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Series I: Correspondence, 1908-1964

 Series — Box: 1156

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The collection primarily chronicles the young adult life and missionary work of Mabuce. The collection consists of correspondence from Mabuce to her parents, brothers and sisters during her years as a student at the Missouri Normal School, later in Chicago and Indiana, and during her years of service in Burma. In the letters, Mabuce recounts everyday experiences, discusses her calling to missionary work, describes Burma and the various ethnic groups living there (e.g., the Burmese, Chinese and Indian), and her travels to and from Burma, which took her to California, across the Pacific Ocean, and through the Orient. Also included in the collection are Methodist missionary publications and reports, many specific to the work in Burma, ephemera from Mabuce’s travels, school records and papers, photographs of Mabuce and her family, Chris Soelberg, and photographs of Burma and fellow missionaries, souvenirs likely brought from Burma and the Far East by Mabuce, and one container of clothing probably worn by Mabuce in Burma. An unrelated file on the 1919-1920 steel strike is also included. Included with Mabuce’s papers are the files relating to the publication of her letters by her niece, Lucille Griffith.

Dates

  • Creation: 1908-1964

Extent

From the Collection: 3.5 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Sixteen folders of hand and typewritten letters from Mabuce to her family members from 1908-1936, arranged chronologically. Early correspondence to 1916 concerns college life, and the bulk of the correspondence, written between late 1916 and 1921, pertains to her missionary service in Burma. Later correspondence concerns the first years of her marriage to Soelberg and their honeymoon trip to Denmark; and also includes letters received by the Soelbergs from their Danish relations (in Danish), a reminiscence of her time in Burma written by Mabuce to a boys’ school, and letters she received from missionaries still serving in the Far East.

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections and Archives Repository

Contact:
One University Plaza, MS 4600
Cape Girardeau Missouri 63701 United States
5736512245