Stephenson, Gladys

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   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.soas.ac.uk/Archives/home.html ›
Full 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 & 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.

Finding aids:

Collection level description.

Archival Information

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

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

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