ABSTRACT

ARRANGEMENT

The papers are arranged in three series:

• I. Correspondence
• II. Writings
• III. Personal Items and Memorabilia

ACCESS AND USE

Open to qualified researchers

PROVENANCE

Gift of Stephen D. Pratt and Joan Morgan Anderson.

PREFERRED CITATION

Katherine Shapleigh Papers, Record Group No. 176, Special Collections, Yale Divinity School Library.

ONLINE CATALOG RECORD

The catalog record for this collection is available online.

Chronology of Katherine Shapleigh

1875 Dec 29	Born in Worcester, MA
1892-1893	Attended St. Agnes School, Albany, NY
1895	Met Alfred Shapleigh in Princeton, MA where their families had summer homes
1896	Jun 2Married Alfred Shapleigh; they had three children: Samuel Brooks (1897-1905), Gordon (1899-1900), Stephen (1903-1905).
1896-1897	Served in Tientsin, China under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
1897	Family returned to Worcester, MA, where Alfred took over practice of physician who was on leave
1898-1899	Moved to Boston, where Alfred was assistant to his father, who was president of the Shapleigh Coffee Co., and engaged in Bible study
1900	Alfred took Bible training courses at Nyack College in New York and Moody Bible Institute in Chicago
1901	Engaged in evangelistic home missionary work in California
1901-1902	Returned to Boston; worked with Salvation Army
1902-1903	Home missionary work in Colorado and California
1904	Returned to China under China Inland Mission;
1905	Alfred and two surviving sons died of smallpox shortly after the family's arrival in China. Alfred and the sons had not been vaccinated against smallpox, so did not survive the disease; Katherine suffered a mild case of smallpox but recovered.
1905-1908	Katherine remained in China, engaging in language study and serving at missionary training school in Yangchow
1908	KS returned to U.S. where she cared for her father and spoke in churches
1915-1916	In Yangchow, followed by return to U.S.
1918-1920	Working with women Russian refugees at Foreign Women's Home, Shanghai, followed by return to U.S.
1926-1927	Working at Foreign Women's Home, Shanghai
ca. 1934	Appointed Dean of Women at Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL
1935	Received B.A.
1937	Following a severe heart attack, KS retired from Wheaton position and moved to North Carolina
1942	Died in NC

Introduction

The Katherine Shapleigh Papers consist of two linear feet of material divided into three series:

• I. Correspondence
• II. Writings
• III. Personal Items and Memorabilia

Series I, Correspondence consists primarily of family correspondence. Letters from Shapleigh to her family and their replies document in detail the changing paths of her life. Brought up in an affluent, traditional Episcopalian household, Katherine may have been headed toward a rather sheltered existence, but her marriage to Alfred Shapleigh and their subsequent work in China exposed her to a vastly different world. The Shapleighs' dissatisfaction during their first period of work in China under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions led to a return back to the United States where they engaged in a variety of educational, commercial, and missionary activities before being appointed by the China Inland Mission to return to China. The tragic deaths of Katherine's husband and sons shortly after their arrival in China did not deter her from remaining with the mission and finding a new way of life there. While Katherine had been largely preoccupied by her language study and baby son during their first period in China, her subsequent years alone in China were spent at the CIM Yangchow training school and the Foreign Women's Home in Shanghai, which provided shelter to Russian women refugees who came to China following the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. Katherine found fulfillment in her work with her mission colleagues but clearly had continuing strong ties to her family at home. In addition to the correspondence documenting Shapleigh's life, there are also letters of other family members and material related to the John Singer Sargent portrait of Katherine that was painted when she was in her late teen years.

Series II, Writings, includes some early school essays but consists primarily of poetry written by Katherine Shapleigh. Katherine was an accomplished poet who had her work published.

Series III, Personal Items and Memorabilia, includes a variety of materials documenting Katherine Shapleigh's life, from early school report cards to biographical sketches by family members. Of particular note in this section is the application letter submitted by Katherine to the China Inland Mission when she and her husband sought appointment to China by CIM. This autobiographical letter provides explanation of the religious beliefs that significantly influenced the course of the Shapleighs' lives. Series III also includes a number of interesting photographs from the Shapleighs' early years in China, 1896-1897, which show their well-equipped Western-style home in China, their Chinese language teachers, and so forth. Later photographs show Katherine in Yangchow and members of the China Inland Mission Kiangsu Conference.