This series comprises handwritten and typewritten minutes for the Philadelphia Motherhouse of Deaconesses (PMD) Sisters' Conference. Other record types found in this series include agendas and reports, but the bulk of records are meeting minutes. These records date from 1890-1962. The PMD generated or retained these records as part of its general record-keeping requirements. Minutes from 1890-1954 are handwritten in two bound volumes. The first volume, minutes from 1890-1922, are written in a German script that is difficult to read. Minutes from 1920-1954 comprise the second volume and are written in English. The remaining folder in this series includes typewritten loose leaf minutes for some of the same meetings for which there are handwritten minutes. Also included in the remaining records are agenda and reports for particular sister's conference meetings as well as certain special meetings. There are meeting minutes from a committee created to study options regarding deaconess garb and minutes from a joint planning committee for the Annual Deaconesses Conference at which PMD deaconesses joined the United Lutheran Church in America's Baltimore Motherhouse of Deaconesses (BMD) in discussing issues facing their communities. However, of the meetings minutes represented in this series, by far the bulk are from sisters' conference meetings. These meetings included all PMD deaconesses able to attend. Meetings were called on a regular basis, but one cannot discern the frequency as it changes over time. It appears they started out occurring monthly, but at some point changed to three or four meetings per year.
