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.

This collection contains minutes, correspondence, reports, and printed material pertaining to the Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui (Holy Catholic Church in China) over the period 1940-1967, including House of Bishops minutes and reports on Christian Churches under Communist rule in China, as well as photocopies of Bishop Tsu's personal correspondence from 1928-1972 received from the Yale Divinity Library.