Directing Sister Correspondence and Notebooks 1891-1963; 1924-1962.

ArchivalResource

Mary J. Drexel Home and Philadelphia Motherhouse of Deaconesses. Directing Sister Correspondence and Notebooks 1891-1963; 1924-1962.

Directing Sister Correspondence and Notebooks 1891-1963; 1924-1962.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/57313571

This series comprises records generated or retained during the regular course of business by the directing sister for the Mary J. Drexel Home and Philadelphia Motherhouse of Deaconesses (MJDH/PMD). They are from 1891-1963 with the bulk dating from 1924-1962. Record types include business correspondence, circular letters, and handwritten lecture notes. Almost all of the material was generated or retained by the last directing sister, Sister Anna Ebert. There is one folder of correspondence retained by Sister Julia Mergner and one folder of circular letters composed by Sister Grace Lauer who was the interim directing sister from 1943-1945 while Sister Anna was serving as the directing deaconess for Lankenau Hospital. The bulk of the records are business correspondence and circular letters. The correspondence is Sister Anna's and comprises handwritten and typewritten letters. Subject matter of these letters include Sister Anna's time in Germany in 1930 studying the work of motherhouses; responses to invitations issued for the anniversaries to be celebrated in 1938 and 1959; Sister Anna's selection as a delegate to the first LWF assembly held in Lund, Sweden, 1947; post World War II relief efforts for German deaconesses; a National Lutheran Council church worker exchange program that included visits by European deaconesses to United States; and revision of the deaconess garb. Of note is a pair of letters between Sister Anna and the Rev. George Drach, Administrative Secretary, Board of Foreign Missions, United Lutheran Church in America. Sister Anna's letter to Rev. Drach is in response to an editorial he wrote that appeared in September 1943 issue of The Foreign Missionary pertaining to women's roles in the church. Sister Anna's correspondence to and from members of the Board of Trustees includes a particularly contentious situation concerning the disposition of the Free Bed Fund of the Children's Hospital when that institution was closed and its work transferred to the new Lankenau Hospital.

2 boxes (.6 cubic ft.)

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Library, ELCA Library