Robert Nelson Papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
College of William and Mary
Special Collections Research Center
Earl Gregg Swem Library
College of William and Mary
400 Landrum Drive
PO 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (757) 221-3090
Fax: (757) 221-5440
Restrictions:

Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Terms of access:

Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Preferred citation:

Robert Nelson Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Summary

Extent:
2.25 Linear Feet
Language:
English Chinese
Preferred citation:

Robert Nelson Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Background

Scope and content:

Correspondence, sermons, essays and accounts of Robert Nelson, Protestant Episcopal missionary to Shanghai, China. The collection Includes two account books, a lettercopy book, and articles written by Nelson as well as two manuscript Chinese-English dictionaries compiled by Nelson. Some items, such as a "Count of Missionaries and Staff in China, 1807-1874" illuminate the history of missionaries in China. There is one letter written to Nelson in which the writer has used Wade-Giles transliteration.

Biographical / historical:

Robert Nelson was a Protestant Episcopal minister from Virginia, who spent many years as a Protestant Episcopal Church Foreign Missionary in Shanghai, China.

Acquisition information:
Gift and purchase.
Arrangement:

Correspondence and Sermons are grouped together, but otherwise, no particular arrangement.

Physical description:
565 pieces