MS 0515.1
Correspondence , 1917-1944
3 folders
Chronological
Forms part of MS 0515, The Mabel Easton Buyse Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 2002/11/22
Description:
This series consists of about sixty letters that
Buyse wrote between 1917-1944. Most of these
letters are addressed to a friend, Rose Alden,
and the series contains many copies and extracts
of Buyse's letters that Alden prepared. In her
letters, Buyse describes her life and work in
Africa, where she served as a missionary for the
Africa Inland Mission, an international
organization founded in 1895. She discusses
teaching women and children at mission boarding
schools and the problems associated with that
work, such as the difficulty of learning many
local dialects. Buyse also mentions her many
other tasks, which included serving as a midwife.
She traveled widely in Africa and describes her
many visits to missionary stations, schools, and
conferences, as well as occasional vacations.
She also discusses social and political
conditions in Africa, including outbreaks of
disease and famine; customs related to housing,
clothing, food, and celebrations; government
policies and responses to local uprisings; and
the impact of world events such as World Wars I
and II and the worldwide economic depression of
the 1930s on Africa. In addition, Buyse mentions
many details of her personal life. She discusses
her religious faith and missionary philosophy;
her marriage and work with her husband; her
health, loneliness and feelings of discouragement
with the progress of Protestant mission work in
Africa; and the pleasure that she receives from
writing music to hymns and reading books by
Dicken, Proust, and others.
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MS 0515.2
Writings , ca. 1919-1945
2 folders
Chronological
Forms part of MS 0515, The Mabel Easton Buyse Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 1900/01/19
Description:
This series includes Buyse's published writings
about her missionary experiences teaching English
and religion in various African villages between
ca. 1919 and 1945. These writings are
descriptive sketches of the lives and culture of
the African villagers whom Buyse interacted with
as a missionary. Several documents are articles
from the missionary magazine, "Inland Africa."
These articles give Buyse's impressions of people
of Arua, a village in the Belgian Congo ca.
1919-1928, Lugbara Village, Belgian Congo, before
1939, and Tanganyika, Kenya in 1944. A small
book of narratives entitled "Missionary Cameos"
briefly describes various "branches of the work
of the Africa Inland Mission in Congo." This
booklet includes photographs and narrative
sketches of the Nadi tribe, Mwanza Bay, the Aba
and Adi Villages of the Belgian Congo, and Goli,
Uganda. Of particular interest is Buyse's book,
"Nyilak and other African Sketches," published in
1923. The manuscript copy of the first chapter
of "Nyilak" is included in Buyse's writings.
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MS 0515.3
Memorabilia , ca. 1928-1955
1 folder
Chronological
Forms part of MS 0515, The Mabel Easton Buyse Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 1900/01/19
Description:
This series consists of cards, brochures, and
maps from Buyse's missionary travels between ca.
1928-1955. Included in the documents are a
business card of Rev. and Mrs. John G. Buyse and
two cards advertising the Africa Inland Mission,
one with photographs of Buyse and her husband and
their travel route from New York to Aba, Belgian
Congo. Also contained in this series are two
maps of the "Fields and Stations of the Africa
Inland Mission" drawn by John Buyse in 1937 and
1938.
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MS 0515.4
Biographical Information , ca. 1919-1977
1 folder
Chronological
Forms part of MS 0515, The Mabel Easton Buyse Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 1900/01/19
Description:
This series contains articles, notes, Mount
Holyoke Class of 1907 reports, and Buyse's
memorial service program. Of particular interest
in this series is a statement by R. Floyd
Pierson, a friend and fellow African missionary,
entitled "In Memorium of Mabel Easton Buyse" and
written after her death in 1977. In this
document, Pierson gives his recollections of
Buyse and records many of her beliefs about
religious faith.
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MS 0515.5
Photographs , 1913-ca. 1958
1 folder
Chronological
Forms part of MS 0515, The Mabel Easton Buyse Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 1900/01/19
Description:
This series consists of formal and informal
photographs of Buyse and her husband taken
between 1913 and 1958. The photograph from 1913
is captioned "Leaving Jersey" and shows Buyse in
travel clothes at a ferryboat dock. There are
four formal photographs and three snapshots of
Buyse and her husband by their home and church in
Florida in about 1958.
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