Collection ID: 4492586

Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Hume, Edward H (Edward Hicks), 1876-1957
Abstract:
Edward Hicks Hume was a Protestant medical missionary in China and the founder of the Yale-Hunan Medical College. The collection contains monographs, a memorial pamphet for son T.C. Hume, correspondence and notes regarding T. C. Hume's appointment to a World Council of Churches post in Stockholm, a book list, and Chinese paper coins.
Extent:
0.25 linear feet and 0.25 linear feet; 1 box
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Item description, MRL6: Edward Hicks Hume papers, 1914-1959, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.

Background

Scope and Content:

This collection contains monographs by Edward Hicks Hume (E.H. Hume) as well as his son Theodore Carswell Hume (T.C. Hume), a memorial pamphet for T.C. Hume, correspondence and notes regarding T. C. Hume's appointment to a World Council of Churches post in Stockholm, a book list, and Chinese paper coins designed to be burnt as offerings during funerary rites.

Biographical / Historical:

Edward Hicks Hume was born on May 13, 1876 in Ahmednagar, India. Son of a school principal, Hume was educated in classics but was finally persuaded by his father to study medicine. After graduating from Yale and Johns Hopkins, in 1903 he married Helen Charlotta Carswell (1876 - 1976), later known as Lotta Carswell Hume. Hume practiced medicine in Bombay from 1903 until 1905, when he joined the Yale mission in China. The following year he founded the Yale hospital in Changsha 長沙, Hunan 湖南. In 1914 he founded the Yale-Hunan (Xiangya 湘亞) Medical College, and three years later he helped found the Yale-China hospital. He also served as President of the Colleges of Yale-in-China from 1923 until 1926, when he resigned due to a dispute over policy and returned to the United States. From 1934 to 1937 he returned to East Asia, promoting greater Chinese involvement in missionary medical work. He died on February 9, 1957 in Wallingford, NH.

Hume published a number of books during his lifetime, including The Chinese Way in Medicine (1940) and Doctors East Doctors West (1946). Hume's cousin Robert Earnest Hume, 1877 - 1948, was a faculty member of Union Theological Seminary in New York City from 1914 to 1943.

Acquisition information:
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. The present collection is only part of that original accession, documented as six boxes of archival papers including sermons, articles, press articles, addresses, broadcasts, letters, and reports. The location of the remainder of the papers is unknown.
Processing information:

This collection was reconstructed from previously unprocessed material in the MRL archives. 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 separated from one another by interleaving with acid-free paper as needed. Fragile items in folders 3 and 4 were replaced with acid-free photocopies and the originals separated into restricted folders 6-7. The finding aid was created by Gregory Adam Scott in 2009, reviewed and updated by Brigette C. Kamsler in 2014 with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, and edited by Leah Edelman in 2020.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in one series organized by format.

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

This collection contains some restricted material. Restrictions related to specific material are listed in the detailed contents list.

Onsite storage.

TERMS OF ACCESS:

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.

PREFERRED CITATION:

Item description, MRL6: Edward Hicks Hume papers, 1914-1959, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.

LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
Union Theological Seminary
3041 Broadway
New York, NY 10027, United States
CONTACT:
(212) 851-5606
burke@library.columbia.edu