Description
Mabel Haynes was born in Shanghai in
1918, and lived and worked in Shanghai and Hong Kong until 1949, when she and her husband
fled from the new Communist regime. The collection consists of items collected by Haynes
related to Shanghai and the Old China Hands experience, including correspondence, articles,
and photographs.
Background
Mabel (Bloomfield) Haynes was born in Shanghai in 1918, to a British-Jewish father and a
Japanese mother. She was one of six children, and attended the Shanghai Jewish School and
the Public School for Girls on Yu Yuen Road. After graduating, Haynes began working at
Andersen, Meyer & Company, a company that represented various manufacturers in China.
She worked in their Hong Kong office for three years, before returning to Shanghai in 1941
to be closer to her family in the wake of World War II. As a British citizen, she lost her
job when the Japanese invaded Shanghai, and was eventually sent to the Lunghwa internment
camp along with two of her siblings in August of 1944. After the camps were liberated she
worked as a secretary for the American military, and got married. She and her husband stayed
in Shanghai until the Communists took over in 1949, whereupon they moved to Australia, and
eventually ended up in Los Angeles, California. Haynes has remained active in the Old China
Hands community, even helping put on an Old China Hands reunion in Anaheim in 1996.
Restrictions
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of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.
Availability
The collection is open for research use.