Guide to the Kenneth E. Wells and Margaretta B. Wells Papers

The Kenneth E. Wells and Margaretta B. Wells Papers document the couple’s life and work, particularly their missionary service to Thailand, as well as their family. From 1927 to 1967, the Wellses served under the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations (COEMAR) of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. With the dissolution of the Thailand Mission in 1957, the Wellses became fraternal workers in Thailand with the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT), representing the UPCUSA.

The collection’s correspondence, writings, photographs, and other materials document the Wellses’ missionary work, life, and family in Thailand, including the family’s escape when Japanese forces invaded in December 1941, as well as their interests in Thai culture and the history of Protestant mission work in Thailand. Also documented are Kenneth Wells’s service with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II and the Department of State from 1951 to 1953, and his expertise on Thai Buddhism. The papers document Prince Royal’s College and other educational institutions, the Church of Christ in Thailand, Thai Christians, and the Wellses’ friendships with fellow missionaries, Thai friends, and colleagues. The collection also documents the Wellses’ post-missionary years in Newport News, Virginia.

The collection consists of eleven series: personal material; correspondence; reports; biographical, historical, and subject material; writings and related correspondence and material; photographs and negatives; slides; photograph albums; scrapbooks; drawings and related textual material; and audio-visual material.

The personal series, 1926-2000, features clippings primarily concerning the Wellses and their children, Roberta and Kenneth; certificates of appreciation and citations as well as clergy, missionary, travel, residential, and birth certificates for the Wellses; assorted material documenting Kenneth E. Wells’s service with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II and the Department of State in the early 1950s; and invitations, programs, orders of worship, cards, and ephemera. It also includes biographical sketches of the Wellses and Margaretta Wells’s autobiographical reminiscences re-worked into a first person account by Roberta Wells Rogers in 2000.

The correspondence series comprises five subseries: Wells family, 1915-1987; supporting churches, 1927-1970; chronological, 1927, 1933, 1941-1995; missionary friends and colleagues 1932-1995; and Thai friends and colleagues, 1945-1989. The bulk of the Wells family correspondence consists of Kenneth E. Wells’s letters to his wife. The letters are primarily from two periods of separation: February 1946 to January 1947 and September 1953 to May 1956. The bulk of Margaretta Wells’s letters to her husband are from July 1942 to March 1943. The letters of Kenneth A.B. Wells to his parents are primarily from 1963 to 1967. Also included is correspondence between Margaretta Wells and her father, A.G. Burr, and between Kenneth E. Wells and his mother, Hattie Nelson Wells Henry.

The supporting churches subseries consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence each arranged chronologically. The bulk of the correspondence consists of Kenneth E. Wells’s outgoing letters to supporting churches from 1927 to 1967. The chronological subseries consists primarily of assorted incoming correspondence to the Wellses and some interfiled outgoing correspondence. A portion of the correspondence is work related and correspondents include the Board of Foreign Missions, COEMAR, other national office staff, and Horace W. Ryburn of the Thailand field office.

The missionary friends and colleagues subseries consists of three groups of correspondence. The first group consists of correspondence arranged alphabetically by the correspondent’s last name. The inclusive date for all correspondence is 1932 to 1995. The second and third groups comprise the Wells/Landon correspondence and the Wells/O’Brien correspondence, respectively. The Wells/Landon correspondence, 1935-1990, documents the lifelong friendship between the Wellses and Kenneth (1903-1993) and Margaret (1903-1993) Landon, as well as documenting their families. The correspondence consists of original and carbon copies of incoming and outgoing correspondence arranged chronologically. Files from 1966 to 1986 include photographs, clippings, writings, and other materials enclosed with the original correspondence from the Wellses to the Landons. The Wells/O’Brien correspondence, 1931-1970, documents the friendship between the Wellses and Henry (1891-1970) and Mary Lou (1896-1984) O’Brien. The correspondence consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence, interfiled chronologically, the bulk of which consists of the Wellses’ original letters, particularly those of Kenneth Wells to Henry O’Brien.

The Thai friends and colleagues correspondence, 1945-1989, is arranged alphabetically by correspondent’s last name. The most extensive correspondence is from the Wellses’ lifelong friend, Kru Tardt (Tardt Pradipasena). Other correspondents include the Reverend Charoon Wichaidist and Koson Srisang, who served as general secretaries of the Church of Christ in Thailand.

The report series consists primarily of Kenneth E. Wells’s reports for Prince Royal’s College, 1946-1947, 1951; the first installment of his 1958 report on his trip to Central and South America; his 1964 personal report and 1966 Thailand narrative report; and Margaretta Wells’s 1960s personal reports.

The biographical, historical, and subject material series is arranged alphabetically and dates from 1878 to 1996. The series consists primarily of assorted biographical material documenting missionaries to Thailand; the foreign community in Thailand; and Thais, Thai Christians, and Thai royalty. Also included are assorted historical material and the Wellses’ annotated copy of the 1928 Historical Sketch of Protestant Missions in Siam, 1828-1928.

The writings and related correspondence and material series comprises three subseries: Kenneth E. Wells, 1920s-1991; Margaretta B. Wells, 1936-1995; and other authors, 1935-1988. The material in all three subseries is interfiled alphabetically by title, topic, and type of material.

The photographs and negatives series comprises five subseries: missionaries and Thai Christians, circa 1890-1987; institutions, circa 1900-1981; chronological, 1893, 1900s-1990s; oversize images, circa 1859-1964; and negatives, circa 1948-1950, 1969, 1987. The first subseries consists primarily of photographs of missionaries and missionary families who served in Thailand. They are arranged alphabetically by last name and includes group photographs of mission meetings, Thai Christians, and Christian workers. The second subseries primarily documents educational institutions including Aroon Pradist School, Bangkok Christian College, Dara Academy, Prince Royal’s College, Thailand Theological Seminary, and Wang Lang School. Other photographs document the Leper asylum in Chiang Mai, McCormick Hospital and School of Nursing, and the Church of Christ in Thailand. The images are arranged alphabetically by the name of the institution. A portion has identifying information and some are undated. The largest group of photographs document Prince Royal’s College, particularly the February 1948 visit of U.S. Ambassador Edwin F. Stanton and the March 1958 visit of King Phumibol Rama IX and Queen Sirkit. The largest subseries consists of photographs arranged chronologically by decade and undated. The majority have identifying information. The photographs primarily document: Kenneth E. and Margaretta Wells, their children, and other Wells, Burr, and Carothers family members; mission work and missionaries; Thai Christians; the Church of Christ in Thailand; churches; educational and medical institutions; the Thai royal family; the Thai people; weddings; architecture; Buddhists and temples; and Chiang Mai and Bangkok. The oversize images are arranged alphabetically by description and are primarily portraits, missionary group photographs, and class pictures. The negatives are mostly unidentified and undated.

The slide series includes a collection of images, 1948-1971, of Chiang Mai, the Department of Christian Literature of the CCT, Bangkok Christian College, Wattana Wittaya Academy, Petchaburi, Chiang Rai, and churches. Additional slides are of Kenneth E. Wells’s 84th birthday in December 1980 and his memorial service on December 7, 1981.

The photograph albums series primarily documents the Wellses’ April 1930 journey to Baptist missions at Loi Mwe and Keng Tung in eastern Burma; their April 1931 journey to the Presbyterian mission station at Chiang Rung (Kiulungkiang) in the Yunnan Province of South China; their 1931 travels through the Middle East, Europe, and Britain en route to New York; Kenneth E. Wells’s April 1935 journey to Chiang Rung (Kiulungkiang) and Keng Tung; and family, missionary colleagues, friends, and Thai scenes. These albums have some identifying information. The 1960s albums feature the Wellses in Thailand. The photographs are mounted on self-adhesive pages that have no identifying information. Some images are loose, and most have identifying information on the reverse side.

The scrapbook series consists of material concerning the film, play, and stage musical versions of Margaret Landon’s 1944 historical novel, Anna and the King of Siam; the American Women’s Club of Thailand and Margaretta Wells’s 1966-1967 presidency; and letters, remembrances, anecdotes, words of appreciation, and photographs from friends and missionary colleagues to the Wellses on their retirement from missionary service.

The drawings series consists of circa 1930s colored and black and white pencil drawings, that depict scenes typical of rural northern Siam by Evalee Skinner Proctor, a friend and missionary colleague (Siam Mission, 1928-1933) of the Wellses.

The audio-visual material series includes two audio interviews of Margaretta Wells. A 1967 interview focuses on the family’s December 1941 journey of escape from Thailand, their arrival in the United States, and the war years in Washington D.C. An undated interview focuses on the Wellses’ October 1927 arrival in Bangkok; missionary colleagues and Thai friends; events; and Thai people, culture, and religion. A circa 1972 audio cassette letter from Ray Downs to the Wellses primarily concerns Chiang Mai, the Church of Christ in Thailand and church issues, and mutual friends. The series also includes a circa 1930s Wells family home movie, filmed in Thailand.