History

As a student, Kenneth Scott Latourette got involved with the Student Volunteer Movement at Yale University. He decided to go to China as a missionary, but a breakdown of health forced him back to the USA after less than two years. His intention to return full-time to China never materialized, but he became a pioneering scholar in China, publishing an early work on the development of China. He spent over two decades in the faculty at Yale, visiting China again and writing a landmark book, “The History of Christian Missions in China.” This was a start towards his seven-volume magnum opus," “A History of the Expansion of Christianity,” which indicates how his interests had moved far beyond the initial focus on China.

When it came to choosing the name for the WCIU Library, Latourette was an obvious choice. Latourette cared and wrote about history, culture, and civilization, with a broad global view for his time. He established the first Asian Studies program at Yale, and his research and writing abilities led to prolific book publishing. Ralph D. Winter greatly valued a range of scholarship, and thus Latourette accompanies other notable figures for whom other buildings were named on the original campus (Gladys Aylward, Robert Speer, Bob Pierce, Donald McGavran, Frederick Franson, John R. Mott, Samuel Zwemer, William Ward, Cameron Townsend).