Inventory of the Steingrimur Octavius Thorlaksson Papers, 1916-1970
Processed by Lucinda Glenn Rand; machine-readable finding aid created by
James Lake
Graduate Theological Union Archives
2400 Ridge Road
Berkeley, California, 94709
Phone: (510) 649-2523/2501
Email: archives@gtu.edu
URL: http://gtu.edu/library/information/special-collections
© 1998
The Graduate Theological Union. All rights reserved.
Inventory of the Steingrimur Octavius Thorlaksson Papers, 1916-1970
Accession number: GTU 89-5-010
Shelf location: 2/B/6-2/C/1
The Graduate Theological Union Archives
Berkeley, California
Contact Information:
- Graduate Theological Union Archives
- 2400 Ridge Road
- Berkeley, California, 94709
- Phone: (510) 649-2523/2501
- Email: archives@gtu.edu
- URL: http://gtu.edu/library/information/special-collections
- Processed by:
- Lucinda Glenn Rand
- Date Completed:
- September 18, 1989; revised February 1992 and December 1996
- Cataloged:
- February 7, 1992
- Encoded by:
- James Lake
© 1998 Graduate Theological Union. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Steingrimur Octavius Thorlaksson Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1916-1970
Accession number: GTU 89-5-010
Shelf location: 2/B/6-2/C/1
Creator:
Thorlaksson, Steingrimur Octavius, 1890-1977
Size: 13 boxes
4 1/2 linear ft.
Type of material: Papers (English, Japanese, some Icelandic); photographs; postcards; books; periodicals; pamphlets; financial records; glass
slides; 1 plaster relief; 1 copper negative, 1 printing block
Repository: The
Graduate Theological Union.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Source and Date
S. O. Thorlaksson, c. 1973
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for
permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the
Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological
Union as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Steingrimur Octavius Thorlaksson Papers, GTU 89-5-010, The
Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.
Access Points
Lutheran Church in Japan --Sources
Japan --Church history --Sources
Missions --Japan --Sources
Missionaries --Correspondence
Biographical Description
Steingrimur Octavius Thorlaksson (1890-1977) was born in Mineota, MN, May 26, 1890, his
father the first immigrant pastor of an Icelandic Lutheran congregation. He graduated
from Gustavus Adolphus College, 1913; Chicago Lutheran Seminary, 1916. That same year he
married Caroline Kristin Thomas of Winnipeg, Manitoba (4 children: Margrethe, Octavius,
Erik, Esther). They were commissioned missionaries to Japan --by the Icelandic Synod of
America on behalf of the old General Council of the Lutheran Church --arriving there in
the fall 1916.
Thorlaksson served various pastorates, including Kobe, and as the Treasurer for the
American Lutheran Mission in Japan until his evacuation at the outbreak of WWII. Before
evacuation, he transferred all mission properties to the independent Japanese Lutheran
Church which prevented confiscation by the military during the war.
The Thorlakssons moved to the San Francisco area which became their permanent home.
Caroline died in 1956 --Thorlaksson remarried in 1959, Liv Cecilie Oddson. He worked as a
Field Missionary for the Board of American Missions of the United Lutheran Church in
America serving congregations on the West Coast maintaining a continued interest in
Japanese and Scandinavian churches.
In San Francisco, 1944, he entered diplomatic service on behalf of Iceland as Honorary
Consul General. He was given the title "Member Emeritus of the San Francisco Consular
Corps" by that body on February 17, 1971. (See Biographical Sketch of Thorlaksson, Box 4
ff 9)
From 1967, he lived and served as resident chaplain of the Martin Luther Tower, a
retirement home in San Francisco. He died in Webster Grove, MI on July 10, 1977; and was
buried from St. Mark's, San Francisco.
Scope and Content
This collection was processed in two separate sections. The first section had been
partially processed and cataloged by library staff. The second section processed two
years later when four boxes of unprocessed material were discovered after a shelf move.
The two sections of material have been incorporated into one collection. The arrangement
here is the archivist's construction, there having been no inherent arrangement. Most of
the collection has to do with the business or financial aspect of mission work (bills,
statements, correspondence, etc.). There is very little personal material. Some of the
collection is in Japanese, some in Icelandic. Major portions of the collection concern
the Japan Lutheran Mission, and the Lake Nojiri Summer Resort where Thorlaksson had a
summer home.
Correspondence, 1916-47
Location: 2/B/6
Arrangement
Chronological arrangement, majority incoming, some outgoing
Box Box 1 , Folder ff 1-17
Box Box 2 , Folder ff 1
Paul P. Anspach, 1917, 32-40
Folder ff 2
Board of Foreign Missions, 1923-28
Subject Files, 1917-70
Location: 2/B/6
Arrangement
Alphabetical arrangement
Box Box 3 , Folder ff 1
American President Lines, 1941
Folder ff 2-3
Annual Field Reports, 1917-37
Folder ff 4
Articles from periodicals, c. 1939
Folder ff 6
Baggage claims and shipping receipts, 1941
Folder ff 7
Bank Accounts and General Receipts
Folder ff 8
Japan Lutheran Theological College and Seminary, 1970
Folder ff 9
Baptism Record Book, 1918-30
Folder ff 10
Bills, receipts, financial statements, 1932-52
Folder ff 11
Blueprints of a church, n.d.
Folder ff 14
Church matters (English language)
Folder ff 15
Church matters (Japanese language)
Folder ff 16
Conference of Fellowship of Christian Missionaries in Japan, 1940
Folder ff 17
Convention of Japan Lutheran Church, 1937
Folder ff 18
Steinun Johannesdottir Hayes Biography, c. 1950
Folder ff 20
Japan Lutheran Church, Committee for Promotion of Self Support, c. 1935
Folder ff 21
Japan Lutheran Church Rules and Regulations, n.d.
Folder ff 22
Japanese Language documents, n.d.
Folder ff 23
Japanese Language publications
Folder ff 24
Japanese Language Service Book, 1929, 1940
Folder ff 25
Japanese Students Christian Association in North America, 1937-39
Folder ff 26
East Kobe Lutheran Church, c. 1930-35
Folder ff 27
West Kobe Lutheran Church, c. 1928-40
Folder ff 28-30
Kobe Union Church Building Project, 1925-37
Folder ff 31-40
Lake Nojiri Summer Resort, 1921-40
Folder ff 42
Missionaries Mutual Aid Association of Japan, 1915, 1927
Folder ff 43
National Christian Council Bulletin, 1938-40
Folder ff 44
National Lutheran Council News Bureau, 1929, 31-39
Folder ff 45
Notes, handwritten or typed
Folder ff 46
Newspaper articles (Japanese and English)
Folder ff 47
Newspaper articles: Thorlaksson's return to Japan for Expo '70, 1970
Box Box 4 , Folder ff 1
Pan-American Japanese Christian Congress, 1939
Folder ff 2
Record Books on Church Members (?)(Japanese), c. 1919-20
Folder ff 3-4
Sermons in Japanese, 1925-34
Folder ff 5
Service Book, handwritten in Japanese, n.d.
Folder ff 7
Student Volunteer Movement 11th Convention, Buffalo, 12/31-1/32
Folder ff 8
Sunrays (Bible lesson cards), 1905
Folder ff 9
Thorlaksson, Biographical Sketch, c. 1972
Folder ff 11
J.M.T. Winther Memorial Service, 1970
Folder ff 12-13
Writings, articles, addresses, 1917-40
Japan Lutheran Mission
Location: 2/B/6
Additional Note
Chronological arrangement; general reports, correspondence, information from the Mission.
Also Thorlaksson's work as Treasurer of the Mission (financial statements, receipts,
accounts). Some personal material and material concerning Lake Nojiri Summer Resort mixed
in.
Box Box 5 , Folder ff 1-14
Box Box 6 , Folder ff 1-5
Box Box 7 , Folder ff 1
Japanese Language (the history of a city ?)
Folder ff 2
New Testament (Icelandic), 1903
Folder ff 3
Martin Luther (Icelandic), 1883
Folder ff 4
Prayer Book (Icelandic), 1918
Folder ff 5
Service Book (Japanese), 1916
Folder ff 6
Services of Song for Christmas and Flower Sunday, n.d.
Folder ff 7
Stanley's Expedition (2 in Icelandic), 1890, 1891
Folder ff 8
Sumarian Tablets in the Imperial University, Kyoto, 1928
Box Box 8 , Folder ff 1
Colegrove, Kenneth: reprints of series of articles, 1929-41
Folder ff 2-5
Foreign Missions Conference Journals, 1919-22
Folder ff 6
Handbook of Foreign Missions, Lutheran Church, 1921, 29, 39, 40
Folder ff 7
Japan Lutheran Bulletin, 1/37 (3 copies)
Folder ff 8
Japanese language periodical
Folder ff 9
Rules for Missionaries, Lutheran Church, Japan, 1920, 23
Folder ff 10
Selkirk Weekly Record, "Japan in Agony", 9/21/23
Box Box 9 , Folder ff 1
Single copies: Bjarmi, 1931; Buddhist Missionen, 1926; The Christian Graphic, 1934
Folder ff 2
Tanker Tog Toner, 1932-37
Folder ff 3
Tokyo Gazette; 8/37, 2/39, 5/40
Box Box 9 , Folder ff 4
Jon Bjarnason Academy, 1931
Folder ff 5
Foreign Languages in Japan, 1929
Folder ff 6
Freemasonry in Japan, 1941
Folder ff 7
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco (poems), n.d.
Folder ff 8
The Icelandic Lutheran Synod, 1885-1935
Folder ff 9
Japanese Language pamphlets
Box Box 10
1 plaster relief of Martin Luther
1 copper negative, Japanese women
1 box glass negatives: pictures of the life of Christ (some with Japanese captions)
1 box glass negatives: Japanese & English language hymns (?)
1 printing block for a Japanese hymn
Card Index, c. 1930
Location: 2/C/1
Arrangement
Divided geographically by city then alphabetically by name.
Box Box 11
Names, addresses and other information; Japanese language
Photographs
Location: 2/C/1
Additional Note
Though the bulk of the photographs are undated, they were mostly taken ca. 1920-40. The
photographs are black and white unless otherwise indicated. The photographs were received
with no order, the arrangement here was done by the processor.
Box Box 12 , Folder ff 1
S.O. Thorlakkson (identified in small group shots), ca. 1926
Folder ff 2
West Kobe Lutheran Church, 1935
Folder ff 3
Groups of people, Meetings, identified, ca. 1919-40
Folder ff 4
Places, Churches, identified, ca. 1920's
Folder ff 5
Mounted photographs, identified, dated
Folder ff 6
Individuals, small groups, unidentified, n.d.
Folder ff 7
Groups, Meetings, unidentified, n.d.
Folder ff 8
Places, Churches, unidentified, n.d.
Folder ff 9
Rural and farm scenes, unidentified, n.d.
Folder ff 10
Japanese Destroyer, caption in Japanese, n.d.
Folder ff 11
Negatives, unidentified, n.d.
Folder ff 12-13
Professional published sets: The sets have been broken and are not in order, though numbered. The sets are accompanied by
lists with numbered captions corresponding to numbers on the photographs. Color tinted.
Folder ff 14
Professional published set: Yusaki and Shirahama Spa
Postcards
Location: 2/C/1, 2/B/3
Additional Note
The postcards are undated, but are ca. 1920-40. The postcards are black and white unless
otherwise indicated. The postcards were received with no order, the arrangement here was
done by the processor. All are captioned, those in English are grouped and filed
according to geographic area; those in Japanese are not divided by area, but grouped all
together. All are postcards of Japan, except those so indicated. The postcards are all
blank, except those in Box 13, ff 11 which contain correspondence.
Box Box 12 , Folder ff 15
Lutheran Church, West Kobe, ca. 1935
Folder ff 20
Female missionaries and missions (Japan, Africa, India)
Folder ff 21
Leper Hospital of the Resurrection of Hope
Folder ff 22
Nagoya, some color tinted
Folder ff 24
Tokyo Higher Commercial School, color tinted
Folder ff 28
Various Japanese scenes, English captions, color tinted
Folder ff 32
Mt. Fugi, some color tinted
Folder ff 2
Single cards of various places, some color tinted
Folder ff 3
Churches, identified in Japanese
Folder ff 4-5
Various scenes identified in Japanese, some color tinted
Folder ff 6
Korea (Keijo), identified in English, color tinted
Folder ff 7
Scenes of Korea with English captions
Folder ff 9
Single cards: Chicago, Vancouver B.C., Iceland (?)
Folder ff 10
Empty envelopes for photographs and postcards
Folder ff 11
Postcards with correspondence, various scenes and dates, in Japanese and English
