Items

• Yangtze Gorges Steamer
  Steamers could not navigate the Yangtze above Yichang before 1918, so Graham must not have taken this photograph on his first trip up the river in 1913. By 1918 or 1919, various countries including Germany and Japan had developed specially constructed small steamers such as this one to navigate the turbulent water of the Yangtze Gorges. One can see the two small smokestacks on top of the middle of the boat. The entire boat is dwarfed by the massive cliff face behind it.
• Study of Rock Formation on Yangtze River
  David Crockett Graham was well familiar with scientist explorers' publications as he traveled around Sichuan. Even on his first trip up the Yangtze, he had read accounts of the rock formations when he took this photograph documenting a seismic moment in earth's evolutionary history. The photo shows layers of rock strata seemingly crushed together to form two curves.
• Golden Sand Temple and Cave
  Because Graham describes this location as "south of Suifu," it is most likely that he took this photo while he was stationed at Yibin (Suifu). This portion of the river is now called Jinsha River, but was then considered the Upper Yangtze. This image shows the two buildings of the temple from a direct front view. The upper temple is accessed by an almost perpendicular staircase carved out of the rock between the two temples. Trees grow on the top of the rock face. In the foreground, straw or grass can be seen on the shoreline opposite the temples.
• Golden Sand Temple with Tent
  Because Graham describes this location as "south of Suifu," it is most likely that he took this photo while he was stationed at Yibin (Suifu). This portion of the river is now called the Jinsha River, but it was then considered the Upper Yangtze. The image shows the shoreline of the Yangtze River with a small temple, a tent and three men on the beach. Timber can be seen in the temple and the tent. There is an almost perpendicular staircase hewn from the solid rock cliff that leads to the temple built around a natural cave.
• Chicken-Footed Deity at Lichuang
  This image shows two deity statues inside a temple. The subject of the image is a statue that has a long protruding tongue and chicken feet. He holds a string between his hands upon which petitioners hang objects to entice his spiritual help. The other deity statue wears and crown and bears his teeth in a grimace. Lizhuang is on the Yangtze River very close to Yibin (Suifu).It is most likely that Graham took this photo while he was stationed at Yibin (Suifu).
• Men Sifting Gold Dust on the Yangtze
  Gold dust is found in the sands along the shores of the Yangtze River. These men employ a sifting device to separate the gold dust from the sand on the rocky shoreline. A small junk passes by on the river in the background. It is most likely that he took this photo while he was stationed at Yibin (Suifu).
• City Gate on the Yangtze River
  Three men with turbans frame the foreground of this photo of a city gate with wide and tall steps leading up to it. One can see the boat stuffed in the entranceway to block any passage into the city by that route, supposedly because the gate's fengshui is bad, so doing so would cause catastrophe. There appears to be a major lumber operation with stacks of logs and beams on the beach and on racks ready for transport. The poles in the foreground may be the kind of bamboo tubes used for salt mining. Unfortunately, Graham did not include the city name in his caption. It is most likely that he took this photo while he was stationed at Yibin (Suifu).
• Precious Stone Buddhist Temple on the Yangtze
  In the foreground one can see the tiled rooftops of houses with laundry hanging to dry on ropes strung between them. Behind these is a sheer rock face with a multistoried temple on its face. The temple is formed like a pyramid with a terminal point at the top of the cliff.
• 08 Chongqing Shoreline with Houses on Stilts
  The large brick and stucco buildings of Chongqing can be seen on the top of the hill in the background. The main subject of the image are the houses on stilts on the Yangtze River harbor. One can also see laundry hanging to dry in front of these houses' windows. Chinese wooden houseboats or junks are parked along the shoreline in the foreground.
• 07 Wind-Box Gorge on the Yangtze
  Two other images of this location note that this photograph is taken looking downstream as the Yangtze flows from Sichuan to the coast. The Wind-Box Gorge is located between Fengjie Xian (Kweichowfu), Sichuan, and Wushan, Sichuan. It is the shortest and narrowest of the three gorges, providing the most dramatic views and the most dangerous houseboat rides. As a travel narrative by Edward Wallace shows, it is possible to see and photograph this view when travelling upsteam by simply looking off the back of the boat.
• 06 Entering the Wushan Gorge
  When traveling upstream towards West China, the Wushan Gorge is the second of the Yangtze River's Three Gorges. It is 12 miles long, most of which is narrow channels flanked by mountainous peaks with trackers' paths carved out of the rocky shores. Here the Graham's houseboat is about to turn one of the many corners along the gorge's course.
• 05 Wushan Temple on the Yangtze 2
  Scenic view of the temple at the entrance to the Wushan Gorge showing shoreline on either side. A path up the hillside is visible on the right. Rock island is seen in the lower left. A series of mountain peaks are in the left background.
• 04 Wushan Temple on the Yangtze 1
  Scenic view of the temple at the entrance to the Wushan Gorge with large protruding rock island in foreground. The temple sits halfway up the relatively small mountain. Another mountain may be seen in the left side background.
• Aerial View of Busy Hankow Harbor
  The photo is taken looking down on the boats parked in the Hankow harbor, perhaps from the window of a building on the bund. In the lower left, one can see the decorative trees planted in rows along the bund. The harbor is quite narrow and the sailboats are packed in several deep to the shore. Across the harbor there are industrial buildings on the shore in the background. This image was likely created for and used in lectures given by the Grahams and other missionaries "back home" while on furlough.
• 03 Masts of Boats at a Yangtze River Harbor
  Rows of sailboats parked at a harbor on the Yangtze River give the impression of a "forest of masts." It is not clear whether there are docks to park the boats.
• 02 Sailboat with Little Orphan Island
  A large rock island near the north shore of the Yangtze River just downstream from Jiujiang, Jiangxi (Kiukiang). The island has a small pagoda on the top and a Buddhist temple halfway up the rock face from the shore. A large sailboat passing by in front of it gives a sense of scale to the mountainous rock.
• 01 Sailboat at Mouth of Yangtze River
  A wooden boat with two tall rectangular sails on a large body of water at the mouth of the Yangtze River.
• 1913 Graham's First Yangtze River Journey
  David Crockett and Alicia Graham left Boston for West China on Sept. 14th, 1911, and sailed from San Francisco on Oct. 4th, 1911. When they reached Shanghai, however, they encountered the aftermath of the Republican Revolution and the missionaries who had evacuated West China on account of it. They therefore spent their first year in China in nearby Shaohsing and Mokanshan learning the Sichuanese language. The Grahams embarked on their first voyage up the Yangtze River to Sichuan on January 1st, 1913. It is not known how many of David Crockett Graham’s photographs of the Yangtze River were taken during this voyage. Many of his photographs of the Yangtze River were no doubt taken on later voyages during furloughs and evacuations. We do know that Graham’s Kodak camera was stolen by a “Chinese pick-pocket” in Wuchang before they got to Hankow. The camera was later found in a second-hand store and sent back to Graham, but we will never know how many pictures were lost thereby. The photographs in this series represent those that Graham most likely took on that first voyage in the order of locations they visited or passed.
• Christmas Dinner Menu 1912
  Handwritten menu of Christmas dinner enjoyed by missionary party heading to Sichuan after the 1912 evacuation. The party consisted of five women (three of them single from WMS) and Fred Johns. The main course of roast goose was accompanied by soup, several vegetable dishes, condiments, fruit and several desert dishes.
• Fred Abrey, Shanghai 1912
  Fred Abrey (husband of Elsie Abrey) strolls along a paved sidewalk in front of a Western style brick building in Shanghai's bund, 1912. A large building can be seen in the background to the right.
• Elsie Abrey, Shanghai 1912
  Elsie Abrey (wife of Fred Abrey) strolls along a paved sidewalk in front of a Western style brick building in Shanghai's bund, 1912. She holds two books in her hand.
• Portrait of Mrs. Bateman with Her Daughters
  Mrs. Alice Bateman (wife of Rev. Wm. Bateman) is seated with her newborn baby (Aileen Hartley) on her lap and small daughter Dorothy at her side. Aileen died going upriver to Sichuan, while Alice died at Mt. Emei in 1913. According to Martin Johns, this was due to the fact that they refused to get the small pox vaccination, which the rest of the party received in Shanghai.
• Mrs. Bateman with Her Two Daughters
  Mrs. Alice Bateman (wife of Rev. Wm. Bateman) is seated with her newborn baby (Aileen Hartley) on her lap and small daughter Dorothy at her side. Aileen died going upriver to Sichuan, while Alice died at Mt. Emei in 1913. According to Martin Johns, this was due to the fact that they refused to get the small pox vaccination, which the rest of the party received in Shanghai.
• Family of Richard Samuel Taylor in Shanghai
  Richard and Evelina Taylor with baby riding on wheelbarrow with another missionary man (likely Fred Abrey or Bill Mortimore) pretending to be the coolie who pedaled the vehicle. The actual wheelbarrow driver stands to the far left behind a Chinese policeman or soldier. In the background is a paved Shanghai street in front of a Western-style brick building.
• Riding Donkeys in Shanghai 1912
  Sadie (left) and Parker (right) Bayne with an unidentified missionary woman (middle) ride Chinese donkeys in front of a brick wall or building in Shanghai's foreign concession. The woman in the middle rides sidesaddle as was the custom for women in those days. The donkeys are equipped with harnesses, blankets and bells.