Classification scheme: Hist.Mss.1.365
Title: Ruth Bean Kiereta fonds
Dates of creation: [19-?], 1947-1951
Physical description: 3 cm of textual records
Biographical sketch: Ruth Miereta Bean (1919-2011) was born in Wilmot Township to Magaret (Axt) and Henry “Warren” Bean. She graduated from the Kitchener Collegiate and Vocational Institute in 1938 and received a teaching certificate from Stratford Normal School in 1939. Following several years of teaching and then graduation from Goshen College, she joined the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities mission to West China in 1947.
After a year of language study in Chengdu, she and four other mission workers arrived in Hechuan in November 1948. Here, she and the other mission workers assisted local Chinese Christian leaders with conducting Sunday Schools, English Bible classes, and evangelistic meetings. Mission staff were also involved in public health work. Due to increasing restrictions on foreigners, the mission workers left China in 1951. Ruth then served with the Japan Mennonite Mission from 1952-1956. Following this, she made her home in Illinois, where she married Matthew Kiereta.
Custodial history: Donated to the Archives by Johanna Dyck in 2014
Scope and content: Correspondence from Ruth Bean to her friend Johanna (Dyck) Dyck in Kitchener; hand-drawn Chinese artwork and block prints.
Notes: See also Dorothy C. Bean fonds, Hist.Mss.1.345. Ruth and Dorothy are sisters.
Historical spellings of place names in fonds include Chengtu (for Chengdu) and Hochuan (for Hechuan).
Original archival description created 2024 by Laureen Harder-Gissing.
File list:
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Correspondence, 1948-1951
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Block print on laid paper, [19-?]
Note: Illustration of traditional Chinese home life beside the text of Matthew 6:25-33 -
Samples of Chinese stationary, [19-?]
Note: Seven hand-drawn illustrations of traditional Chinese scenes on laid paper -
“For of Such is the Kingdom of Heaven,” [1947?]
Note: Booklet of block prints of Chinese children by Beatrice Kitchen, missionary of the United Church of Canada, who died in a plane crash in China in January 1947. Printed by the Canadian Mission Press, Chengtu.