Bryn Mawr College Special Collections
Bryn Mawr's Special Collections staff are wonderful and this is a great place to do research. Unlike the 'overviews' at other locations, the following list of "Examples" really touches on almost all the relevant collections found in Bryn Mawr's archives; it is nearly comprehensive.
Getting Started
- A word to the wise: its a little confusing to locate materials at BMC Special Collections (but if you ARE requesting material mentioned here, then be sure to give the location listed--it will be helpful for the librarians).
- Some Finding Aids are online (and also here) but others are not.
- Other Finding Aids and indexes are available at the library only.
- Tripod is NOT useful for searching Bryn Mawr's Manuscript Collections
- Your best bet, however, it to meet with a librarian. This is very important at BMC because you have little chance of locating all the information by yourself. Make an appointment ahead of time.
- For example, librarians have access to a separate PACSCL Consortional Database (FileMaker Pro database) that searches for and locates materials in the archives
On this page, go to...
- Examples from the Collection
- Online Exhibits
- European Travel Accounts Printed Before 1850
- Getting There
Examples from the Collection
Andrew Henry Woods Collection
Excerpts | Location: 23/7/5-7
- 1899-1917 – at Lingnan University and Canton Hospital
- 1920-1928 – Peking Union Medical College – professor neurology and psychiatry.
Speer Family Papers
Excerpts | Guide | Location: 23/7/1-4 ; 23/8 ; 25/7/1,3 ; 25/8/3-4
Margaret Trumbull Corwin
Excerpts | Location: 29/2/4
This is not a full collection, but rather “odds and ends”. A Printed Finding Aid in the Box at the library (1 Box total. Folders 2, 3 contain letters home from Far East; Folder 22 contains half a dozen pictures of buildings in China). In 1926 she took a six month leave of absence to visit the Yale-in-China program. Much of her collection is now held at Douglas College.
"This collection consists of correspondence and photographs of Margaret Trumbull Corwin. These materials are largely related to Corwin's travels to Japan, China..."
Mary Ritter Beard Collection on women in politics in Japan after World War II
Excerpts | No Finding Aid | Location: 23/5/1
"Mary Ritter Beard (1876-1958) was an historian and a campaigner for women's suffrage...This collection consists of documentation Beard and [Ethel B.] Weed compiled on the activities of women in politics in Japan after World War II.
Michi Kawai Christian Fellowship records
Excerpts | Location: 8/6/2
"Esther Sinn Neuendorffer and Michi Kawai both graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1904. Kawai Michi was the founder in 1929 of Keisen Girls School (now Keisen University) in Tokyo and the first secretary-general of the YWCA in Japan. In 1953 Esther Neuendorffer established the Michi Kawai Christian Fellowship to raise money for the Keisen School, to promote Christian education in Japan, and to carry on the work of Michi Kawai."
Katherine Binney Shippen Papers
Excerpts | Location: 25/7/4 ; 24/3/3
"This collection consists of ...a narrative of her trip to China entitled 'With a Sense of Wonder'"
M. Feurer Plass Papers
Details | Location: 24/2/3-4
Online Exhibits
Mapping the World. Includes a section on Asia | Website
European Travel Accounts Printed Before 1850
Bryn Mawr College has a very large collection of travel literature, published journals, etc. from Europeans who have traveled abroad. A large number of these are related to Asian travel. These accounts are available in Bryn Mawr's main stacks.
Overview | Travel Literature Relating to Asia (China) (Japan and Korea)
This guide for researching Bryn Mawr history can act as a gateway to finding useful East Asia-related collections...for example if you've found an alum who graduated from BMC and later went to China, this guide might help you find more information about that person.
Getting there...
Take the Blue Bus, or get outside and walk a bit.
Contact
Marianne Hansen | mhansen@brynmawr.edu