Guide to the Lacy L. Little Photographs and Papers

Lacy LeGrand Little was a Presbyterian minister and one of the founding missionaries of the Kiangyin Station of the Mid-China Mission, Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Arriving in China in 1895, Little served in Kiangyin (now Jiangyin) for more than thirty years. Together with R.A. Haden, George Worth and others, Little led the mission post through a period of significant growth and successful evangelizing, despite continued political strife and warfare in China. It grew to include a chapel, hospital and nurses training program, and schools for boys and girls, among other services.

In the early years of the Kiangyin mission field, Little spent significant time preaching and distributing Presbyterian literature throughout the countryside. Then, in 1906 and 1907, he and his wife, Ella, developed education programs for boys and girls. Their schools were successful, with enrollment continually rising. The school program benefitted from a large donation from James Sprunt of Wilmington, North Carolina, who donated $10,000 for the construction of new school buildings that were named James Sprunt Academy and Luola Murchison Sprunt Academy for girls.

Political conflict and war marked the first decades of the twentieth century in China. Having developed good relationships with the community, Little and the mission station were often involved in conflict mediation, especially in 1925, during the Battle of Kiangyin of the second Zhili-Fengtian War. Peace negotiations between the northern and southern forces were held inside Little's house.

Lacy Little was a native of North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina and Princeton Theological Seminary. He was married three times. Little married Pauline DuBose in 1896; she died in 1897. In 1900, upon returning to China after a trip back to the United States, Little married Ella Davidson. Ella died in 1916. Three years later in 1919, Little married Nell Sprunt.