Descriptive Summary
Scope and Contents of the Collection
Organization and Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Katherine Gillette Osborne
Collection
Dates: 1910-1943
Collection number: D.Mss.0976
Extent:
1.2 Linear Feet
(3 document boxes)
Repository:
Scripps College. Ella Strong Denison Library. Claremont, CA 91711.
Abstract: Compiled by Katherine
Gillette Osborne (1847–1943), who was both the founder and resident director of the Boston
Students' Union from 1910 until her death in 1943, the Katherine Gillette Osborne Collection
includes two religious manuscripts of either southeast Asian or Middle Eastern origin and
four scrapbooks, containing maps, photographs, correspondence with several government
officials, and select art documenting Osborne's travels in Quebec, Switzerland from
1910-1932, and India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan in the 1920s and 1930s.
Physical Location: Please consult
repository.
Languages of Material: Languages represented in collection: English and
Sanskrit.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection open for research.
Publication Rights
Please contact Ella Strong Denison Library staff for all requests for permission to
reproduce or to publish.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Katherine Gillette Osborne Collection (D.Mss.0976). Ella Strong
Denison Library, Scripps College, Claremont, California.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Donated in 1964.
Accruals
No additions to the collection are anticipated.
Processing Information
Processed by Elizabeth Tati Willsmore-Finkle 2020; Revised by Helen Anderson September
2021
Biography / Administrative History
This collection was compiled by Katherine Gillette Osborne (1847 – 1943), who was both
the founder and resident director of the Boston Students' Union from 1910 until her death
in 1943. Listed in the 1913 publication Handbook of Opportunities for Vocational Training
in Boston compiled by the Women's Municipal League of Boston, the Boston Students' Union
was a boarding house suitable for young women who were students at the time. Although
little else is known about Mrs. Osborne beyond her involvement at the Students' Union, she
appears to have been an advocate for the education of women in the early 1900s. An
additional compilation of her work, entitled "Katherine Gillette Osborne Papers," can be
found at Archives and Special Collections, University Libraries, Northeastern University,
Boston, Massachusetts.
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The Katherine Osborne Collection consists of a set of four scrapbooks, all compiled by her,
and two religious manuscripts of southeast Asian origin and likely written in Hindi,
Sanskrit, Marathi or Pali. The text of the bound manuscript volumes is written with the
devanāgirī, or nāgarī script. Of great interest in this collection is a detailed map
annotated by Mrs. Osborne of her travels throughout Switzerland from 1910-1932, including
routes taken and years of occurrence. Another scrapbook contains fifteen years-worth of
holiday cards from two or three different families, from 1929 – 1943. The remaining two
scrapbooks detail, using photographs, calling cards, party invitations, and newspaper
clippings, Mrs. Osborne's travels throughout India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan in the 1920s
and 1930s. Also included are images from her travels to Hudson Bay, near Quebec, largely
featuring the landscape but select art as well. The most notable items in this collection
are myriad photographs taken, primarily of young men and women, from Mrs. Osborne's travels
to Afghanistan and India, as well as some correspondence in the form of invitations from
several government officials installed by Britain in Afghanistan and India at the time.
Besides the four scrapbooks, the collection's prominent pieces are the two religious
manuscripts, all of which feature a handful of full-color illuminated images. The text of
the bound manuscript volumes is written with the devanāgirī, or nāgarī, script. Although
this script is used by a variety of languages, some of which include Hindi, Sanskrit,
Marathi and Pali, at the time this collection was processed the language represented in the
volume had not yet been identified.
Organization and Arrangement
The collection is arranged into two series:
- Series 1: Scrapbooks, 1908-1943
- Series 2: Religious texts, undated
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library’s online public access catalog.
Subject Terms
Asia – Photographs – 20th century
Canada -- Description and travel
Canada -- Pictorial works
Europe – Photographs – 20th century
Middle East -- Description and travel
Middle East -- Pictorial works
Women travelers
Genre and Form of Materials
Correspondence
Scrapbooks
