John G. Magee III has donated 13 reels of rare film footage to the Divinity Library. The films – personally delivered to the library on Nov. 17 – were taken by Magee’s grandfather, John Gillespie Magee, in China during the 1920s and 1930s.
Magee, an Episcopal missionary, was active in the International Safety Zone Committee that was set up in Nanking (now Nanjing) to protect civilians during the Japanese occupation of the city.
The extent of atrocities and deaths caused by the Japanese occupation has been a point of contention between the Chinese and Japanese governments for many years. Magee’s films provide documentary evidence of atrocities committed by the Japanese forces.
In an informal ceremony in the library’s rotunda, John Magee III read a statement from his family. He noted it was the wish of his father, David B. Magee ‘49 YC, as well as his brother and other family members, that the films be donated to Yale.
“It is on behalf of the entire Magee family,” Magee said, “that I officially turn over these films to Yale University, where the Rev. John Gillespie Magee’s historic journey began.”
Restoration and digitization of the film footage is being sponsored by the USC Shoah Foundation. When digital footage is available, the Divinity Library will provide film clips on its Nanking Massacre Project website (http://divinity-adhoc.library.yale.edu/Nanking/) and make the full films available to researchers.
Martha Smalley is Special Collections and Curator of the Day Missions Collection at the Divinity School library.