This collection contains some restricted material. Restrictions related to specific material are listed in the detailed contents list.
Onsite storage.
This collection contains reports and drafts, charts, tabulations, maps, surveys, summaries of data, and other materials related to Cressy's research on Chinese religious institutions, mostly in Hangzhou. He was assisted by a Chinese researcher who gathered information on hundreds of religious institutions in the region. Cressy's research put him into contact with contemporary Chinese religious organizations such as the Buddhist Right Faith Society (佛教正信會), the Wuchang Buddhist Seminary (武昌佛學院), the Hubei Confucian Society (湖北孔道會), and the Hankou Buddhist Society (漢口佛教會).
Earl Herbert Cressy papers, 1918 -- 1960
This series contains reports and drafts, charts, tabulations, maps, surveys, summaries of data, and other materials related to Cressy's research on Chinese religious institutions, mostly in Hangzhou. He was assisted by a Chinese researcher who gathered information on hundreds of religious institutions in the region. Cressy's research put him into contact with contemporary Chinese religious organizations such as the Buddhist Right Faith Society (佛教正信會), the Wuchang Buddhist Seminary (武昌佛學院), the Hubei Confucian Society (湖北孔道會), and the Hankou Buddhist Society (漢口佛教會).
Missionary Research Library Archives: MRL6, China
This collection is organized in one unarranged series.
This collection contains some restricted material. Restrictions related to specific material are listed in the detailed contents list.
Onsite storage.
Some material in this collection may be protected by copyright and other rights. Information concerning copyright, fair use, and reproduction requests can be consulted at Columbia's Copyright Advisory Office.
Item description, MRL6: Earl Herbert Cressy papers, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.
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.
Columbia University Libraries, Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary
Metal clips and staples were removed from materials and folded items were flattened. Materials were placed in new acid-free folders. Acidic items were photocopied on to acid-free paper and the originals separated by interleaving with acid-free paper. Any items in an advanced state of deterioration were placed in Mylar envelopes. Oversized materials from boxes 2-4 were unfolded and moved to oversized boxes 5 and 6. A large woodblock print map from box 3, folder 4 was digitally imaged and moved to tube box 7. The collection was updated in 2014 as part of the Henry Luce Foundation Grant. Folders were placed in new acid-free boxes at this time. Where a Romanized Chinese term forms part of an original title, the older style of romanization has been preserved (e.g. Hangchow). Otherwise, in descriptive notes and terms translated from the original Chinese, the current standard pinyin system has been used (e.g. Hangzhou). The finding aid was created by Gregory Adam Scott in 2009, updated by Brigette C. Kamsler in 2014 with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, and edited by Leah Edelman in 2022.
2022-03-16 PDF converted to EAD and description updated by Leah Edelman.
Earl Herbert Cressy was born in Lacon, Illinois on June 15, 1883. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1907 and Rochester Theological Seminary in 1910. That same year he traveled to Hanyang 漢陽 in China to work as a missionary under the auspices of the American Board of Foreign Missions. He worked with the Central China Famine Relief Committee in 1912 to solicit direct support for the needy, and from 1916 lived in Hangzhou, where he was principal of Wayland Academy. In 1925 he was the executive secretary of the Council of Christian Colleges in China, and associate general secretary of the National Christian Council of China. Cressy married Margaret Millie, [18??]-[195?] in 1927, and ultimately left China in 1946. In the 1950s he was involved with Christianity in Thailand. He later taught at the Kennedy School of Missions at Hartford, and was director of the Urban Church Research Center for Asia in Claremont, CA in the 1960s. He passed away in 1979. Cressy produced several books, including China Marches Toward the Cross (1938), Daughters of Changing Japan (1955) and Understanding China (1957).
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
| Name | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cressy, Earl Herbert, 1883- -- : Archives | CLIO Catalog | ArchiveGRID |
| Subject | ||
| Missions -- China | CLIO Catalog | ArchiveGRID |