The Sherertz Family Papers cover the time period from about 1870 to 1970. These documents were created by several generations of missionaries assigned to China and Africa.
The focus of the collection is divided between China and Africa. China constitutes the earlier period from about 1855 to 1945. The Sherertz' activity in Southern Rhodesia begins in 1953 and ends in their retirement in 1958. Of particular interest is the first Methodist deaconess from Southern Rhodesia, Mai Mhlanga (1007-2-7:04).
Because of D. L. Sherertz's propensity for documentation, the bulk of the collection directly reflects his life and career. Two highlights include his role in the national government of the Republic of China and his internment in Pootung by the Japanese. He also preserved family genealogies and memoirs.
The Park family is represented by William Hector Park's memoirs, several photographs, and a few letters by his wife, Nora Lambuth Park, which were written during the years after her husband's death.
The Lambuths' papers include one letter from Mary McClellan Lambuth in Chinese and English as well as a number of photographs from this early period.
Upon reviewing the entire collection, it becomes apparent that Margarita Park Sherertz played the central role in the family's development. Her papers are not as voluminous as those belonging to her husband, but it is clear that she was a charismatic and intelligent individual. Margarita's strength reveals itself when her husband was interned by the Japanese in China after Pearl Harbor. Her letters written during this period and those she wrote shortly before she left China illustrate her cognizance of political and social events which occurred locally and internationally.
Margarita's mother, Nora Lambuth Park, similarly remarks in a few of her letters about local political developments as they relate to the welfare and fate of the missionary community. Nora's experience as a seasoned missionary in China during several periods of social upheaval is demonstrated in her comments about the events in Soochow leading up to Pearl Harbor. Her work was indispensable to her husband's career as wife, mother, caretaker, nurse, teacher, cook and social secretary. She was equally revered by the Chinese community.
Nora's mother, Mary McClellan Lambuth was an extremely intelligent individual who mastered written and spoken Chinese during her tenure as a missionary (see 1005-6-1:18). She also provided the means for her children's education and was an active and vital force in the Chinese community according to her daughter and granddaughter.
Nora Lambuth Park and Mary McClellan Lambuth are two figures who deserve further illumination because of their pivotal role in family development and stabilization, community work and religious dedication.
Diaries and journals belonging to Mary Isabella McClellan Lambuth and Walter R. Lambuth can be found at the J.B. Cain Archives, Millsaps-Wilson Library, Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi.
The lives of William Hector Park and Dwight Lamar Sherertz illustrate the more public and well known series of events among missionaries in China. Their letters, memoirs, diaries and public statements give a broad view of events in China before and during World War II. As a whole, this collection provides a valuable glimpse of their private family life as well. Specifically, the lives of Margarita Park Sherertz, Nora Lambuth Park and Mary McClellan Lambuth come into focus as "the thread which binds" generation to generation.
