Japan - HIST 347: Quakers in East Asia (HC) [Fall 2014] - Research Guides at Tri-College Libraries
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Japan Committee
The Friends Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia began mission work in Japan in the 1880s, and materials in our collections cover through the 1970s. Philadelphia Quakers supported the creation of a Tokyo Friends Center (largely for visitation), Girls' School, several Monthly Meetings, and eventually the Japan Yearly Meeting. Activities in Japan were first overseen by the Women's Foreign Missionary Association, and many of the early missionaries and teachers were also women. Listings in the individual manuscripts section on the right include papers of those who worked at the Girls' School and Friends Center. The Japan Committee records include correspondence, meeting mintues, reports, statistics, financial records, work applications, and photographs.
- Stereoscopic Views of Japan, n.d.
Published in New York, these scenes from Japan were meant to be viewed through a scope which would allow the viewer to see them in 3-D. - Alice Mabel Bacon, Japanese Girls and Women, 1891
This book is a study of Japanese home life with particular focus on the lives of women; it was compiled from interviews with Japanese women. - Frank Brinkley, Japan: Described and Illustrated by the Japanese, 1897
Frank Brinkley lived in Japan for forty years as a British military attaché, foreign adviser to the Japanese government, and newspaper owner. These books describe all aspects of Japanese culture and society from religion to games to dress. Includes many illustrations and photographs. - Bayard Taylor, A Visit to India, China, and Japan, In the Year 1853, 1855
Bayard Taylor was an American poet and travel correspondent. This book contains his observations on the culture and geography of places he visited during a tour of Asia. Of particular interest is that Taylor’s trip to Japan was made with the expedition of Commodore Perry.
Manuscript Materials
- Iwao Frederick Ayusawa. Papers, 1918-1964
Written by a graduate of Haverford College, the papers concern his work as Director of the National Labor Board of Japan, as professor at International Christian University, Tokyo, and as Japanese National Chairman of the Union for World Federated Government. - Esther A. and Lloyd Balderston papers
The collection includes letters of Esther Balderston Jones, a Quaker missionary, primarily written from Japan in 1914-1916 to the Mission Board, to her future husband, and to friends. These describe Japanese life, people, and culture; the school where she teaches and its students; Tokyo's appearance and available goods; and the coronation of Emperor Yoshihito. - Lewis Benson papers, 1932-1986
Lewis Benson was a Quaker missionary in Japan, and the collection includes material from his time there. - Gilbert and Minnie Pickett Bowles family papers, 1896-1974
Gilbert Bowles arrived in Japan in 1901, where he taught English at a Friends school. He was a founder of the Japan Peace Society. The Bowles moved to Hawaii in 1941, where they worked at Japanese internment camps. - Howard Haines Brinton and Anna Shipley Cox Brinton papers, 1859-2005
The Brintons worked at the Friends Center in Tokyo from 1952-1954. The collection includes their diaries and correspondence from that time in addition to photographs and glass slides. - Collins Family papers, 1945-1952
The collection includes journals written by middle-class women from the United States on their travels to Japan. - Margaret Mary Clark Haines papers, 1913-1946
This collection includes papers of the Mission Board of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, which oversaw missionary work in Japan and China. - J. Passmore Elkinton Papers
Three letters, written in 1936, tell of 50 years of Friends work in Japan. - Hartshorne Family papers, 1797-1957
The collection includes the correspondence of Anna C. Hartshorne covering her missionary work in Japan, and Henry Hartshorne's "Letters from Japan." - Jones-Cadbury Family papers, ca. 1770-1994
Elizabeth B. Jones was the wife of Rufus Jones. This collection includes a diary she kept during a trip to Japan. - Naomi and Rayner Kelsey papers, 1803-1852.
Naomi Kelsey (1875/6-1967) was a member of Haverford Monthly Meeting and president of the Haverford College Women's Faculty Club. Included in the collection is a diary she kept, probably in 1936, during a leg of a world cruise, recording events in China, Japan, Hong Kong and Hawaii and discussing people with whom she visits. - Lewis Family papers, 1853-1960
This collection includes the correspondence of Alice Lewis Pearson, who taught in Japan from 1905-1923. - Inazo Nitobé. Papers. Edith Forsythe Sharpless, collector
Letters of Nitobé to Anna Hartshorne giving news of daily activities in Japan including the split in Tokyo Monthly Meeting over peace testimony, 1894. - Photographs taken in Japan, 1893-1896, PYM Japan Committee
Photographs are primarily of groups in Japan, including school groups, while other photographs are of Japanese life and customs. - Edith Forsyth Sharpless papers, 1910-1952
Sharpless was a missionary in Japan from 1910 to 1942. Her letters describe her daily life and experiences there. - Esther Rhoads was the head of the Friends Girls' School in Tokyo for more than fifty years and worked with the Licensed Agencies for Relief in Asia. Included in the collection are many letters on Japanese education, relief efforts after World War II, and information on Quakerism in Japan.
- Sarah Anne Green Smith taught at the Friends Girls' School in Japan from 1933-1935, and the collection contains her diary, correspondence, and photographs from that time.
- William Swift papers
Letters describe cities and life within them and Swift's visits with other officials to various high-ranking people, including the Emperor and Empress of Japan; describes a grand dinner at the Maple Club in Tokyo. - Elizabeth Grey Vining papers
Elizabeth Grey Vining was a children's author and librarian. From 1946 until 1950 she served as tutor to Crown Prince Akihito of Japan. Materials in the collection include letters, clippings, diaries, and scrapbooks. Please note that some of the materials in the collection are restricted; be sure to consult a librarian before making requests. Also, be sure to check the Germantown Monthly Meeting Newsletters which published letters from Vining to her American meeting while she was working in Japan. (SG1) - Morris Wistar Wood Papers, 1 letterbook, 2 diaries
The Morris Wistar Wood collection includes a letterbook of a few hundred typed pages written by Wood, with many photos pasted in, detailing his experiences in China and at Lingnan University from 1921-1923. The collection also includes diaries of Wood and his wife covering this period in China.
