Mead, Lawrence Myers, 1888-1954.

Lawrence Myers Mead taught English in China, first under the YMCA and later as a faculty member at Yenching University in Beijing.

From the description of Lawrence Mead papers, 1928-1965 (inclusive). (Yale University). WorldCat record id: 702163638

Lawrence Mead was born in Plainfield, New Jersey on September 21, 1888. He attended The Hill School and graduated from Princeton University in 1911, with a BA, majoring in English. He entered Union Theological Seminary in 1911, but dropped out midyear with a severe infection. In 1912 he joined the International YMCA, and in 1913 was sent to China to become a teacher of English in the YMCA schools there, serving in Shanghai and Hangchow. In the summer of 1916 he returned to the US for additional graduate study. During World War I he enlisted in the US Army medical coprs and was stationed at the base hospital at Camp Shelby, Miss. He married Eleanor Machado of Ottawa, Canada in June 1917.

In the fall of 1919 Mead returned to Beijing, China with the YMCA, together with his wife and first born child. In Beijing he taught English language, composition, and phonetics in the YMCA's Commercial School from 1920 until he came home furlough in 1926. During his two years in Canada and the US he received an MA in English from Columbia University, which included special training in Phonetics at London University in England.

In the summer of 1928 he returned to Beijing with his family (wife and now five children) to join the faculty of Yenching University, where he taught English, with the emphasis on spoken English. All entering Freshmen had to take his course in spoken English. While at Yenching, Mead became the unofficial "official" photographer for the University. He returned to the US with his family in the summer of 1939.

In 1940 Mead and his wife, Eleanor, became co-directors of the International Student Association of Greater Boston, located in Cambridge, MA. This organization, supported by the schools and colleges in the area, served the 2000 plus foreign students caught by World War II in the Boston area. Lawrence and Eleanor Mead retired to Cornwall, CT in 1952. Mead died in Cambridge, MA on September 28, 1954.

From the guide to the Lawrence Myers Mead Papers, 1928-1965, (Yale University Divinity School Library)