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.

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.

0.21 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Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.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.