The Papers of Katharine Putnam document segments of her work as a deaconess stationed in China in the decades leading up to the Communist revolution in the late 1940s. The correspondence and diaries present limited details of Putnam’s life with the most documentation dating from World War II. Photographs comprise the bulk of the collection, most of which are related to the China Mission with approximately one fifth being cultural scenes of China. Also included are several liturgies written in Chinese as well as an album of photos and inscriptions that was created as a memento to Putnam upon her departure from China in 1950.

The records of the Overseas Department document the missionary endeavors of The Episcopal Church in China from 1835 to 1954 and include correspondence, reports, financial records, publications, and visual records. The three geographic districts in which Episcopal missions were located, Shanghai, Hankow, and Anking, as well as Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui, the Holy Catholic Church in China, are represented.

These records include photographs, minutes, letter press books, and diaries that were produced by or are about the China Mission.

Audio cassette tapes, typescripts, correspondence, financial documents, and grant proposals comprise the records of the China Oral History Project.

Included are 125 audio cassettes that represent 54 of the 56 total interviews conducted (there are no recordings available for two of the interviewees). In addition, a typescript of his/her transcribed interview is available. The average interview runs from three to four hours and focuses primarily on each interviewee's experiences as a missionary in China. Of particular interest are the missionaries' accounts of the Japanese occupation of China during the Second World War and the Communist Revolution which followed.