Lee Ya-Ching was born in Canton, China in 1912. As an only child who lost her mother at a young age, Ya-Ching was raised by her father and grandmother. Under her father's guidance she learned many skills, including martial arts, some previously restricted to male children. Ya-Ching attended English schools in Hong Kong and Shanghai and at the age of 16 was sent to London to attend finishing school.

In 1929 at the age of 17, Ya-Ching went to Geneva, Switzerland. It is there that she took her first ride in an airplane and vowed to learn how to fly. She enrolled in Ecole Aero Club de Suisse and, in 1934, became the first woman to receive a pilot's license from the school. Determined to continue her education, Ya-Ching went to the United States and attended the Boeing School of Aeronautics in Oakland, California in 1935. In November of that year she became the first woman licensed through the Boeing School. Upon completion of her training at the Boeing school Ya-Ching returned to China and began campaigning for a Chinese pilot's license, eventually obtaining the license in 1936. Seeing a need to train new pilots, Ya-Ching and some fellow pilots opened a civilian flying school in Shanghai in 1936.

When Japan invaded China in 1937, Ya-Ching volunteered to fly for her country, but was refused. Undeterred, she served her country by establishing hospitals. Leaving Shanghai for Hong Kong just before the city fell, she was finally given the opportunity to fly for China by piloting Red Cross planes ferrying supplies from Hong Kong to Canton. Realizing that China needed aid and supplies, Ya-Ching embarked on a Goodwill Tour of the United States and Canada in 1938. When the war prevented her return to China, Ya-Ching continued the tour expanding her appearances into South America.

Not much is known of Ya-Ching's life after the war. She returned to Hong Kong for a number of years. In the 1960's she returned to California, where she died in 1998 at the age of 86.

This collection of materials listed in the finding aid is arranged into two series, Ms Lee's personal papers and her professional papers. Her personal papers consist mainly of correspondence and memorabilia from the 1930's through the 1960's. The primary focus of the professional papers is the years 1937 to 1945, the time which Ya-Ching was conducting her Good Will tour of the United States. The information in this section is in the form or correspondence, newspaper clippings, event pamphlets and flyers, publications, itineraries, and corporate papers. These items are arranged by material type then chronologically. No attempt was made to translate foreign language material in the collection.

There are various conservation concerns in this collection. Most of the papers were buried for a number of years prior to being donated. There are many photographs which have adhered to each other, many papers are torn with information missing and there is significant mildew damage to both paper and photographs. These items have been removed from the collection until they receive conservation treatment.

This series consists of the personal papers of Lee Ya-Ching. These items are arranged by material type, then chronologically.

This series contains information pertaining to Lee Ya-Ching's career as an aviatrix. These items are arranged by material type, then chronologically. Foreign Language material follows English material in all categories. No attempt has been made to translate these items.

This series contains oversized material, including scrapbooks, large format magazines, photographs, aeronautical charts and full issues of newspapers.

Note: For conservation reasons the following material is housed separately from the collection. Access to these materials will be granted upon request and can be viewed with the assistance of an archivist. Charts of the United States are ordered alphabetically by location; route charts of Latin and South America are ordered by US Navy indexing number.