Journal Interview: Thomas Nimick on Mary Morrison’s Outreach to Women in China

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Thomas Nimick about his article “Missionary Women’s Outreach to Poor Women in China: Origins of the Industrial Class Strategy.” The article appears in the Spring/Summer 2020 Journal of Presbyterian History. Watch the conversation below:

Dr. Nimick is Professor of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point and a ruling elder at Germonds Presbyterian Church in New City, NY. A scholar of Chinese history, he relates the intriguing story of Mary Morrison, the missionary at the heart of his article, and the Chinese and international contexts of her and her husband's work.* Morrison developed her innovative outreach strategy in the port city of Ningbo during the tumultuous Taiping Rebellion.

Toward the end of the interview [see: 24:45] Dr. Nimick discusses his good fortune gaining access to family letters documenting Mary Morrison’s story—letters that PHS is hoping to make available to other researchers in the future.

For now, and until the end of September, you can learn more about those letters and the industrial class strategy from the full article on our website.  [Click here to read full article.]

The Journal of Presbyterian History is PHS’s biannual scholarly publication. PHS Reference and Outreach Archivist Jenny Barr, who helps prepare the Journal, will host a PHS Live session on researching China mission history Thursday, August 13, at 2pm. [Click here for session details.]

*In the interview I mistakenly referred to "William Thomas Morrison" as "Thomas"--leading Dr. Nimick down that wrong nomenclature path. Apologies to Thomas and William!

PHS donors who give at the Historian level ($125+) receive a year’s subscription to the print version of The Journal of Presbyterian History.

For tips on searching past issues of The Journal in JSTOR, click here.