IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0102 MMS/Special Series/Biographical/China/FBN 31-32 (Boxes 642-643)
Held at: School of Oriental and African Studies
Title: Stephenson, Gladys
Date(s): c1909-1976
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 2 boxes
Name of creator(s): Stephenson | Gladys | d 1989 | medical missionary
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Sent by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society to the Wuchang district, China, 1915; studied languages in Hankow; served initially at the Hodge Memorial Hospital, Hankow; matron at the Anlu Men's Hospital from c1917; played a pioneering role in training indigenous nursing staff; active in founding the Nurses Association of China, becoming its President, 1924; appointed Principal of the School of Nursing at the new Union Hospital in Hankow, c1927; appointed Director of Nursing Service for the National Flood Relief Commission by the Chinese government, she was active in addressing the effects of serious floods on the refugee camps, 1931; on furlough, 1940; interned in Shanghai, 1942-1945; retired, 1951; settled in Southall, London; deaconess; unmarried; died, 1989.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers, c1909-1976, of Sister Gladys Stephenson, comprising diary of journey to China, 1915; journals of visits to Korea and Peking, 1926, 1936 and undated; journal of her time in the internment camp, 1942-1945; diaries recording daily events, 1946-1971; long letter from Gladys Stephenson, 1945, from the Shanghai internment camp recounting her experiences, and typescript copies; manuscript and typescript accounts of a journey to Hong Kong, Malaya and the Holy Land, 1961; other typescript and manuscript notes, accounts, or addresses by Gladys Stephenson recounting her experiences, largely undated, including one relating to the great floods (1931); two photographs of a chapel used by the Methodist hospital, Hankow, and papers relating to a stained glass window, 1940; printed material on Christianity, missionary work and missionaries, nursing and training, and other aspects of life in China, including hospitals in Hankow, 1909-1976, largely dating, 1920s-1960s.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English and Chinese
System of arrangement:
Conditions governing access:
Unrestricted, but only to be viewed on microfiche.
Conditions governing reproduction:
No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Collection level description.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
The papers were deposited with the Methodist Missionary Society and form part of the special series of biographical papers of individual missionaries.
Immediate source of acquisition:
Deposited on permanent loan with the records of the Methodist Missionary Society from 1978.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Published on microfiche by IDC Publishers.
Related material:
The School of Oriental and African Studies holds the records of Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (Ref: MMS/WMMS), which was succeeded by the Methodist Missionary Society.
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Sources: WMMS Annual Report (1918), p 68; The Foreign Field (1915-1916), pp 68-9, 77, 196-8 (including photographs); The Foreign Field (1916-1917), pp 186-7, 221.
Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Date(s) of descriptions: Mar 2002