The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSC) were founded in France in 1854. In 1881 the Sacred Heart Missionaries relocated to Hiltrup in Germany, having been expelled from France, and in the same year the first MSC South Seas Missions were established. In 1884 German protectorates in Melanesia and Micronesia were proclaimed. The Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was recognised in 1900. Pioneer MSC Sisters worked in the Marshall Islands from 1902 till 1919 when they were expelled by the Japanese. MSC Sisters also travelled to New Britain in 1902, but five were killed by Baining tribesmen in August 1904. Nevertheless the MSC Sisters’ activities in New Guinea expanded well beyond the Vunapope Mission in New Britain to New Ireland, Tanga, Lihir and Anelaua Islands where they were in charge of schools, hospitals, dispensaries and baby welfare clinics.

Photocopies of documents held in the MSC Hiltrup Archives (Archiv Missionssch-western vom hist. Herzen Jesu, Hiltrup, Westfalia), together with English translations, including:
Reports on the volcanic eruption in Rabaul, May 1937, when the Vunapope Mission station was used to house many evacuees, by Gordon Thomas, Fr. H, Nollen MSC, Sr. Potentiana MSC, Sr. Karola MSC, and Sr. Plazida MSC.
Reports on experiences of the Sisters in New Ireland during the Japanese occupation by Sr. Gustave MSC and Sr. Brigitta MSC.
Reports on other Sisters’ experiences in New Guinea during World War II by Sr. Theodoretis MSC, Sr. Theodeberta MSC, Sr. Dorothea MSC and the MSC Sisiters at the Leper Station at Anelaua, together with extracts from the MSC journal Montaschefte and some photographs taken at the Ramale Japanese prison camp in New Ireland.
The documents are translated from German and Dutch by Sister Brendan, Sister Brigid Kissane, Dymphna Clark and Mrs Olga Watters. See Finding aids for details.