Jenifer Hiett Umble Correspondence and Photographs, 1987-1989 | Mennonite Church USA Archives

These papers document  the experiences of Jenifer (Jeni) Hiett Umble and her husband, Art Umble, as Mennonite volunteer teachers in China in the late 1980s.  The Umbles worked under the auspices of the Mennonite Mission Board for the China Cultural Exchange.  They taught at the Sichuan Institute of Technology, located 15 kilometers outside of Chengdu, Sichuan, in the tiny community of Pixian, for almost two years.  Their assignment was cut short because of the political unrest and uncertainty preceding and following the Tiananmen Square massacre.

The papers consist primarily of incoming and outgoing personal correspondence documenting the Umbles' life and work in China. They include the Umbles' perspectives on the Chinese democracy movement.