Substantive letters refer to the social and political scene in the Chengdu (Chengtu) area, as well as providing a thorough account of the educational mission work of the Dyes at West China Union University. The papers include unique documentation of patterns and designs used in West China latticework, woven belts, and pottery. Drawings of hundreds of patterns and notes regarding their origin and symbolism are included. Daniel Sheets Dye taught academic courses at West China Union University in Chengdu, Sichuan (Chengtu, Szechuan Province), from 1910 to 1949, serving under the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society. As an avocation Dye recorded and analyzed window lattice and woven belt patterns, which often had swastika designs, throughout West China. Jane Balderston went to West China in 1915, serving under the Friends Foreign Mission Association of Great Britain and Ireland. After her marriage to Daniel Dye in 191, she taught mathematics and education courses at Woman's Normal School in Chengdu (Chengtu) and West China Union University Normal School.
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