| Scope and content |
The bulk of the correspondence consists of newsletters sent by missionaries stationed throughout the world. These newsletters contain information about local political, social, and economic conditions, as well as discussions of progress made in the missionary field. Correspondence reflects activities at Soochow Station, including the operation of Yates School, as well as the Japanese occupation of China and the subsequent civil war. Correspondence from friends, family, and church groups reflects their interest in and support of her missionary work. A series of letters discuss possibility of a drinking water fluoridation program in North Carolina. Notebooks pertain to Sunday school classes, chapel talks, Southern Baptist Convention sessions, and Chinese vocabulary. Photographs are mostly of churches, schools, groups of teachers and students, and Buddhas. Slides depict the life and scenery in several southeastern Asian countries, including ground zero at the Hiroshima City Hall, the National Diet Building in Tokyo, and Kin Kakuii in Kyoto. Maps are of Taiwan and mission locations in China. |
| Access restriction | No access restrictions. |
| Cite as |
Ola V. Lea Papers (#351), Special Collections Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA. |
| Terms of use | Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law. |
| Acquisitions source |
Joyner- Gift of Mr. Fred Hyatt. |
| Biographical note | Ola V. Lea was a Baptist missionary to Southern China and Taiwan for 37 years. A native of Ringgold, Va., she taught public school for seven years before entering the Women's Missionary Training School. In 1925, she accepted her first assignment teaching at Soochow, China. She later served as principal of the Women's Missionary Union Training School in Shanghai and Dean of Women at China Baptist Theological Seminary in Kaifeng. The Communist takeover in 1949 forced her removal to Taipei, Taiwan, where she continued her missionary work as an assistant professor at the National Taiwan University Hospital until her retirement in 1962. |
