Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Access Points
Biography
Scope and Content
Descriptive Summary
Title: Sweet (Pearl Shaffer) Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1874-1989
Collection number: Mss252
Creator:
Pearl Shaffer Sweet
Extent: 5 linear ft.
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Sweet (Pearl Shaffer) Collection, Mss252, Holt-Atherton
Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
Access Points
personal name
Sweet, Pearl Shaffer (b. 1905)
Sweet, Evander M.
corporate name
Methodist Episcopal Church
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
Pacific Methodist College (Santa Rosa, Calif.)
Fry (J.A.B.) Library (Stockton, Calif.)
African Methodist Episcopal Church
subject
Afro-Americans -California
Afro-Americans -California -Stockton
Cambodian Americans -California
Chinese Americans -California -San Joaquin County
Filipino Americans -California -San Joaquin County
Indians of North America -Charities
Japanese Americans -California -San Joaquin County
Korean Americans -California
Mexican Americans -California -San Joaquin County
Vietnamese Americans -California
Colleges and universities -California -Santa Rosa
Libraries -California -Stockton
Biography
Pearl Shaffer Sweet (1905-) attended the College of the Pacific, commencing with the
first four year Stockton class (1924). While still a junior she married E.M. Sweet, whose
family were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (1927). From the
mid-1930s--before the Southern Methodists fused with the Methodist Episcopal
Church--Pearl Sweet collected papers and books relevant to the activities of both
churches. These included materials pertaining to Methodist missionary work among Chinese,
Japanese, Filipinos and other non-white minorities in Stockton. Later she arranged for
her collection to become the property of the Northern California-Nevada Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, naming the collection the "J.A.B. Fry Library" after a former
missionary and Bishop of the Conference (1948). At the same time Mrs. Sweet arranged for
the Fry Library to be housed at the College of the Pacific. Pearl Shaffer Sweet was then
a member of the executive committee of the Historical Society of the Northern
California-Nevada Conference and Archivist of the J.A.B. Fry Library (1949-1963). From
1959, she was also a consulting and contributing editor for the Encyclopedia of World
Methodism.
Scope and Content
The Pearl Shaffer Sweet Collection contains correspondence, notes and papers describing
the formation of the J.A.B. Fry Library. These materials also document Mrs. Sweet's
research activities as Archivist of that Library. Before and after her retirement, Mrs.
Sweet maintained scrapbooks on various ethnic minorities and on the history of the
Methodist Church. These, too, form a valuable part of the Pearl Shaffer Sweet Collection.