Contains the bulk of Helen Foster Snow's personal and professional papers, divided into eight different series, spanning her entire lifetime. Of most interest, and historical significance, are those items dealing with Helen's China years, including photographs, essays, biographies, pamphlets, awards, letters, and newspapers that document China from 1930-1980. Also contains original drafts of all of Helen's major literary publications, most dealing with China. Includes essays written during Helen's later intellectual life on topics such as: politics, women's rights, genealogy, history, and philosophy. Also includes a large body of genealogical work for Helen's family. Helen's China collection spans from her 1931 entry into China to her 1941 departure to the Philippines. It is the result of nearly a decade of intense photojournalism, and, from a historical perspective, this is the richest part of the collection–letters, memos, communiques, and newspapers document this tumultuous decade in China's history. Includes materials about the people within the early People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party that cannot be found anywhere else. Also includes a large collection of pamphlets (Mao Zedong's writings, government announcements, propaganda) from China, ca. 1940-1975, that provides a window into the early PRC. Complementary to the voluminous set of written materials on China is Helen's collection of photographs. These photographs predate her birth and conclude with her death in 1997. The bulk of the photographs were taken in Asia, documenting early Chinese leaders (e.g. Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and Deng Xiaoping), life in the Communist Soviets (Yen'an, Xi'an), urban cities (Beijing) and rural countrysides, historic places prior to the Japanese occupation, and her husband's work in pre-war China. The photographs number in the thousands, and most are black and white. In addition to the photographs of Asia, there are a sizable number of photographs from her personal life and work. The collection also contains several original book drafts (typed and handwritten) of every one of Helen's literary works, both published and unpublished. These drafts show the evolution of Helen's writing, and her insights into China and its people. Also included are hundreds of Helen's essays on a variety of topics, with an emphasis on the Industrial Cooperative (both in China and India) movement and family history. The Industrial Cooperative materials are supplemented by many of Rewi Alley's writings on the same subject. Also contains most of Helen's correspondence from 1941 until her death in 1997, arranged chronologically and topically.
