This finding aid is made available for public use following the Universal 1.0 Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons designation.
This collection is open for research.
Onsite storage.
Formerly part of the independent Missionary Research Library (MRL), these records were accessioned by the Burke Library at the time of the MRL's closure in 1976.
Mark W. Brown was born in North Clarendon, Pennsylvania on September 4, 1887. His undergraduate study was completed at Mount Union College, and in 1911 he married Ocie L. Rentsch. For the next three years, he served as a pastor in the Northeast Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 1914 received his D.D. from Drew Theological Seminary. In that same year he was assigned to China as a missionary. Brown was professor of New Testament and Theology at Peking Theological Seminary 北京匯 文神學院 in Beijing (founded in 1906 as North China Union Theological College, and united with Peking University in 1911). In 1930 he earned a Ph.D. from Drew University, and by 1933 he was serving as the secretary of the North China Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1934 he died suddenly in Beijing after a brief illness, survived by his widow and his sister Mabel H. Brown, who was also a missionary.
Missionary Research Library Archives: MRL6, China
Item description, MRL6: Mark W. Brown papers, 1908-1965, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.
Metal clips and staples were removed from materials and folded items were flattened. Materials were placed in new acid free folders and boxes. Acidic items were photocopied on acid free paper as needed. Photographs were lightly brushed clean and placed in Mylar envelopes. The finding aid was created by Gregory Adam Scott in 2010, reviewed and updated by Brigette Kamsler in 2014 with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, and edited by Leah Edelman in 2020.
This collection contains material connected to Brown's interest in and work on his collection of bronze Nestorian crosses collected from the northwest of China. His article on the subject was published as "The Romance of Nestorian Crosses" in the February 1933 issue of the Chinese Recorder. Material includes background research, correspondence with other scholars and missionaries, and draft notes on the subject. Folders 1-2 contain a series of black and white photographs of Brown's collection of crosses, six of which were reproduced as plates to accompany his published article. Bishop William C. White of the Canadian Anglican Church argued in the April and June 1930 issues of the Chinese Recorder that these were actually not Nestorian crosses, but rather protective amulets connected to Tang and Song Dynasty indigenous religion.
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This collection is arranged roughly by format.
This file contains three copies of the article.