The Small Family Nanking University Collection consists of a family history, a map of Nanking, copied correspondence, newspaper clippings, and other materials on Nanking University, Lex's career as an architect, and the Nanking Incident, compiled by Jaqueline Schurman, the Smalls' granddaughter.

Alexander and Mary Small, also known as Lex and Polly, travelled to China in 1912 shortly after being married. Lex initially worked at the Fati Language School in Canton, where he was the school's engineer, involved in various small building and maintenance projects. After one year he was assigned to be the Superintendent of Construction for the Nanking University, part of the China Union Universities, created and administered by four US missions in New York. For over thirteen years, Lex supervised the construction of 66 buildings on campus, and he and Polly hosted numerous visiting missionaries. In 1927, the Smalls fled down the Yangtsze River with few of their possessions in the midst of the Nanking Incident, an uprising of Nationalist and Communist soldiers in which foreign residents were attacked and their property looted and destroyed. The family left China for the United States, eventually settling in Pasadena, California, where Lex worked for an architectural firm and then the Los Angeles Board of Education

0.23 linear feet

Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge. Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

The collection is open for research use.