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The Fenn Family:
Henry Fenn was born on February 26, 1894 in Peking, China (now called Beijing) to Courtenay Hughes Fenn and his wife Alice Holstein May Fenn; he was their first child. Courtenay and Alice were missionaries with the Presbyterian Church, and they were stationed in Peking, China. On August 24, 1924 Henry got engaged to Constance (Connie) Sargent and they were married on January 27, 1925 in Peking. They had four children, Henry Courtenay Fenn Jr (Court), Robert (Bob) Fenn, and Donald (Don) Fenn and David (Dave) Fenn, who are twins¹.

The Fenn Archive:
The Fenn Archive is housed in the College of East Asian Studies at Wesleyan University. The majority of it was donated to Wesleyan in 1988. The collection consists of 32 folders and binders. The binders, of which there are 13, were all put together by Henry himself. Each one contains writings, correspondences, teaching materials, and other written texts from specific periods of Henry’s life. Four of the binders are entitled “Maverick [year]” and are parts of his partially created autobiography. Two binders are entitled “Writings [year]” which consist of Henry’s writings from those years of his life. Six of the binders are different parts of his teaching curriculum, consisting of many maps and charts, lectures notes and plans, and other content related to aspects of Chinese history. The final binder is entitled “Curriculum Vitae” and this binder holds forms, documents, and certificates relating to Henry’s military service, marriage, and jobs. There are then 12 photo albums and sets of unbound scrapbook leaves, all containing photographs of Henry Fenn and his family. The final 7 folders contain letters (both to and from Henry, as well as to and from Connie), notes, maps, charts, and one of Henry’s diaries and one of Connie’s diaries¹. 

This site:
The site follows Henry’s life, from his birth in Peking to his death in Pennsylvania using the Wesleyan University Collections. It was created for HIST337: Missionary Mysteries: the Objects and Archives of Wesleyan’s Missionary Past in the Fall of 2024 at Wesleyan University by Cadence Cole (Class of ’26).