Guide to the The Misselwitz and Crawford family papers, 1870-1968 M0276
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
1999
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford 94305-6064
Fax Number: (650) 723-8690
specialcollections@stanford.edu
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: The Misselwitz and Crawford family papers
Identifier/Call Number: M0276
Physical Description:
3 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1870-1968
Language of Material:
English
.
Scope and Content
Primarily photographs, some correspondence, ephemera, and rock samples.
Biographical Note
This collection concerns two American families, related by marriage, who chose not to remain in their native Kansas, but sought
opportunity wherever it took them. Their individual perambulations are reflected chiefly in their collection of photographs;
very little correspondence is contained in their papers.
Levi R. [K.?] Crawford lived in Warren, Maine, until around 1862, when he moved to Ottawa, Kansas, near Topeka, bringing his
skills as a carpenter and cabinet maker with him. He became a successful businessman in Ottawa, reportedly serving as contractor
for several buildings on the Ottawa College [now University] campus. Inez J. Crawford, Levi's wife, cared for their three
[?] children, Ralph K. Crawford, Inez Mabel, and C.B. Crawford, and was very active in the Ottawa Baptist Sunday School.
Ralph K. Crawford graduated from Ottawa College as a civil engineer in 1901, a career he followed from that time to around
1915. His ventures took him to California in 1906-1907, where he was an engineer on the Los Angeles Aqueduct. He also traveled
to Idaho and to Fairbanks, Alaska, pursuing mining enterprises. In 1913, in Riverside, California, near Los Angeles, he married
Dorothy Maude Frink, a professional photographer from Ottawa, Kansas. In 1915, they moved to Burlingame, California, south
of San Francisco, where they made their home and operated a photographic studio and gift shop. Later they made their home
in San Carlos, California, a few miles south of Burlingame. Ralph and Dorothy Maude Crawford were childless, but enjoyed close
relationships with their families in Ottawa.
The Crawford portion of the collection contains many photographs of Ottawa, Kansas, Los Angeles and other parts of California,
Idaho, Alaska, and Japan and China. Among the photographs are many of residents of Ottawa, Kansas, in the early 1900s.
Inez J. Crawford (Mrs. Levi R. Crawford), and her daughter, Inez Mabel, came to Burlingame to live at some point. Miss Mabel
Crawford became the first librarian for the City of San Mateo (California).
Sometime in the mid-1920s, Dorothy Maude Crawford's niece, Carolyn Converse, came to live with the Crawfords in Burlingame.
She attended Stanford University and graduated with an A.B. in English in 1928. Shortly thereafter she went to China to accept
a teaching post. By 1931, she was a representative for Far Eastern Commerce Advertising in China and Japan, working in their
office in Shanghai, dealing with commercial and credit information.
Henry Francis Misselwitz, newspaperman, foreign correspondent, commentator, and author, was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, on
July 24, 1900. He was involved with journalism before and after graduation from the University of Missouri with a degree in
Journalism in 1922. He worked first on the Kansas City Star and then on the St Louis Post-Dispatch. During this period, one
of his stories, about a lynching, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He was later on the staff of the Japan Advertiser,
an American newspaper in Tokyo. Following this position, he became correspondent for the New York Times and the United Press
in Japan and China from 1923 to 1936. As New York Times correspondent in the 1920s, he covered Chiang Kai-Shek's Koumingtang
Rebellion against the warlords of Peking. After returning to New York to work with the United Press, he was assigned to be
the White House correspondent during President Herbert Hoover's administration. Henry was also the author of The Dragon Stirs,
an account of his experiences in China. He then moved to Los Angeles, becoming a radio commentator and screenwriter.
Heney Misselwitz first met Carolyn Converse in the late 1920s in Shanghai. They became reacquainted some twelve years later,
following his divorce from Ted Constance Lowrance in 1931, and his return to the U. S. mainland. Henry and Carolyn were married
in 1941. Two years after their marriage the couple move to San Carlos, California, from Los Angeles, where Henry resumed his
news commentary and became editor of a local newspaper. In San Carlos, Carolyn continued her Aunt Dorothy's gift and frame
shop in the building she inherited from her Uncle Ralph Crawford. Both Henry and Carolyn were active in civic affairs and
traveled widely in the United States and abroad. (See also, H. F. Misselwitz Collection at the University of Oregon, and H.
F. Misselwitz, Who's Who, 1951.)
Both Henry and Carolyn recorded urban and rural scenes in China and Japan before World War II. Their photographs of China
and Japan are supplemented by those of Barney Allen Cogsdell, U. S. Marine Corps (Fourth (Regiment), a friend of the Misselwitz's,
stationed in China in 1935-1936.
Preferred Citation:
[Identification of item] The Misselwitz and Crawford family papers, M0276, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University
Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Provenance
Gift of Carolyn Misselwitz, 1975.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
Access Restrictions
None.
Misselwitz Correspondence and Papers
Box 1, folder 1
Correspondence to Misselwitz Family Homer Lea, Sgt. Ansel E. O'Banion
1941-1968
Container Summary: (22 letters and cards)
Box 1, folder 2
Correspondence between Carolyn Misselwitz and Hope Converse (Aunt).
1967-1968
Container Summary: (14 letters and cards)
Box 1, folder 3
Correspondence to Carolyn Misselwitz from Elizabeth.
1968
Container Summary: (5 letters and notes, 2 enclosures)
Box 1, folder 4
World War II Ration Books (Misselwitz and Crawford).
[1941, 1942?]
Container Summary: (5 booklets)
Box 1, folder 5
Miscellaneous blank postcards and cards. Japan, Steamships.
[1920s-1930s?]
Container Summary: (9 items)
Box 1, folder 6
News clippings relating to Homer Lea, Ansel E. O'Banion.
1945
Container Summary: (2 clips)
Crawford Family Correspondence and Papers
Box 1, folder 7
Correspondence to Ralph K. Crawford from [Dorothy] Maude Crawford.
1907-[1920s?]
Container Summary: (11 letters and cards)
Box 1, folder 8
Correspondence to Ralph K. Crawford from Miscellaneous.
1902-1929
Container Summary: (13 letters and cards)
Box 1, folder 9
Correspondence to Dorothy Maude Crawford (Mrs. Ralph K.) from Miscellaneous. Gertrude Oldroyd, Secretary Methodist Missions,
China, 1930s.
1914-1944
Container Summary: (7 letters and cards)
Box 1, folder 10
Correspondence to [Inez] Mabel Crawford. (R. K. sister)
1913-1921
Container Summary: (1 postcard, 1 telegram)
Box 1, folder 11
Correspondence to Inez J. Crawford (Mrs. Levi R. Crawford, R. K. mother).
1914-1926
Container Summary: (7 postcards)
Box 1, folder 12
Typescript (unbound) Baptist Sunday School (Ottawa, Kansas) by Mrs. Levi R. Crawford.
1898
Container Summary: (7 pages)
Box 1, folder 13
Scientific notebook, R. K. Crawford.
[1900?]
Box 1, folder 14
Small notebook, R. K. Crawford.
[1920s?]
Box 1, folder 15
Appointment book, Dorothy Maude Crawford.
1925
Box 1, folder 16
U.S. stamps (3 cents).
undated
Container Summary: (3 stamps)
Box 1, folder 17
Miscellaneous pamphlets and leaflets,
undated
Container Summary: (10 items)
Box 1, folder 18
News clips. Ralph Landon.
1906-1936
Container Summary: (5 clips)
Box 1, folder 19
Souvenir booklets, Maine and Massachusetts.
[1900s]
Container Summary: (2 booklets)
Box 1, folder 20
Menu, Camp Curry, Yosemite, CA.
1944
Box 1, folder 21
Travel brochures. s.s., Normandie.
1917-1937
Container Summary: (3 brochures)
Box 1, folder 22
Railroad timetables.
1937-1944
Container Summary: (2 timetables)
Box 1, folder 23
Lithographed booklet of drawings by Kenneth Conant.
[1950?]
Box 1, folder 24
Miscellaneous cards, clippings, maps, etc.
Container Summary: (8 items)
Box 2, folder 1
Photographs (of Henry Francis & Carolyn Misselwitz), Japan and U.S.
1924-1984
Box 2, folder 2
Photographs (by H. F. and C. C. Misselwitz). China, Japan.
1924-1929
Box 2, folder 3
Photographs (by Barney A. Cogsdell, Misselwitz friend). China.
1934-1936
Scope and Contents note
[See also Box 5, Folder 5]
Box 2, folder 4
Photographs (Misselwitz and Crawford Homes)
Box 2, folder 5
Photographs, building Los Angeles (CA) Aqueduct (R. K. Crawford).
[1906-1907]
Box 2, folder 6
Photographs, Southern California and Mexico (R. K. Crawford).
undated
Box 2, folder 7
Photographs, Southern California (R. K. Crawford), U.S. Battle Fleet.
[1900s?]
Box 2, folder 8
Photographs, Mining, Fairbanks, Alaska and environs (R. K. Crawford).
1911
Box 2, folder 9
Photographs, California (Tahoe, San Francisco, peninsula) (R. K. Crawford).
[1900-1930?]
Box 2, folder 10
Photograph of Levi R. Crawford Glass frame.
[1900?]
Box 2, folder 11
Photographs of Ralph K. Crawford,
1880-1907
Box 2, folder 12
Photographs of Dorothy Maude Crawford (Mrs. R. K. Crawford).
[[UNK]1910-1931?]
Box 2, folder 13
Photographs (misc.) of Crawford Family
Box 2, folder 14
Souvenir photographs, Ottawa, Kansas.
[1900s?]
Box 2, folder 15
Photographs, environs of Ottawa, Kansas.
[1900s?]
Box 2, folder 16
Photographs, Ottawa College, Kansas.
[1870-1900?]
Box 3, folder 1
Photographs, students and faculty, Ottawa College, Kansas.
1901
Box 3, folder 2
Photographs, students, Ottawa College, Kansas.
1901
Box 3, folder 3
Photographs, students, Ottawa College, Kansas.
1901
Box 3, folder 4
Photo portraits, Ottawa, Kansas. A-B.
[1880s-1900s?]
General note
[Note: Box 3, Folders 4 through 11 contain portraits filed by R. K. Crawford according to first initial of subject's last
name. Most photos are labeled.]
Box 3, folder 5
Photo portraits, Ottawa, Kansas. C.
[1880s-1900s?]
Box 3, folder 6
Photo portraits, Ottawa, Kansas. D-H.
[1880s-1900s?]
Box 3, folder 7
Photo portraits, Ottawa, Kansas. I-J.
[1880s-1900s?]
Box 3, folder 8
Photo portraits, Ottawa, Kansas. K-N.
[1880s-1900s?]
Box 3, folder 9
Photo portraits, Ottawa, Kansas. O-R.
[1880s-1900s?]
Box 3, folder 10
Photo portraits, Ottawa, Kansas. S.
[1880s-1900s?]
Box 3, folder 11
Photo portraits, Ottawa, Kansas. T-Z.
[1880s-1900s?]
Box 3, folder 12
Miscellaneous photo portraits, Ottawa, Kansas.
[1880s-1900s]
Box 4, folder 2
Photo album, Levi R. Crawford relatives and friends
1882-1900
Language of Material: English.
Box 4, folder 3
Photo album, Idaho and Los Angeles (R. K. Crawford)
[1900s?]
Language of Material: English.
Box 4, folder 4
Photo negatives - transferred to MSS PHOTO 0100
Language of Material: English.
Photos and Miscellaneous Papers
Box 5, folder 1
Scrapbook, R. K. Crawford.
1890s-1900s
Box 5, folder 2
Photo album, R. K. Crawford, mining activities.
undated
Box 5, folder 3
Panorama photos, Los Angeles area (Crawford).
undated
Box 5, folder 4
Programs and Announcements, Engineer's Dances.
1906
Box 5, folder 5
Mounted photos, China and Japan (Dorothy Maude Crawford).
1935-1936
Box 5, folder 6
Mounted photos, China and Japan (Barney A. Cogsdell).
1935-1936
Box 6
Rock and Mineral Samples, Alaska and Southern California.
1901-1915
