The Bishop W. Ralph Ward Jr. Papers document Ward's ministry from his earliest appointment through his episcopal leadership and his years of retirement.

A major part of this collection consists of Ward's sermons, addresses, and writings. These materials reflect Ward's personal faith and his commitment to social concerns and the institutional life of the Methodist Church.

Ward's correspondence is fairly typical and not as revealing of larger issues as might be hoped. There are occasional letters to ecclesiastical and political leaders of note. There is one note to him from Harry Emerson Fosdick.

Ward's episcopal leadership is well documented in this collection. He was a dynamic and insightful leader. There is significant information about his skill in developing goals and programs in the Council and in his Areas.

Ward gave particular attention to the training of his District Superintendents.

While bishop of the New York Area Ward was involved in the racial crisis which engulfed the nation. There is not as much material on this period as might be desired, but it should not be overlooked in research. There is also significant material on the well publicized program by 60 Minutes on the role of the World and National Councils of Churches which inferred Communist sympathies on the part of those groups.

Ward was a prolific writer. Several of his published sermons are included in the collection as well as a number of unpublished manuscripts on Christian belief and practice. As an active and loyal member of the Masonic Order he spoke frequently at their assemblies. He was also an early advocate of the importance of visual aids in promoting Christian education.. The materials include early scripts he wrote as well as film strips dealing with educational themes. This interest in communication continued throughout his ministry.

There is considerable material documenting of TV and radio in the ministry of the larger Methodist Church.

Methodist history was one of Ward's special interests. The collection includes addresses he gave on this theme. The collection also documents Ward's continued ministry after retirement in 1980. There is a small but significant body of material on the Ward family. There are photos and genealogical materials. The latter material pertains to both the Bishop's roots but also those of his spouse, Arleen Burdick Ward. There are a few items from Arleen's childhood which are particularly attractive. She was a Christian educator in her own right, and some of the articles she authored are included in the collection. Family letters from the Ward children depicting their activities and marriages are also in the collection. For the interest of the researcher who may be working on Bishop Ward's life and ministry this family section has extensive materials written by the bishop in preparation of his autobiography. This autobiography was never published, but offers a sound base for understanding the man.

This collection contains materials related to Virginia M. Atkinson. Included in this collection is correspondence from 1886-1950. This includes outgoing correspondence written by Atkinson between 1886 and 1941, letters addressed to her friends and associations, and birthday greetings received by Atkinson on her eightieth birthday. Many of these letters are from her former students. There is also an address book kept by Atkinson. Personal reminiscences of Atkinson are contained in these papers. This includes remarks about her travel to China from Georgia, conditions in Shanghai, travel in the interior regions of China, and events in Soochow. There are approximately twenty personal accounts of several Chinese individuals who became refugees during the Sino-Japanese Conflict (1938- 1941). Atkinson had some connection to these people, but it is unclear as to whether she interviewed them for an oral history project or recounted their stories or rewrote what she was told by them. Some of the accounts are handwritten, and others are typed. A charity distribution list kept by Atkinson during this time is available. It contains a record of cash receipts from 1938 and a relief fund record from 1941. Other items in this collection include a few documents written in Chinese, an undated speech given by one of Atkinson's pupils, a 1932 news clippings from an unidentified newspaper on the troubles in China, and three small photographs: one of Atkinson in her later years, one of Yui Soo-Lan, and one of an unidentified man. In addition, there is also some biographical material on a student Atkinson sponsored, Katherine Lew. Included are two undated letters written by Lew and some biographical information on her and her husband, Timothy Tingfang Lew.

This material contains general administrative files from the World Division of the General Board of Global Ministries. The material holds Division minutes both of the various committees and of the staff, correspondence with Bishops, and with missionary institutions around the world. In addition to administrative functions there is information on the overseas educational institutions, autonomous church developments, building programs, and the Crusade program, and other scholarships from the World Division. This material holds a variety of administrative and support information as well as information about the general programs of the World Division. There are structural and design blueprints for mission site buildings from around the world are in the Blueprint series. Records dealing with the work of the Evangelical Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church in modern day Dominican Republic are located in two series. Gift processing, legal program, and Property deal with records related to gifts, financial bequests and property held by the Division. Editorial decisions and committee oversight are found in the New World Outlook series. The Office of Edwin Fisher and of Ralph Diffendorfer contain records related to their work; Fisher as a director of the work in several geographic regions and Diffendorfer as the director of the World Division during the 1930s and 1940s. Subject files contain general correspondence reflecting the various programs of the World Division. In addition to material relating to the general programs and functions of the World Division there are also records pertaining to autonomous church developments among the former mission sites, funding of churches, reports and training of missionaries, and reactions to critics of the Division's programs.

The collection provides a detailed account of Gillilan's life, and of Methodism in Ohio and Utah. The most significant items in the collection are Gillilan's thoroughly kept diaries. In addition, he was a meticulous keeper of scrapbooks, collecting many articles about Methodism and religion in his time. He was also a published author, and copies of many of his published poems and essays are present in the collection. It seems that he sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Strickland Gillilan. It is possible that this is a family member. In his collection are also present two threatening letters. One dates from 1886, and is from Gillilan's time in Tooele, Utah. It relates to issues of polygamy and Mormonism. The other is less specific, but threatens Gillilan' s "precious throat." Gillilan's papers contain approximately 2000 sets of sermon notes, numbered from 5 to 2394. The system by which these numbers were assigned is unknown. One of Gillilan's diaries, the largest, contains several pages of what seem to be land ownership claims and mining records. He may have obtained this book, already used, and subsequently used it for his journal. Another of his diaries contains several pages written in a substitution code, and several more in shorthand. The key to Gillilan's code is in the Diaries: General File. Many of the books and documents are fragile, and should be handled with extreme care.

The John Dreisbach Papers contains his printed sermon book, sermon outline book (1853-1854), and a personal diary - all written in German. In the sermon outline book, there is a reference to an 1876 date which relates to A. E. Dreisbach's estate; a descendant's of John. After the A. E. Dreisbach entry, writings from the childhood of Arthur W. Dreisbach, another descendant, can be found. There are extra copies of his John's sermons with English translations. The images include two glass ambrotype portraits of John and his and two additional photographs of John. There is correspondence to a Reverend A. Stapleton, as well as other correspondence, which gives information about Dreisbach and items within the collection.

Records pertaining to Dreisbach's family history are in notation format. There are other personal papers which include poems, hymns, a copy of John's final testament and a couple of passages from his journal. These records are written in both German and English. The sole artifact is a lamp bracket from the First Evangelical Church in Dayton, Ohio, which was used by John Dreisbach as a potato masher.

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.

Leontine Turpeau Current Kelly's personal papers include materials pertaining to her election as bishop to the California-Nevada Conference and her activities before and after her election. The collection includes a large number of correspondences related to speaking engagements, social concerns, and a variety of other topics including her election to be the first African American female bishop, personal correspondences, and awards. Also included in this collection are clippings, publications, awards, sermon materials and sheet music.

Kawata's work as a missionary, scientist, scholar, and humanitarian are reflected in this collection. Correspondence, photographs, legal papers, and reports on community improvement projects make up the series on his early life in schools, Japanese-American internment camps, and the mission field in India. Correspondence, academic papers, and published articles and monographs represent his university and publishing life. The publications series also contains articles by Kawata on such topics as the internment camps, prejudice in South Africa, and the U.S. military.

This collection contains materials relating to Clymer's life after his college days at Asbury. The earliest records are correspondence, addresses/sermons, and the graduate papers from the 1940's. Clymer's correspondence, the largest quantity of the record types in the collection, covers every year from 1942 through 1993, except for about ten years between the mid-1950's and 1967. Clymer's collection of addresses, sermons, and lectures is the next largest group of records, and dates from the early 1940's through the late 1980's. The collection also contains copies of some of Clymer's publications. The original accession contained copies of his books and books in which he was a contributor, as well as articles in widely circulated journals. These have been removed and transferred to the Methodist Library, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. The collection also contains various clippings, programs, pamphlets, reports, and photographs.