Papers and photographs of Miss Mary Ellen Brighty

IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0150 CMS/ACC113
Held at: Birmingham - University of, Information Services, Special Collections Department
Domain:
Title: Papers and photographs of Miss Mary Ellen Brighty
Date(s) of contents: 1894-circa 1957
Level of description: Sub-fonds
Extent and medium: 7 vols., 1 item, 61 photographs

CONTEXT

Name of creator(s):

Administrative/Biographical history: Mary Ellen Brighty (b c 1874) of St Helen's, Lancashire was accepted as a CMS missionary in 1899 at the age of 25. She departed for the Persia Mission in 1899 after training at The Olives and was stationed at Yezd. She appears to have served with the Persia Mission from 1899 until 1937.
Reference: Register of missionaries (clerical, lay & female) and native clergy from 1804 to 1904 (Church Missionary Society, 1905)

Custodial history: Deposited with the CMS by Miss M. E. Brighty, 1963; transferred to the Special Collections Department in the 1980s.

Immediate source of acquisition:

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE

Scope and content/abstract: This collection comprises a letter book containing copies of her letters to England, 1899-1902, together with notebooks, diaries, bible and photographs of and collected by Mary Brighty relating to her service as a CMS missionary in Persia. One of her diaries and a notebook contain notes about Persian customs and traditions; other diaries contain records of journeys she undertook; and the diary which covers the period of the First World War makes reference to the withdrawal of missionaries from Yezd to Tehran, 1915-1916. One diary also includes entries which predate her involvement with the CMS and some of the photographs also appear to relate to this period. The Persian bible in the collection formerly belonged to Mary Bird, another CMS missionary in Persia, who died in 1914

System of arrangement: This collection forms part of the Church Missionary Society Unofficial Papers. It is arranged into two series: Family Papers and Miscellaneous Papers

ACCESS AND USE

Language: English

Conditions governing access: Open Access to all registered readers

Conditions governing reproduction:

Finding aids: A catalogue of this collection to file and item level is available in electronic format on the University of Birmingham Information Services Online Archive Catalogue. A paper copy of this catalogue is also available for consultation in the Special Collections Department reading room.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material: The Special Collections Department holds the Church Missionary Society Archive, the official archive of the society, (GB 0150 CMS), which includes papers relating to Ellen Brighty's service as a CMS missionary

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Date(s) of descriptions: Created 4/09/2001, modified 16/09/2002

INDEX ENTRIES

Subjects

First World War

Photographs

Personal names

Brighty | Mary | b c 1874 | missionary

Corporate names

Church Missionary Society

Places

Asia

Iran

Middle East