8 folders
Chronological
Forms part of MS 0571, The Katharine Merrill Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 1900/01/20
Description:
This series consists of letters written by
Merrill between 1924-1983. 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
her friends, mainly at Mount Holyoke College.
The collection also includes a few personal
letters sent to Bertha E. Blakely, Librarian of
Mount Holyoke College, Dorothy ("Deed") Camp
Nourse, a Mount Holyoke classmate, and David
Bicknell Truman, President of Mount Holyoke
College. There is also a note to Merrill from
Mary Emma Woolley, former president of Mount
Holyoke College, written in January 1944. Of
particular significance are forty-three letters
written by Merrill while teaching at the
Matsuyama Girls' School in Japan, 1924-1940. In
these letters she gives detailed information
about her life and work. She discusses the
school's curriculum, buildings, ceremonies,
fund-raising activities, and dormitory life; its
summer camp; the surrounding city; her work as a
teacher of English, physical education and
etiquette classes; and the personal lives of her
co-workers and students. Olive S. Hoyt,
Principal of the Matsuyama Girls' School and an
1897 graduate of Mount Holyoke College, is
frequently mentioned in these letters. There are
two letters, 1926 and 1936, written by Hoyt and
Merrill describing the history of the school and
current goals at the time of the fortieth and
fiftieth anniversary of the school. Merrill also
discusses Japanese customs pertaining to food,
clothing, church, movie and play theatres,
calling upon friends, New Year's celebrations,
national holidays declared by the Japanese
Emperor, religious festivals, weddings, funerals
and Christian baptisms. She describes climbing
Mount Fuji, flying in an open cockpit mail plane,
visiting various Japanese cities, temples,
palaces, shrines and missionary conferences,
taking extensive bicycle trips, and visiting
China in 1925. She also discusses political and
economic events such as the Sino-Japanese
conflict, World War II, and the impact of the
worldwide economic depression in the 1930s on
Japan. In her correspodence from 1944-1983
Merrill talks about her work as a translator in
the United States, her personal life and travels
in Sweden, where she lived from 1964 until her
death in 1983, and trips to France, Germany, and
Switzerland between 1966-1978..
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MS 0571.2
Writings
, 1926-1937, 1978
2 folders
Chronological
Forms part of MS 0571, The Katharine Merrill Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 1900/01/20
Description:
This series includes Merrill's unpublished and
published articles written by Merrill between
1926-1937 and a document translated from Japanese
to English by her in 1978. The articles concern
the Matsuyama Girls' School and summer camp and
school. Merrill's translation is of an
unpublished paper by Anne Sano-Gerber entitled
"Getting to Know the Japanese."
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MS 0571.3
Memorabilia
, ca. 1924-1941
1 folder
Chronological
Forms part of MS 0571, The Katharine Merrill Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 1900/01/20
Description:
This series consists of programs, postcards, and
documents, chiefly in Japanese, from the
Matsuyama Girls' School dating from 1924-1941. Of
particular interest are postcards of the school
showing the campus and the surrounding city
before its destruction during World War II. Most
of the postcards have descriptions of the
pictures written by Merrill.
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MS 0571.4
Biographical Information
, ca. 1924-1968
1 folder
Chronological
Forms part of MS 0571, The Katharine Merrill Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 1900/01/20
Description:
This series contains notes, programs, clippings,
articles, and wedding invitations dating from ca.
1924-1968. There is a program from the
"Commissioning Service for Miss Katherine
Merrill, Matsuyama, Japan," 1928. There are also
newspaper clippings, 1928-1935, discussing
Merrill's missionary activities in Japan and
information about her assistance with a book
about the pineal glad published in 1954.
Invitations to her weddings in 1954 and 1968 are
also included.
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MS 0571.5
Photographs
, ca. 1913-1968
1 folder
Chronological
Forms part of MS 0571, The Katharine Merrill Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 1900/01/20
Description:
This series consists of formal and informal
photographs of Merrill, her students, co-workers
and husbands, ca. 1913-1968. Included is what is
probably Merrill's high school graduation
photograph, ca. 1913. Of particular interest are
photographs of the students, choir and teachers
of the Matsuyama Girls' School, ca. 1924-1926,
and of Merrill in traditional Japanese clothing
and riding a bicycle, ca. 1925-1928. Also
included are snapshots of Sweden and Norway,
1965, and pictures of Merrill and her two
husbands, 1958-1968.
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