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Full listing > Accession BC2006/11
Accession #BC2006/11
TopicNettie Senger, Missionary, China: Church of the Brethren,
KeywordsAlumna, Alumni,
TitleSenger, Nettie
LocationBrethren People File: Senger, Nettic
CitationSenger, Nettie, BC2006/11, Archives and Brethren Historical Collection, Funderburg Library, Manchester University, North Manchester, Indiana.
AccessResearchers are responsible for determining copyright status of archived materials where this is relevant to their intended use of the materials.
ProvenanceUnknown
Scope and Content

Material regarding Nettie Senger, missionary to China.

1. Photocopy of church directory with tribute to Nettie.

2. Newspaper clipping and photo received from The Beacon Heights Church of the Brethren.

3. Documentary and tribute to the life of Nettie Senger compiled by Anne M. Albright.

Date of Accession01 January 1980
Bio History NoteNettie Senger was a Church of the Brethren missionary touring evangelist in North China from 1916-1939:
  • A.B. Degree - Manchester College, 1915
  • B.D. Degree - Bethany Theological Seminary, 1923
  • College of Chinese Studies, 1932
  • Hartford Seminary and Yen Ching University, 1935
  • Founder:  School for Women of China, 1933
  • Nettie returned to the United States because of poor health and the war conditions in China in 1939. 
  • Charter member of the Beacon heights Church of the Brethren, Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

J. Wine 2011

 

Nettie Mabelle Senger

 

The Reuel B. Pritchett Museum at Bridgewater College is caretaker for a number of items brought from China by Brethren pioneering missionary, Nettie Mabelle Senger.

 

Born in 1885, her girlhood spent in Panora, Iowa; Miss Senger applied in 1911 for a missionary appointment through the Church of the Brethren.  She was working toward a Bachelor of Divinity from Bethany Biblical Seminary at that time.  In her application for missionary work, Miss Senger wrote, “…I am willing to take the hard work.”

 

Miss Senger went on to complete her Bachelor of Divinity in 1923.  She was active in the Chinese Mission Field from 1916-1939. 

 

Miss Senger’s evangelical and missionary work in China focused on spreading the gospel as well as teaching skills of childrearing and sustainability to the women with whom she worked.  Among her accomplishments in teaching and building better lives for Chinese women were starting a school for Chinese mothers, writing textbooks for her work with Chinese women and  a self-sustainable wool industry program started in China in 1931. 

 

During the 1930s, Miss Senger actively published on her evangelical, musical and homemaking work in China.

She was licensed to ministry in 1947.

 

Among her other accomplishments, Miss Senger co-authored an important genealogical work on the Sanger family.  She was also active in the study of Chinese philosophy.

 

She died in 1969 in Allen, Indiana.

 

Biography of Senger written by Stephanie Gardner, Special Collections Librarian, Bridgewater College, Alexander Mack Library, 2013.



See also the Senger materials that are part of Bridgewater College's Special Collections:

The Nettie M. Senger China Missions Papers, Circa 1916-1940s (four boxes)in Bridgewater College Special Collections include materials from Senger's scrapbook, "Pictures to and from China and in China and Furloughs," 1916-1939; Photographs from her "Red Scrapbook," Circa 1920s; Senger's 1939 passport; Senger's personal correspondence from the 1930s and 1940s, miscellaneous booklets, articles and certificates relating to Brethren missions in China; and Senger's books in English and Chinese from the 1900s-1940s. 




Archivist Note

Description prepared 20 October 2006 by Jeanine M. Wine.

 


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