Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by world section, then alphabetically by country and finally alphabetically by city. There are two additional series at the end: Diary Digests and En Route Diaries.
Administrative/Biographical History
Mary Louise Wholean, a member of the original group of 'Secretaries,' began keeping a diary in 1912 only four months after the women began living together in Hawthorne. She kept it faithfully until 1916, just previous to her death in 1917. Diaries, daily accounts of the Sisters' community life and ministries, were kept in every house of Maryknoll Sisters until 1968. From around 1958 for the next ten years, a digest version of what had happened during the previous year was written at the end of the year.
In the early years, diaries were used extensively in the Field Afar and later in the Maryknoll magazines. Information from the diaries was also used by those in the Propaganda Office, and later the Communications Office, to write articles and mission stories for publication. Diaries also provided material for those on Promotion to prepare their talks and programs. Until the mid 60s, diaries were read every morning in the dining room while the Sisters had their breakfast.
