Blough Family Collection, 1907-1945 | Earl H. and Anita F. Hess Archives and Special Collections

By Erin Krause '16

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Collection Overview

Title: Blough Family Collection, 1907-1945

Predominant Dates:1913-1922

ID: MSS/MSS-0016

Primary Creator: Blough, Anna V. (1885-1922)

Other Creators: Blough, Elizabeth Lavina Hoots, Blough, Elmer Ellsworth, Blough, Mary Susan Miller, Blough, Robert Oscar, Blough, Uriah S., Bright, J. Homer, Bright, Minnie Flory, Crumpacker, Anna, Crumpacker, Franklin H., Early, Henry Clay (1855-1941), Eshelman, E. E., Flory, Edna, Lichty, Mary, Metzger, Minerva, Minnich, H. Spenser (1893-1982), Oberholtzer, Elizabeth W., Shick, Jennie May Blough, Snavely, Everett H., Snavely, Ida Belle Blough, Wampler, Fred. J. (Frederick Jacob) (1883-1957), Wampler, Rebecca C.

Extent: 0.42 Linear Feet

Arrangement:

Series 1. Anna Blough Journals, Essays, and Sermons

Series 2. Reports of the Mission Family Commission and Miscellaneous Reports

Series 3. Correspondence

Series 4. Death of Anna Blough

Series 5. Pictures and Postcards

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The Blough Family Collection contains numerous letters, documents, poems, journal entries, and photographs from 1907 to 1945. The bulk of the collection spans the years of 1913 to 1922 and details Anna Blough’s, the third oldest child of the Brethren family, journeys and mission work in China. Anna Blough’s letters span from 1907 to 1922, the year that she died from typhus while working in China. These letters detail her two mission trips to China, and the people and culture that she encountered there. In addition to these letters, there are numerous responses from her family and loved ones, Anna’s essays and journal entries from her time in China, reports on the famine in China to the Church of the Brethren, and photographs and postcards from China in the early 1900s. This collection gives us an insight into the work of missionaries in this time period, Chinese culture, the difficulties of adapting to the Chinese language and culture, and the lives of a Brethren family in the early 1900s.

Collection Historical Note

Anna Viola Blough, born November 22, 1885 in Black Hawk County, Iowa to a large Brethren family, spent many of her years as a missionary in China. In 1889, Anna was baptized into the Church of the Brethren, and she attended the Mt. Morris Academy and Bethany Bible School. Anna made the conscious decision to not marry or have a family. Instead, in 1913, she sailed for China with a group of missionaries and Brother Early of the Mission Board. She worked in Pingting (Pingding) in the Shanxi Province of China until 1918 when she returned home. In 1920, she returned to China, and while she was there she supervised the distribution of grain during a famine and recruited workers for a Red Cross road building project. While she was in China, she focused on helping Chinese women; in addition to famine relief, she also worked with young girls in primary school and women in rural villages. In May 1922, she contracted typhus, and eventually died from it in Pingting (Pingding), China on May 9, 1922. She was buried in Pingting (Pingding), China, though there is a grave marker for her in Orange Township Cemetery in Iowa.

The Blough family was an old Brethren family that lived in Waterloo, Iowa. Anna’s mother, Mary Susan Miller Blough, and her father, Uriah S. Blough, had seven children, three girls, Jennie, Anna, and Ida Belle, and four boys, Warren, Elmer, Reverend John, and Robert. Most of the family is buried in the Orange Township Cemetery in Waterloo, Iowa.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Box:

[Box 1],
[All]

Box 1

Series 1: Anna Blough Journals, Essays, and Sermons

This series is a collection of Anna Blough’s personal writings including journals, essays, and sermons. These writings are mainly concerned with religion and her work in China. There are many loose pages on which Anna Blough has scribbled short notes and essays. Along with her loose notes and papers, there are two journals in the collection. The first journal includes entries from 1913 until 1916. The second includes entries from 1916 until 1920 detailing her time as a missionary in China. The entries in both of these journals discuss trips to different regions of China, her work as a missionary, the people she encountered and their culture, and the Chinese famine.

Folder 1

Series 2: Reports of the Mission Family Commission and Miscellaneous Reports

This series contains the reports and official documents from Anna Blough’s time in China as a missionary from 1913 until 1922, focusing mainly on the famine in China. Included in this collection are reports on the famine to the Church of the Brethren, essays about the Chinese culture, and newspaper clippings.

Folder 2

Series 3: Correspondence

This series includes correspondence to or from the Blough family from the years 1907 until 1945. The bulk of the collection focuses on Anna Blough and her time as a missionary in China; however, some of the subseries contain correspondence between other members of the Blough family.

Folder 3: Correspondence from Anna Blough, 1907-1922, bulk 1913-1922: Anna Blough wrote many letters while she was working in China as a missionary, most of them to her family. These letters discuss her travels through Japan and China, her work at primary schools, her faith, and the famine in China.
Folder 4: Correspondence from Anna Blough, 1907-1922, bulk 1913-1922: Anna Blough wrote many letters while she was working in China as a missionary, most of them to her family. These letters discuss her travels through Japan and China, her work at primary schools, her faith, and the famine in China.
Folder 5: Correspondence to Anna Blough, 1913-1922: Contains all of the letters within this collection that were written to Anna Blough. Sent within the years of 1913 and 1922, these letters are mostly sent to Anna from her family while she was working for the mission in China.
Folder 6: Correspondence from Minerva Metzger to the Blough Family, 1924-1933: Minerva Metzger, a friend of Anna Blough’s from China and the principal of Shu Hsien Girls School, wrote several letters to the Blough family after Anna’s death. This collection of letters, spanning the years 1924 to 1933, discusses the work of the missionaries in China, her work at the Shu Hsien Girls School, and various everyday tasks.
Folder 7: Correspondence to Jennie May Blough Shick and Family, 1917-1945: This collection of letters are mostly written to Jennie May Blough Shick, Anna’s older sister, and her family within the years 1917 until 1945. Jennie, who lived from 1881-1965, had several children. The letters in this collection are mainly from Jennie’s younger sister Ida Belle Blough Snively and her family. The letters mostly discuss everyday matters, though there is some mention of church and Bible class.
Folder 8: Miscellaneous Correspondence, 1923-1925: Contains four letters from the years 1923-1925. The letters are mainly from members of the mission and the church and were sent to the Blough family, discussing Anna’s life and her work for the church.

Series 4: Death of Anna Blough

This series contains letters and various documents written mostly in 1922 about Anna Blough’s death. Included in this collection are the letters her friend, Minerva Metzger, wrote to various members of the Blough family to inform them of Anna’s death, the letters between various family members expressing their grief and condolences about her death, discussion of funeral arrangements, and details of Anna’s estate.

Folder 9

Series 5: Pictures and Postcards

This series contains many photographs and postcards from China showing various people, scenery, farmland, ships, and various aspects of the Chinese culture.

Folder 10