The Laura D. Ward papers consist of diaries, correspondence, a biographical sketch and notes, press releases, a copy of her will and photographs. Most of the collection consists of diaries dating from 1914-1949 when Ward was a missionary in Foochow, China. The diaries contain brief, almost daily, entries about her travels, the activities of Ward family members (many of them involved in missionary work), Congregational missions in China, women's education, Chinese customs, and ongoing political events including civil war, Japanese occupation in China and the rise of Communism. A diary for 1905-1909 includes entries about her daily activities as a student at Mount Holyoke College. The collection also includes notes describing Ward's 1927 capture by Chinese pirates, her 1950 one-page summary of her life's work and resignation written in Chinese (with a translation), a 1967 letter from Peter Ngai describing the Chinese church in 1958, and forty-four letters or postcards exchanged between Laura and her brother William Earl Dodge Ward from 1965-1972 that chiefly concern family matters. In addition, the collection contains a biographical sketch of Ward, a copy of her will, and photographs (six of them of groups of Chinese people taken between 1913-1916).

This collection is organized into four series:

• Diaries
• Correspondence
• Biographical Information
• Photographs