Title: Ruth Mather Papers, 1904-1981
More Extent Information
(1) 5” letter document box; (1) 2.5” legal document box; (1) oversize flat box
Arrangement
The Ruth Mather Papers are arranged chronologically.
Abstract
Ruth Mather was a Denison University alumna and Baptist missionary. She spent many years living in China and working as a teacher in various schools. The Ruth Mather Papers, dated 1904-1981, contain correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, booklets, and newsletters related to her time in China as a Baptist missionary. The collection also contains photographs related to her time as a student at Denison University and at Silver Bay with the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), and documents related to work with Baptist missionary societies in the United States.
Administrative/Biographical History
Ruth Elizabeth Mather was born on August 25, 1890, in Charlevoix, Michigan. In 1893, she moved with her family to Chicago, Illinois. Mather graduated from South Chicago High School in 1908. That fall she entered Denison University. During her time at Denison, she participated in the Philomathean Literary Society and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). Mather graduated in 1912 with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree.
Mather taught at several schools in the United States after graduating from Denison University. She taught math in Bacone, Oregon (1912-1913); English, math, and history in Fayetteville, Arkansas (1913-1915); and English history in Duluth, Minnesota (1915-1918).
During the summer of 1917, Mather trained in New York City for YWCA work overseas. In 1920, she sailed to China for the first time as a Baptist missionary and lived there until 1924 when she contracted tuberculosis and returned to the United States. After recovering, Mather began work at the Ohio Baptist Convention Office as a secretory in the Department of Christian Education.
In 1939, Mather returned to China as a Baptist missionary. She taught at the Mothercraft School until it closed in 1941 due to the Japanese invasion of China. Though Mather had to move several times in the next several years, she remained in the country until 1945. Mather spent two years in the United States working with the International Missionary Conference before again returning to China in 1947.
Mather returned to the United States in 1950 and worked with the Women’s Association of American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. No longer able to return to China, she moved to Burma (renamed Myanmar in 1989) to teach English. Mather lived there from 1952 until she retired in 1957.
Ruth Mather died on March 28, 1986.
