Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1850 - 1958 (Creation)
Level of description
Manuscript Collection
Extent and medium
2 boxes (0.5 metres)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Mabel Oldfield (née Dimock) was born on April 9, 1878, and Walter Oldfield was born on October 19, 1878. Mabel and Walter Oldfield were married in Hong Kong in 1910, and they had two children (Mildred and Ernest) born in 1911. The Oldfields worked as Canadian missionaries with the New York-based Christian and Missionary Alliance during the first half of the twentieth century. Between 1900 and 1947, Mabel and Walter Oldfield were stationed in Guangxi, China where they were actively involved in developing and implementing Christian conversion and evangelization programs. They published several accounts (books and pamphlets) of their missionary activities and lived experiences in Guangxi, China including With You Alway: The Life of a South China Missionary, Kidnapped by Chinese Bandits, Over “the Hump” with God, Pioneering in Kwangsi [Guangxi]: The Story of Alliance Missions in South China, Travels Among the Tribesmen, and Two Hundred Miles of Miracles. Mabel and Walter Oldfield left China definitively in 1947 and returned to Canada. Walter Oldfield died in 1958, and Mabel Oldfield died in 1965.
Mildred Oldfield (married name Millar) lived with her parents in China until the age of 16 when she returned to Canada. Mildred would later attend Victoria College, University of Toronto from 1929-1933, and she married F. Graham Millar in 1934 or 1935. Both graduated 1933. Graham Millar’s mother was E. Maud Graham, who wrote A Canadian Girl in South Africa. The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library holds the papers of E. Maud Graham and F. Graham Millar.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of Michael Dawson, 2022
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This accession of Walter and Mabel Oldfield’s papers contains correspondence, official documents, reports, diaries, newsletter clippings,
and materials related to Mabel’s family history. The accession also includes some documents related to their daughter, Mildred Oldfield (married name Millar), and her experiences as the daughter of Christian missionaries. Mabel and Walter Oldfield’s papers document the activities and priorities of Christian missionaries working in China in the first half of the twentieth century and the couple’s experiences and observations on the significant social and political upheaval in Guangxi, China in the first half of the twentieth century.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
No restrictions on access.
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://aeon.library.utoronto.ca/
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Shorthand notations are used throughout the finding aid and are to be translated as follows:
ALS: Autograph letter signed (signed by the author of the letter, handwritten)
TLS: Typed letter signed (typed letter signed by hand)
TL: Typed letter not signed
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Uploaded finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Folder descriptions are taken from the list of materials provided by Michael Dawson and derived from the content of the accession.