Guide to the Scovel Family Papers

Descriptive Summary

Title

Scovel Family Papers

Inclusive Dates

1832-1984

Call Number

RG 370

Creator(s)

Scovel family.

Quantity

1.50 cubic feet (2 boxes)

Restrictions on Access

Collection open for research

Repository

Presbyterian Historical Society, 425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147-1516 USA

Biographical Note / Administrative History

Biographical Note

Carl Wadsworth Scovel was born in 1866. He attended Hamilton and Roberts Colleges and Auburn Theological Seminary, graduating in 1894. In 1900 he married Louise Gilman Kiehle, a graduate of the Curry School of Public Expression in Boston. At this time he was serving as pastor of the Babcock Brown Memorial Church in Baltimore. Their only child, Frederick, was born there in 1902. In 1912 Scovel accepted a call to the Presbyterian Church in Cortland, NY; he served that congregation until his death in 1932.

Frederick Gilman Scovel entered Hamilton College in 1921. He went on to take his medical degree at Cornell, where he met a nurse named Myra Scott. They married after his graduation in 1929 and the following year they and their newborn son sailed for China as employees of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.

After language training in Peking, the Scovels were assigned to a hospital in Shantung Province. In 1943 the entire family, which had grown to include four more children, was interned by the Japanese. After six months' detention the Japanese deported them to the United States; Myra Scovel gave birth to a sixth child within hours after their ship docked in New York Harbor.

In 1946 the Scovels returned to China, this time to Anhwei Province. They transferred to the Hackett Medical Center in Canton in 1948, remaining there until 1951 when they were forced out by the Chinese Communists. In 1953 they began a six-year term of service to the India Mission, working as professor and librarian at the Christian Medical College in Ludhiana. In 1959 they returned to the United States for the last time. Dr. Scovel began a private practice in Stony Point, NY, and Myra Scovel wrote several books, some based on her family's China and India experiences and some written for children.

Collection Overview

This collection is largely made up of papers of four of the Scovels; Carl and Louise Scovel and their son and daughter-in-law Frederick and Myra Scovel. There are also a few materials from Frederick and Myra Scovel's children, and one diary kept by Carl Scovel's brother Louie.

The collection includes correspondence, diaries, articles and biographical materials. Carl and Louise Scovel also saved materials relating to their parents' families; the Scovels, the Gilmans, the Kiehles and the Wadsworths.

The University of Oregon owns a collection of Scovel family papers. A finding aid to that collection is included here in the first folder of the first box. This collection also includes photocopies of some of the material at Oregon.

Organization and Arrangement

SERIES 1: FAMILY PAPERS, 1832-1984
Subseries 1: Family Papers
Subseries 2: Louise Gilman Kiehle Scovel
Subseries 3: Carl Wadsworth Scovel
Subseries 4: Myra Scott Scovel
Subseries 5: Frederick Gilman Scovel
Subseries 6: Myra and Frederick Scovel

SERIES 2: BOUND DIARIES, 1878-1983
Subseries 1: Louise Gilman Kiehle Scovel
Subseries 2: Carl Wadsworth Scovel
Subseries 3: Louie A. Scovel
Subseries 4: Myra Scott Scovel
Subseries 5: Frederick Gilman Scovel

Related Material

Administrative Information

Processing Information

The bound diaries were placed in a separate series because their shape and size required separate housing from that of the documents.

Collection processed and finding aid prepared: March 1993
Stephanie Muntone, Processing Archivist;

Folder 32 in Box 1 added to collection, August 2016

Catalog Headings

The following headings have been used to index the description of this collection in the society’s electronic catalog.

Personal Name Subject

Scovel, Carl Wadsworth, 1866-1932.

Scovel, Louise Gilman Kiehl.

Scovel, Frederick Gilman, 1902-

Scovel, Myra.

Topical Subject

Missionaries--China.

Women missionaries--China.

Missionaries--India.

Women missionaries--India.

Presbyterian Church--Missions, Medical--China.

Missions, Medical--China--20th century.

Geographic Subject

China--Missions, Medical--20th century.

Genre-form

Diaries. aat.

Correspondence. aat

Personal Added Name

Scovel, Carl Wadsworth, 1866-1932.

Scovel, Louise Gilman Kiehl.

Scovel, Frederick Gilman, 1902-

Scovel, Myra.

Scovel, Louie A.

Corporate Added Name

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Foreign Missions.

Collection Inventory

Box	Folder	Description

1	1	Finding Aid to Record Group 370
1	1	Finding Aid to Scovel Papers at University of Oregon

		SERIES 1: FAMILY PAPERS, 1832-1984

		Subseries 1: Family Papers

1	2	Gilman Family--Enoch Gilman, Commission into NY State Militia, 1858
1	2	Gilman Family--Genealogy, 1950
1	3	Kiehle Family--Biographical Materials, Correspondence,1905-1978
1	4	Scovel Family--Dwight Scovel Autobiography and Will
1	5	Wadsworth Family--Biographical Materials, Correspondence, 1832-1856

		Subseries 2: Louise Gilman Kiehle Scovel

1	6	Biographical and Memorial Materials
1	7	Correspondence--to Kiehles, 1897
1	8-11	Correspondence--To Frederick and Nyra Scovel, 1930-32
1	12	Correspondence--Letters from China, 1932-48
1	13	Correspondence--Illustrated Letter from China, n.d.
1	14	Correspondence--To George and Harriet Allen, 1935-43
1	15	Diary, 1938
1	16	Miscellany

		Subseries 3: Carl Wadsworth Scovel

1	17	Biographical and Memorial Materials
1	18-19	Correspondence--To Frederick and Myra Scovel, 1930-32
1	20	General, 1897-1918
1	21	Scrapbook, 1899-

		Subseries 4: Myra Scott Scovel

1	22	Correspondence--To Children, 1962-81
1	23-24	Correspondence--To Family, 1974-76
1	25	Diary, 1941
1	26	Diary Letter--China, 1941-42
1	27	Diary--Trip to England, 1980
1	28	Interview Transcript, n.d.
1	29	Miscellany, 1920-80
1	30	Narrative of Arrival in China, 1930
1	31	Personal Reports, Letters, Diary, 1940-50
1	31a	Mission-related writings and poems, 1973-1981 and undated

		Subseries 5: Frederick Gilman Scovel

1	32	Biographical and Memorial Materials
1	33	Articles on China, 1930-72
1	34	Articles on China--Medicine, 1952-70
1	35	Certificates
1	36	Correspondence--To Myra Scovel, 1946-67
1	37	Correspondence--To Family
1	38	Correspondence--General
1	39	Diary, 1946
1	40	Diary/Article
1	41	Miscellany, 1902-29

		Subseries 6: Myra and Frederick Scovel

1	42	Letters from India, 1957-59
1	43	Newsletters, 1967-80
1	44	Letters to Children, 1976-84
1	45	Repatriation from China--Telegrams, Clippings, 1943
1	46	Incoming Correspondence, 1950-85

		SERIES 2: BOUND DIARIES, 1878-1983

		Subseries 1: Louise Gilman Kiehle Scovel

2	1	1891
2	2	1937-41

		Subseries 2: Carl Wadsworth Scovel

2	3	1878
2	4	1879
2	5	1887

		Subseries 3: Louie A. Scovel (brother of Carl Wadsworth)

2	6	1878

		Subseries 3: Myra Scott Scovel

2	7	1944-48
2	8	1949-53
2	9	1954-58
2	10	1959
2	11	1960-64
2	12	1965-69
2	13	1970-74
2	14	1975-79
2	15	1980-83

		Subseries 4: Frederick Gilman Scovel

2	16	1921

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Guide to the Scovel Family Papers

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