jenshow, 1922-1933. All the men (except Earl) wear scholar's gowns with cloth shoes. Two of the men wear scholar's hats, and one holds a fan.
• Portrait of Chinese Pastor's Family
  Multigeneration family consisting of Liang and his wife, son and his wife, three boys, two girls and two babies. Note that the girls have "natural feet," having given up foot-binding as Christians and modern Chinese.
• Chinese Children Play a Circle Game
  A large group of children hold hands together in an inner and outer circle, probably playing a game or singing a song. Many of them are looking at the camera with expressions ranging from suspicion to happiness. They wear padded clothing and many of the boys wear hats. A Chinese woman - probably their kindergarten teacher - stands in the back left. They're on the lawn within the mission compound.
• Six Chinese Children Playing with Blocks
  Six well-dressed Chinese children pose in an enclosure made of wooden blocks. There is a brick wall behind them and another child off to the right.
• Postcard of the Qutangxia Gorge
  The panoramic scene is shot from a trackers' path cut out of the rock face. Two boats can be seen on the river, which courses between vertical rock cliffs on both sides. A few people can be seen on the trackers' path, obviously tourists, not trackers. "The Three Gorges" is written in gold letters in both English and Chinese on the front.
• Willmott House in Jenshow, c.1970s
  A large two-story house with double wrap-around verandahs. The yard appears to be unkept with scrappy trees growing up randomly and neither flowers nor grass lawn.
• Christmas for Last Group of Missionaries, WCUU 1951
  Sixteen missionaries and two small children pose on a lawn at WCUU. I can identify only a very few of them - Leslie Kilborn (far left), Earl and Katharine Willmott (center back and front), Bill Small with one of his small children (center back next to Earl).
• Bill Skinner in a Lawn Chair
  William Skinner reclines is a lawn chair in front of a flowerbed. Behind him can be seen a corner of the Willmott house's porch at WCUU.
• Bill Skinner in a Garden
  William Skinner strikes a casual pose with his hand in the pocket of his suit, standing in front of bushes and trees in the background.
• Arranged Wedding at Jenshou, 1920s
  The bridal couple descend an outdoor staircase. The building could be an aristocratic household, a temple or other public building. The groom wears a scholar's gown with a jacket with center front closure. The bride wears a foreign style wedding dress with veil. Although it looks white, that is not likely at this early date because in Chinese culture white is associated with death. Red is the wedding color, so a lot of Christian brides wore pink as a compromise between the two.