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Items relating to church activities, compiled by Robyn Morrice

Includes reports, receipts and correspondence

Includes reports, receipts and correspondence.

Photograph of Trevor and Jenny Kalmier: Missionaries with W.E.C. Indonesia
Photograph of Gwen Eggins: Missionary with E.C.M. Austria.
Photograph of Miss Joan Thomson: Missionary with C.M.S. West Pakistan.

This series contains a variety of paperwork relating to women's organisations in which Mary Andrews was involved or interested. It includes religious (charitable, ecumenical and political) organisations as well as nonreligious charitable and advocacy organisations.
Individual organisations with large quantities of associated paperwork have been assigned separate series, as has the collection of organisations that were not specifically related to women.
Mary Andrews had been involved with many of these organisations for decades; however, for the majority of them her involvement increased noticeably following her retirement in 1975.

This series contains a variety of paperwork relating to ecumenical organisations in which Mary Andrews was involved or interested. Mary was one of the designated representatives for the Anglican Church (or Diocese of Sydney, or Anglicanism in the state of New South Wales, depending on the organisation's scope) in a number of these organisations. Mary Andrews had been involved with many of these organisations for decades; however, for the majority of them her involvement increased noticeably following her retirement in 1975.

This series contains records relating to organisations that Mary Andrews was interested in or had some relationship with in a professional or personal capacity.
The majority are religious organisations, with some exceptions.
Of particular significance:
The Diocese of Sydney: In her roles as Principal of Deaconess House and as Head Deaconess, Mary Andrews came under the authority of and had frequent correspondence with the Archbishop of Sydney. Following her retirement (with accommodation and employment partially arranged by the Diocese), Mary was elected as Synod representative from her local Parish on a number of occasions and took a particular interest in Synod votes on the topics of women's ministry, lay presidency, and aged care.
The Anglican Fellowship of Prayer: After taking a keen interest in the Fellowship over a number of years (including several international conference trips in her role of local coordinator), Mary was designated as the Province Representative for the Anglican Church of Australia in 1981. There is a cassette recording from this meeting available in Series 29/5
The Order of Australia Association: Mary joined the Association shortly after it was founded in 1980. Activities consisted mostly of annual dinners, with occasional tours of regions Australia of historical or cultural importance. Mary obtained a life membership in 1984.

The series consists of Mary Andrews' copies of newsletters received from former students and other Christian contacts of Mary Andrews. The letters from those in missionary work, parish appointments mainly within Australia, and in other Christian work particularly in Asia. Most letters are from individuals some are from organisations.
The series has been retained to indicate the wide influence of graduates of Deaconess House as they took on positions throughout the world; and similarly to show the wide range of contacts that Mary Andrews had made through her work in numerous orgnaisations and attendance at conferences throughout the world.
Many of the letters are undated or the dates have been obscured. An attempt has been made to estimate these dates.
This series contrasts with Series 1 that consists of private letters to Mary Andrews

This series consists of press clippings - from newspapers, magazines, and other publications - that either refer to Mary Andrews by name or feature her photograph, but which were not authored in their entirety by Mary herself. Early clippings relate primarily to Deaconess Andrews' missionary work, including articles pertaining to her role in the survival of American airmen shot down over China in World War 2. During the period in which she was headmistress of Deaconess House, the clippings naturally relate mainly to the role in and expansion of that institution, though there begins to be a small number of articles in which she is asked to comment on the role of women in the Anglican Church. These increase in number following her retirement; along with articles relating to her travel reports, obituary comments on Anglican and other figures she knew personally, and reports of her speaking engagements. Receiving the Order of Australia in 1980 was a particularly proud occasion for Mary Andrews, and she preserved a range of press reports of the event. She kept a similar collection of congratulations (mainly from Christian organisations and the retirement home she lived and ministered in) following her inclusion of the International Biographical Centre's "Women of the Year" publication.
The majority of papers in this series were collected by Mary Andrews herself, but a small number show signs of having being forwarded to her by friends. In most cases the articles have been cut out with scissors, and an attempt has been made to preserve the header to show which publication they originated in. In some instances - but not all - this has also resulted in the preservation of evidence of the original date of publication. Some articles were previously attached to a paper backing with mounting putty [Blu-tack]. This has been removed in most cases - where removal was possible without damaging the article - and the dried putty remnants disposed of along with the backing-paper.
A large number of duplicates in this series have been disposed of. Priority has been given to copies in better states of preservation or which retain additional contextual information.
No obituaries of Deaconess Andrews are kept in this series, as it consists only of papers collected by Mary herself.

This series contains English-language books, mostly hardcovers, which were most likely used by Mary Andrews during her missionary service in China. It contains theological works, religious texts such as Prayer Books, nursing, pastoral and general advice texts, and a small amount of fiction and poetry.
It is impossible to determine definitively whether some of these texts were used on the mission field. Consideration has been given to the condition of the volumes (showing wear or water damage from travel), the context and topicality, and the publication date. Mary Andrews would later come into possession of tomes from the Deaconess House library, as well as texts inherited from various acquaintances and ecclesiastical figures, so an early publication date is not in itself conclusive evidence that any given volume ever travelled to China. This series excludes texts in Chinese (including English-Chinese Bibles and phrasebooks), and Bibles (see series 26).