The Rev. John G. Magee (1884-1953), a graduate of Yale University, served as a missionary to China under the Episcopal Church for twenty-eight years. John G. Magee witnessed the Japanese invasion of Nanking (Nanjing) in December of 1937 and the subsequent Nanking Massacre. At great risk to his own wellbeing and safety, Magee filmed and photographed atrocities perpetrated by the Japanese soldiers against the citizens of Nanking, He was later able to smuggle these films out of Nanking, providing evidence and witness to the war crimes that had taken place. The films are part of the John G. Magee Family Papers collection (Record Group 242), which includes correspondence, writings, photographs, films, and other documentation of the life and work of John Gillespie Magee, his son John Gillespie Magee, Jr. and other family members.