Elementos de identidade
Código de referência
Nome e localização da entidade custodiadora
Nível de descrição
Título
Data(s)
- 1847-1972 (Produção)
Dimensão
10.35 cubic feet
Nome do produtor
História biográfica
Dwight Lamar Sherertz (1893-1970) was a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, missionary to China and Africa. He received a B.A. from Roanoke College, an M.A. from Princeton University, and a honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Roanoke in 1945. Sherertz also studied at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, Columbia University, and Union Theological Seminary. In 1918 he began teaching English and religion at the junior and senior high schools in Soochow, China, a position he held until World War II when he was interned and then evacuated. Sherertz returned to China in 1945 and served as a liasison officer between Chinese and American troops. He continued to teach at Soochow University from 1946 until the Communist takeover in China in 1950. Forced to leave China, he went to Rhodesia in 1952 to work at a teacher training school and as an assistant minister until his retirement in 1957.
Margarita Mary Sherertz (1889-1973) married Dwight Lamar Sherertz in October 1919. She was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. William Hector Park and a niece of Bishop Walter R. Lambuth.
William Hector Park (1858-1927) was a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, missionary to China. He received an undergraduate degree from Emory College in 1880 and studied medicine at Vanderbilt University. He continued his medical course work at Bellevue Medical College in New York and later studied in Edinburgh, Scotland. Park arrived in China in 1882 and in the following year, with the assistance of Bishop Walter R. Lambuth, established the Soochow Hospital. He worked at the hospital for nearly forty-five years and trained many doctors. His book, "Opinions of Over One Hundred Physicians on the Use of Opium in China," published in 1899, was instrumental in stopping the British opium trade in China. Park married Nora Kate Lambuth (n.d.-1949), a sister of Bishop Lambuth. The Parks worked together at the Soochow Hosptial, and Nora Park was active in the Anti-Foot Binding Association.
Elementos de conteúdo e estrutura
Âmbito e conteúdo
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.
Sistema de arranjo
This collection is arranged by series.
Condições de acesso e uso dos elementos
Condições de acesso
There are no restrictions regarding this collection.
Acesso físico
Acesso técnico
Condiçoes de reprodução
Detailed use restrictions relating to our collections can be requested from the office of the archivist at the General Commission on Archives and History. Photocopying is handled by the staff and may be limited in certain instances. Before using any material for publication from this collection a formal request for permission to publish is expected and required.
Idiomas do material
- inglês
Escrita do material
Notas ao idioma e script
Instrumentos de descrição
Elementos de aquisição e avaliação
História custodial
Fonte imediata de aquisição
1983-009: Margarita Messersmith, November 23, 1992
Informações de avaliação, seleção e eliminação
Incorporações
Elementos de materiais relacionados
Existência e localização de originais
Existência e localização de cópias
Material arquivístico relacionado
Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions Missionary Files Series.
Records of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Board of Missions Missionary Files Series.
Records of the United Methodist Church, General Board of Global Ministries Missionary Reference Files Series.
Records of the Methodist Church, Board of Missions Administrative Files Series.
Descrições relacionadas
Elemento de notas
Nota geral
When citing material from this collection please use the following format: Direct reference to the item or its file folder, Sherertz Family Papers, United Methodist Church Archives - GCAH, Madison, New Jersey. Do not make use of the item's call number as that is not a stable descriptor.
Notas especializadas
Identificador(es) alternativo(s)
Elemento de controle de descrição
Regras ou convenções
Fontes utilizadas
Nota do arquivista
Nota do arquivista
Prepared by Maria Samuelson, Project Archivist, Kristen D. Turner, Associate Archivist, Kevin Gregory, Student Intern, and Daisy Wiggins King, Student Assistant
Pontos de acesso
Pontos de acesso - Nomes
- Soochow University (Assunto)
- Methodist Episcopal Church, South (Assunto)
- Sherertz, Margarita Mary Park (Assunto)
- Lambuth, Nora Kate (Assunto)
- Park, William Hector (Assunto)
- Sherertz, Dwight Lamar (Assunto)