Diaries and photograph albums of Miss Edith Baring-Gould

IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0150 CMS/ACC21
Held at: Birmingham - University of, Information Services, Special Collections Department
Domain:
Title: Diaries and photograph albums of Miss Edith Baring-Gould
Date(s) of contents: 1887-1941
Level of description: Sub-fonds
Extent and medium: 48 vols., 10 items, 1 doc., 1 file

CONTEXT

Name of creator(s):

Administrative/Biographical history: Edith Baring-Gould was the daughter of Rev. Baring Baring-Gould who was CMS Home Secretary from 1888 until 1894 and then became secretary in charge of the Ceylon, China, Japan and Canada Missions. He retired in 1913 and died in 1917. Edith was a member of the CMS Headquarters staff and served on many of its Committees in the 1940s and 1950s. Her active involvement with the CMS lasted more than 50 years.

Custodial history: Presented to the CMS per Miss Vera Bois, August 1961; transferred on permanent loan to the Special Collections Department by the CMS in the 1980s.

Immediate source of acquisition:

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE

Scope and content/abstract: This collection includes an impressive sequence of 41 travel journals of Miss Edith Baring-Gould. One series relates to travels, in the company of her father, in North America, Japan, China and Ceylon, August 1894-February 1895 and the first volume, for example, encompasses New York, Niagara, Toronto, Winnipeg, the Rocky Mountains and British Columbia. Another series relates to travels, again with her father, to Egypt, India and Italy, November 1899-April 1900. Other journals relate to her travels in which she accompanied Church Missionary Society delegations, including one delegation to the Far East, 1912-1913, another to Egypt and Palestine, 1921 and a third to India and Ceylon in 1921-1922. She also toured Central Africa in 1927 where she experienced the celebrations marking the 50th birthday of the CMS mission in Uganda and then in the 1930s she made two visits to East Africa.
These journals are complemented by an important series of early photograph albums, two of which directly relate to the journals of her travels in India and Ceylon in 1899-1900 and in Egypt in 1921. Other albums relate to Ceylon, Japan and China at a time when her father was secretary in charge of the missions. One album, covering the period 1887-1888, relates to her father's visit with a 'Jubilee Missionary Band' on board the P & O steamer SS 'Khedive' to India.

System of arrangement: This collection forms part of the Church Missionary Society Unofficial Papers. It is arranged into two series: Family Papers (divided into sub-series) 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 Miss Baring-Gould's service with the CMS. There is also an additional deposit of her photograph albums relating to East Africa and the Sudan, 1927-1939, in the CMS Unofficial Papers (CMS/ACC28).

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Date(s) of descriptions: Created 16/08/2001, modified 16/09/2002

INDEX ENTRIES

Subjects

Diaries

Photographs

Personal names

Gould | Edith | Baring- | Church Missionary Society HQ staff member

Corporate names

Church Missionary Society

Places

East Africa

East Asia

Middle East

North America

South Asia