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Marjorie Tooker Whittlesey Papers

 Collection
Call Number: RG 197

Scope and Contents

Correspondence and writings document the life and work of Marjorie Tooker Whittlesey and her parents, and the operations of Yale-in-China during World War II. The collection also contains substantive documentation of the life and work of Ilma Ruth Aho, a Finnish missionary about whom Whittlesey wrote a biography .

This collection is complementary to the Yale-China Association archives held at Yale's Sterling Memorial Library. Marjorie Tooker Whittlesey's letters, collected material, and autobiographical writings provide detailed documentation of her life and work as administrator of nursing at the Yale-China hospital in Changsha during the second World War. This collection also provides valuable insight into the dynamics of missionary family life, since Whittlesey's parents were Presbyterian missionaries. The parents, who had six children, were stationed in China prior to 1927, based in the U.S. 1927-1931, and then returned to Guling (Kuling).

Dates

  • 1927-1991

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright has not been transferred to Yale University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Jean Whittlesey, 2004.

Arrangement

  1. I. Family Correspondence, 1927-1963
  2. II. General Correspondence, 1927-1983
  3. III. Writings, 1934-1991
  4. IV. Subject Files, 1944-1950
  5. V. Personal Items and Memorabilia, 1927-1988

Extent

8 Linear Feet (18 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/divinity.197

Abstract

Correspondence and writings document the life and work of Marjorie Tooker Whittlesey and her parents, and the operations of Yale-in-China during World War II. The collection also contains substantive documentation of the life and work of Ilma Ruth Aho, a Finnish missionary about whom Whittlesey wrote a biography.

Biographical / Historical

Marjorie Tooker Whittlesey served as a registered nurse at the Yale-in-China hospital in Changsha, China from 1939 to 1944 and 1946-1947. Following her marriage and return to the United States she wrote numerous short stories, books, and articles. Her parents, Mary and Frederick J. Tooker M.D., were Presbyterian missionaries in Guling, Jiangxi (Kuling, Kiangsi) during her childhood and early adult life.

Processing Information

Place names were modernized in the description, with the name originally used in the collection material or in an older version of the finding aid in parenthesis: e.g. “Beijing (Peking)” or “Benin (Dahomey)”.

Title
Guide to the Marjorie Tooker Whittlesey Papers
Author
Martha Lund Smalley
Date
2006
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Part of the Yale Divinity Library Repository

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