Guide to the Penn State in China Records, 1910-1983

Collection number: RGN 43.01

University Libraries
The Pennsylvania State University
Special Collections Library
Penn State University Archives

Contact Information:

©2006 Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Administrative Information

Arrangement

The records are organized into four series: I. Correspondence; II. Finance; III. Meeting Minutes; IV. Reports.

Administrative History Note

George Weidman Groff, Pennsylvania State College professor of horticulture, pioneered the idea of agricultural missions under Christian auspices and in 1907 became the first agricultural missionary to China. He was assigned to the Canton Christian College (later known as Lingnan University) as a teacher in the middle school. Between 1911-1912, Groff published the first agricultural bulletin of Lingnan and organized the Penn State College Horticultural Mission to China.

Groff credits his work to "the fellowship and inspiration received from teachers and friends at Penn State." With the support of staff, students, and alumni, he served both Lingnan and Penn State, advocating a reciprocal exchange of cultural ideas in which the United States contributed to China's agricultural science and techniques of extensive agriculture, while receiving an understanding of China's intensive agricultural methods and the value of her unique cultivated and wild floras.

In 1921, Groff organized the Lingnan Agricultural College with a faculty of western-trained Chinese, supplemented by a few Penn State and Kansas State staff members. He served as the Dean of the College until 1935. He also became the director of the Economic Plant Receiving Station, Lingnan University in 1935.

Groff's work from the beginning in 1908 was financed and supported by his friends at Penn State. Impressed with the work that he was doing in China, Penn State students in 1911 organized a Penn-State-in-China committee and for more than 40 years supported, in part, the work of "Daddy" Groff. Each year the new students in Penn State were told the story of the work of "Daddy" Groff in China and each year through chapel offerings they supported his work. The "old grads," when discussing Penn State spirit, liked to relate the story of this project in China as illustrative of the meaning of Penn State spirit.

Richard Pride succeeded Groff as Director of the program in 1947. Pride remained in China, in spite of the war, but eventually left for a position at the University of Massachusetts in 1952. The program faltered after Pride's resignation due to increasing political problems between China and the United States.

Scope and Content

The Penn State in China collection consists of four series: Correspondence, Finance, Meeting Minutes, and Reports.

Series One - Correspondence: The bulk of this series covers the active period of the program between 1910-1958, although there are some pieces of correspondence beyond the closing date of the program specifically about the program's history.

Series Two - Finance: This series details the donations, emergency funds, and operating expenses for the program. Included within is the description of a specific fund-raising event "Rice Bowl Dinners."

Series Three - Meeting Minutes: This series includes minutes from the Canton Christian College, the Chapel Service Collection Dispute review, Penn State in China Exchange Students Committee and the program committee meetings.

Series Four - Reports: This series includes annual program reports, membership and bylaws reports, and project publicity statements.

This collection should be viewed in concert with the personal papers of Dr. George Weidman Groff, also held by the Penn State University Archives.

Index Terms

These materials are indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Pennsylvania State University. Researchers wishing to find related materials should search the catalog under these index terms.

Container List