Daughter of Earth: Agnes Smedley and Smedley-MacKinnon Collections

Photographs of Agnes Smedley: Fragments of Her Life
The following photographs of Agnes Smedley are best described by a quote from her book Daughter of Earth: "I shall gather up the fragments of my life and make a crazy-quilt of them. Or a mosaic of interesting patterns - unity in diversity. This will be an adventure."


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Smedley family
Left to right: Myrtle, John, Sam; back, left to right: Charles, Agnes, Nellie, and Sarah Lydia.
1899
Agnes Smedley Collection
ACC#93-1116 (unprocessed)


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Kalakagathea Literary Society
Tempe Normal School
Agnes Smedley second on far right
1912
University Archives Collection
129.20 Sm32


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Agnes Smedley in Guomindang uniform worn by communist troops in Central China during the United Front period
1939
Photographer: Aino Taylor
Agnes Smedley Collection
ACC#93-1116 (unprocessed)


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"Ching-li---lisia Kwei" - orderly, Yeh Fan Kwei, my translator, Agnes Smedley and Ann Wang" (LilyWu and Anna Wang)
1931
Agnes Smedley Collection
Volume 42


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Agnes Smedley (center) with a military group greeting her with a welcome sign.
1930s
Agnes Smedley Collection
Volume 42

Foreign Correspondent in China
During the 1930s Agnes Smedley was a foreign correspondent in China's battlefields. Traveling with the 8th Route and New Fourth Armies she documented the Communist Revolution for the Frankfurter Zeitung and later the Manchester Guardian. Smedley captured both in text and photographs the wartime struggles of soldiers and civilians alike. The following photographs and text are by Agnes Smedley.


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"Leaders of Women's National Salvation Association in Central China - in guerrilla territory."
1930s
Photographer: Agnes Smedley
Agnes Smedley Collection
Volume 38


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"Korean volunteers at head table and left; Jap [Japanese] captives on right."
1930s
Photographer: Agnes Smedley
Agnes Smedley Collection
Volume 38


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"Night welcome meeting. New 4th Storm Guerrilla Detachment in Central China, North HanKou"
1930s
Photographer: Agnes Smedley
Agnes Smedley Collection
Volume 38


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"The dramatic group of the Mass Mobilization Committee of Lihwang, Anhwei, produces the ‘Wang Ching-Wei-Hiranuma Pact' anti-traitor drama."
1930s
Photographer: Agnes Smedley
Agnes Smedley Collection
Volume 38


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"Chinese armies and railway men tore up their railways to prevent the Japanese from using them. Then the railway men carried away the steel rails and girders and welded them into big swords for soldiers and guerrillas to fight the enemy. This is a Chinese railway worker, member of a group of 60 railway workers who banded together to form a cooperative. They use blacksmith forges and bellows to melt and weld the steel rails, then hammer them into swords for use against the enemy."
1930s
Photographer: Agnes Smedley
Agnes Smedley Collection
Volume 38, MSS 122