ContentsScope and Contents of the Collection Organization of the Collection Contents List Biographical Information, circa 1924-1968 |
Merrill papers, ca. 1913-1983.Finding AidEncoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.© 2003
Biographical NoteKatharine 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, in addition to serving as 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. Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Contents of the CollectionThe 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, circa 1924-1941. Rounding out the collection are articles and other biographical information relating to Merrill, circa 1924-1968, and photographs, circa 1913-1968, chiefly of her in Japan and with her husbands. Return to the Table of Contents Search TermsReturn to the Table of Contents Organization of the CollectionThis collection is organized into five series: Return to the Table of Contents Contents ListCorrespondence, 1924-1983 8 foldersThis 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. Arranged chronologically. Writings, 1926-1937, 1978 2 foldersThis 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." Arranged chronologically. Memorabilia, circa 1924-1941 1 folderThis 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. Arranged chronologically. Biographical Information, circa 1924-1968 1 folderThis series contains notes, programs, clippings, articles, and wedding invitations dating from circa 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. Arranged chronologically. Photographs, circa 1913-1968 1 folderThis series consists of formal and informal photographs of Merrill, her students, co-workers and husbands, circa 1913-1968. Included is what is probably Merrill's high school graduation photograph, circa 1913. Of particular interest are photographs of the students, choir and teachers of the Matsuyama Girls' School, circa 1924-1926, and of Merrill in traditional Japanese clothing and riding a bicycle, circa 1925-1928. Also included are snapshots of Sweden and Norway, 1965, and pictures of Merrill and her two husbands, 1958-1968. Arranged chronologically. Contents ListCorrespondence, 1924-1983 8 folders
Writings, 1926-1937, 1978 2 folders
Memorabilia, circa 1924-1941 1 folder
Biographical Information, circa 1924-1968 1 folder
Photographs, circa 1913-1968 1 folder
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