Arthur E. Armstrong papers, 1911-1938
2 linear feet (in 3 boxes)
Hillsdale, Michigan, Singer Sewing Machine Company representative in central China, 1911-1917; wife, Elsa F. Armstrong of Northfield, Minnesota, Evangelical Lutheran missionary in China, 1911-1917. Correspondence between Arthur and Elsa Armstrong, Elsa Armstrong's family, and other missionaries, concerning life in China; also photographs and Arthur and Elsa Armstrong's reminiscences of China.
Approximately fifty per cent of the collection consists of visual materials, primarily photographs, although there are some striking posters from the period of the Chinese revolution, 1911-1912. The photographs concern such subjects as Chinese urban life, mission activities, daily life in China, and Arthur Armstrong's work with the Singer Sewing Machine Company. The Armstrong collection also contains a large number of stereoptic card views of China, the St. Louis World's Fair, Port Arthur, the Philippine Islands, and Japan. These were probably sample cards that Armstrong sold in connection with his work with the Underwood & Underwood Company.