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Edith Winifred Simester papers , 1930-1952
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Simester, Edith Winifred
- Title
- Edith Winifred Simester papers
- Dates
- 1930-1952 (inclusive)19301952
- Quantity
-
0.25 linear feet, (1 containter, 4 folders)
- Collection Number
- A 183
- Summary
- Edith Simester was a Christian missionary in China and later Brazil, serving from the 1930s through the 1950s. The collection includes incoming correspondence and transcriptions of letters to her mother.
- Repository
-
University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives
UO Libraries--SCUA
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene OR
97403-1299
Telephone: 5413463068
spcarref@uoregon.edu - Access Restrictions
-
Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time.
- Additional Reference Guides
-
See the Current Collection Guide for detailed description and requesting options.
- Languages
- English
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Historical NoteReturn to Top
Born into a Methodist missionary family in China, Edith Simester attended Chinese schools before moving to the United States where she attended college and graduate school. In 1930, Simester entered missionary service and moved to Foochow (Fuzhou) in northern China where she worked as a teacher in a missionary school. She remained in Fuzhou until 1946 (however, it appears that she was in the United States during much of World War II, from 1937-45) when she returned to the U.S. to care for her ailing mother. Simester took a missionary post in Brazil, in order to be closer to her mother who died in 1952.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
The Edith Simester collection includes incoming correspondence from missionary colleagues and from former students. Also included is a one-volume letterbook with transcriptions of letters from Simester to her mother, dated February 24, 1945-September 6, 1946. Collection also include photographs from Simester's service in China.
This collection is remarkable because it demonstrates the connections between foreign missionaries in China. Unlike similar collections in this repository that offer materials authored by an individual missionary woman, the Simester collection brings together a small assemblage of correspondence authored by Methodist missionary women from Tientsin (Tianjin), and Ch'angli, to Peking (Beijing). Thus, the Simester collection offers insights into communication between missionary women. Simester also received a number of letters from former students upon her 1946 departure from China. Many wrote from Chinese universities to express their regret upon her departure. The collection also includes several letters from a Brazilian correspondent, César Dacorso Filho.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
| Description |
|---|
| Guide to the Edith Winifred Simester Papers |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Methodist women--China--Correspondence
- Missions, American--Brazil
- Missions, American--China
- Mothers and daughters--Correspondence
- Women Christian educators--China--Correspondence
- Women missionaries--China--Correspondence
- Women missionaries--China--Photographs
Personal Names
- Dacorso Filho, César
- Dacorso Filho, César
- Simester, Edith Winifred
Form or Genre Terms
- Correspondence
- Photographs
Finding aid prepared by Veta Schlimgen, Manuscripts Processor
2006
