Merrill, Katharine,
Merrill papers,
ca. 1913-1983.
Manuscript Collection: MS 0571
1
box
Agency History/Biographical note:
Katharine Merrill was born on August 3, 1895, in Quincy,
Massachusetts. Her father, John Flint Merrill was in the real estate
business. She attended Woodward Institute in Quincy, from 1909-1913
then went to Mount Holyoke College from 1913-1917. She majored in
German, zoology, and physiology and received a Bachelor of Arts
degree in 1917. She graduated from Harvard University Summer School
of Physical Education in 1922 and received her Masters in Education
from Harvard Graduate School in 1928. She worked as a high school
teacher of German, biology, physical education, geography,
typewriting and girls' basketball in New York and Massachusetts from
1917-1924; she also was an actuarial clerk for Massachusetts Mutual
Life Insurance Company from 1919-1921. Merrill was a missionary
teacher at the Matsuyama Girls' School in Japan from 1924-1941. She
taught physical education, English and folk dancing and earned a
certificate from the Tokyo School of Japanese Language and Culture in
1933. In 1927-1928 Merrill returned to the United States and worked
as a clerk at the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions in Boston while finishing her Master of Education degree
from Harvard University. From 1942 until about 1954 she worked in
Washington D.C. as a research analyst and Japanese translator for the
Military Intelligence Service, a high school German teacher, and a
translator for the Index Catalogue Division of the Armed Forces
Medical Library. She married Knut Ahlbers in 1954 and in 1964 moved
to his homeland, Sweden, where Ahlbers died. In 1968 she married
Karl August Skog in Vasteras, Sweden. She died in Vasteras on
November 27, 1983, at the age of eighty-eight.
Scope and Content:
The Katharine Merrill Ahlbers Skog Papers consist of correspondence,
writings, memorabilia, biographical information, and photographs. Of
particular interest is Merrill's correspondence, 1924-1983, which
chiefly consists of forty-three letters written from the Matsuyama
Girls' School in Matsuyama, Japan, between 1924-1940. Most of these
documents appear to be copies of letters that Merrill wrote for the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and sent to
friends, mainly at Mount Holyoke College. The letters describe
Merrill's life as a missionary teacher in great detail. She
discusses the school and its summer camp; the surrounding city;
Japanese customs; the daily and personal lives of her students and
co-workers; visits to cities, temples, palaces and shrines; and a
trip to China in 1925. She also discusses political and economic
events such as the Sino-Japanese conflict, World War II, and the
worldwide economic depression in the 1930s. She frequently mentions
Olive S. Hoyt, Principal of the Matsuyama Girls' School and an 1897
graduate of Mount Holyoke College, and two of the letters in the
collection are written by both Hoyt and Merrill. Later letters
mention travels in Japan in 1966 and 1971 and in France, Germany, and
Switzerland in 1966 and 1978; she also describes her life and travels
while living in Sweden from 1964-1983. The collection includes a few
personal letters that Merrill wrote to Bertha E. Blakely, Mount
Holyoke College Librarian, Dorothy ("Deed") Camp Nourse, a Mount
Holyoke classmate, and Mount Holyoke's president, David Bicknell
Truman, as well as a 1944 note from Mary Emma Woolley, former
president of the College. Writings include published and unpublished
articles by Merrill, 1926-1937, concerning her work in Japan and her
1978 translation of an unpublished paper by Anne Sano-Gerber entitled
"Getting to Know the Japanese." Memorabilia consists of programs,
postcards, and documents, chiefly in Japanese, from the Matsuyama
Girls' School, ca. 1924-1941. Rounding out the collection are
articles and other biographical information relating to Merrill, ca.
1924-1968, and photographs, ca. 1913-1968, chiefly of her in Japan
and with her husbands.
Cite as: Katharine Merrill Papers, Mount Holyoke College,
Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley,
Massachusetts
Access Restrictions: Unrestricted
Series List:
- Correspondence
, 1924-1983
, 8 folders
- Writings
, 1926-1937, 1978
, 2 folders
- Memorabilia
, ca. 1924-1941
, 1 folder
- Biographical Information
, ca. 1924-1968
, 1 folder
- Photographs
, ca. 1913-1968
, 1 folder
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