Guide to the Leila G. Kirtland Papers

Descriptive Summary

Title

Leila G. Kirtland Papers

Inclusive Dates

1857-1954

Call Number

RG 481

Creator(s)

Kirtland, Leila G. (Leila Griffing), 1877-1955.

Quantity

1.25 cubic feet (2 boxes)

Language

Materials in English, with some Japanese

Restrictions on Access

Collection open for research, with exceptions. Nitrate negatives sequestered. Access to nitrate negatives will be provided through digital surrogates. Box 1, folder 12, Photograph album, 1910s is fragile.

Repository

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

Biographical Note / Administrative History

Biographical Note

Leila Griffing Kirtland, a Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (PCUS) educational missionary to Japan, was born in 1877 in Memphis, Tennessee, and educated at the Clara Conway Institute, a Memphis girls’ school. She studied music in New York, and arrived in Japan in the autumn of 1910 to teach kindergarten alongside Mary Fletcher Smythe at Kinjo Gakuin, a school for girls in Nagoya.

Kirtland spent the next 21 years at Kinjo, retiring in 1932. Upon retirement from the school, Kirtland undertook evangelistic work in Marugame. She wrote two memoirs of female missionaries to Japan: "My Japanese Journal," under the pseudonym Laura Gordon Keith, an account of the fictional Eleanor Craven; and "Lumpy," a biography of Estelle Lumpkin.

Collection Overview

Collection consists predominantly of photographic material either created or collected by Kirtland; prints, albums and negatives span 1857 to 1952. Few photographs are identified. The bulk of the loose photographic prints depict Kirtland’s family and friends. Among the four photograph albums are "The Briar Patch," dated 1926 to 1931, which includes photographs of the resort Karuizawa in Nagano prefecture, and a farewell album containing photographs and notes from Kirtland’s friends, compiled between 1939 and 1940.

A large collection of nitrate negatives in Box 2 is sequestered from Box 1. These include images of the kindergarten at either Marugame or Nagoya, negatives of prints in the "Briar Patch" photograph album, and images of Kinjo Gakuin

Organization and Arrangement

The collection is arranged as follows:

SERIES I: WRITINGS AND CLIPPINGS, 1915-1954

SERIES II: PHOTOGRAPHS, 1857-1952

Related Material

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Received from PCUS General Executive Board warehouse, 1976.

Processing Information

Collection processed and guide prepared in 2012 by David Staniunas, Records Archivist and Sue Althouse, Volunteer.

Preferred Citation

Leila G. Kirtland Papers, RG 481, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Catalog Headings

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

Personal Name Subject

Kirtland, Leila G. (Leila Griffing), 1877-1955.

Lumpkin, Estelle, 1879-1965.

Corporate Subject

Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Japan Mission.

Kinjo Gakuin Daigaku.

Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Executive Committee of Foreign Missions.

Topical Subject

Women missionaries--Japan--20th century.

Missions--Japan--20th century.

Presbyterian Church--Missions--Japan--20th century.

Geographic Subject

Nagoya-shi (Japan)

Marugame-han (Japan)

Japan--Missions--20th century.

Genre-form

Photographic prints. aat

Photograph albums. aat

Film negatives. gmgpc

Collection Inventory

Box	Folder	Description

1	1	Guide to Record Group 481

		SERIES I: WRITINGS AND CLIPPINGS, 1915-1953

1	2	Annotated Bible study index, 1942
1	3	Sermon notes, speech outlines, 1941-1953
1	4	Inspirational clippings, 1936-1954
1	5	News clippings, 1943-1953
1	6	Clippings, 1915 and undated
1	7	Explication of content of embroidered emblem by Nobuo Watanabe, 1913

		SERIES II: PHOTOGRAPHS, 1857-1952

1	8	Photographs--Japan, 1933-1952
1	9	Photographs--Personal, 1857-1880s
1	10	Photographs--Personal, 1890s-1924
1	11	Photographs--Personal, 1932-1948
1	12	Photograph album, 1910s
1	13	Photograph album, 1910s-1937
1	14	Photograph album, “The Briar Patch,” 1926-1931
1	15	Photograph album, 1939-1940
1	16	Index to nitrate negatives 1-100 removed from negative album, 1910s-1920s

2		Nitrate negatives, 1910s-1940s [RESTRICTED]

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Guide to the Leila G. Kirtland Papers

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