Guide to the William Hervie Dobson Papers
Open for research.
William Hervie Dobson was born in Vineland, N.J. In 1897 he was sent as a surgeon to the Yeungkong Station, South China Mission. The first Presbyterian missionary to learn the Yeungkong dialect, Dobson worked in the Canton region as evangelist, surgeon, and teacher until 1940 when he was honorably retired from the mission field. Married in 1899 to Effie W. Moore (died 1916), at the time of his death Dobson was survived by his two sons: Hervey and Connelly.
The collection consists of correspondence, daybooks, photographs and one folder of miscellaneous material. The bulk of the collection covers the early years of Dobson's work in the Yeungkong mission and at the Forman Memorial Hospital (1897-1904). The correspondence is highly descriptive and contains Dobson's first impressions of China as well as narrative accounts of the daily life and duties of a missionary doctor. Included in this series is an account of the Boxer Rebellion. The majority of the photographs in the collection cover the period of 1901-1904.
SERIES I: Correspondence, 1893-1904 (Box 1 Folders 2-11)
Arranged chronologically by year.
SERIES II: Daybooks, circa 1897-1898 (Box 1 Folder 12)
SERIES III: Photographs, circa 1897-1964 (Box 1 Folder 13; Box 2 Folders 1-4)
Arranged chronologically by year.
SERIES IV: Miscellany, 1897-circa 1940 (Box 2 Folder 5)
Researchers are advised to consult the card catalog for printed material related to this collection. Related archival collections include RG 82 and 129 (Board of Foreign Missions, Secretaries' Files, China Mission, 1837-1957).
Gift of Ann Fa'alogo, 7-85.
Collection processed and finding aid prepared: 1986
Janet Brice Bishop, Assistant Archivist
| Box | Folder | Description | |
| 1 | 1 | Finding Aid to Record Group 204 | |
| SERIES I: Correspondence, 1893-1904 | |||
| 1 | 2 | 1893-1896 | |
| 1 | 3 | 1897 | |
| 1 | 4 | 1897 | |
| 1 | 5 | 1898 | |
| 1 | 6 | 1898-1899 | |
| 1 | 7 | 1899 | |
| 1 | 8 | 1900 | |
| 1 | 9 | 1901-1902 | |
| 1 | 10 | 1903 | |
| 1 | 11 | 1904 | |
| SERIES II: Daybooks, circa 1897-1898 | |||
| 1 | 12 | circa 1897-1898 | |
| SERIES III: Photographs, circa 1897-1963 | |||
| 1 | 13 | circa 1897-1904 | |
| 2 | 1 | 1901-circa 1904 | |
| 2 | 2 | circa 1935-1940 | |
| 2 | 3 | 1963 | |
| 2 | 4 | undated | |
| SERIES IV: Miscellany, 1898-circa 1940 | |||
| 2 | 5 | 1898-circa 1940 |