Guide to the Van Dyck Family Papers
Open for research.
David Bevier Van Dyck, Sr., (1892-1963), son of a Presbyterian minister, was born in Johnsonville, New York. He graduated from Rutgers University, BA, 1914, from Princeton University, MA, 1917, and from Princeton Theological Seminary, 1918. He and Anna Foster Richardson (1895- ) of New Brunswick, New Jersey, were married and were appointed by the BFM to Kiangan Mission in China in 1918. They served at Hwei Yuan, 1920-1933, and Showchow, 1933-1940, doing evangelistic, educational and administrative work. In 1927, because of war conditions, they went to Korea for a brief period. The Van Dycks returned to the US at the beginning of World War II and after an extended furlough Van Dyck returned to Hunan in unoccupied China from 1943-1946, returning to the US in 1946-1947. The Van Dycks again returned to China but were forced to leave because of the civil war. They resigned in 1953.
The Van Dyks had three sons who were born in China. David Van Dyck, Jr., (1923- ), served as a missionary and a commissioned fraternal worker in Japan, 1955-1966.
This collection consists of outgoing and incoming correspondence of the Van Dyks, much of it from other missionaries and from a Chinese leader, Mr. Liu. There are also reports, official releases and publications of the BFM. The turmoil and disturbances of the Japanese invasion before World War II and the civil war following it and the impact on the church are depicted.
Other record groups with relevant material include RG 82 and RG 129, Board of Foreign Missions, China Mission, Secretaries' Files, and RG 234, Yates Family Papers.
Collection processed and finding aid prepared: February 1993
Glenn Colliver, Assistant Archivist
| Box | Folder | Description | |
| 1 | 1 | Finding Aid for Record Group 358 | |
| 1 | 2 | Van Dyck Correspondence and Reports, 1926-1951, n.d. | |
| 1 | 3 | Correspondence (Henry H. Liu), 1950 | |
| 1 | 4 | Photographs, n.d. | |
| 1 | 5 | Reports, BFM Letters, Orders of Service, Hymn, 1950-1959, n.d. |