Katherine Gillette Osborne Collection
Elizabeth Tati Willsmore-Finkle and Helen Anderson
Ella Strong Denison Library, Scripps College
© 2022
1030 Columbia Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711
Phone: (909) 607-3941
Email: denison@scrippscollege.edu
URL: https://www.scrippscollege.edu/denison/
Scripps College. All rights reserved.
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.
Administrative Information
Collection open for research.
Please contact Ella Strong Denison Library staff for all requests for permission to
reproduce or to publish.
[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.
No additions to the collection are anticipated.
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.
The collection is arranged into two series:
- Series 1: Scrapbooks, 1908-1943
- Series 2: Religious texts, undated
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library’s online public access catalog.
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
Correspondence
Scrapbooks
Series 1: Scrapbooks 1908-1943
Box 1, Volume 1
Holiday cards 1929 - 1943
Physical Description: 1 volume (56 pages); 32 cm x 23.5
cm.
Holiday cards from Joseph Reynolds Jr., William Francis, and J. Henry Rohnstock (1929
- 1933), from Joseph and Bertha Reynolds (1934 - 1941), and from Mr. and Mrs. Harry
Johnson (1925 - 1943). The cards all appear to be have been custom-printed for the
family using ink-engravings, and the ones from the Johnson family feature creative
depictions of the family that highlight certain special events (such as moving to a
new home, the birth of a new child, etc.) within the image. Also for the Johnson
family, towards the mid to late forties, the cards switch to appearing more like
advertisments of the family's year in review. It is likely that Joseph Reynolds Jr.
and Josep of Bertha and Joseph Reynolds are the same man, since the cards with
Bertha's name on them begin appearing not only on the same page but within subsequent
years of the Joseph Reynolds Jr. ones.
Box 1, Volume 2
Travels through India and Afghanistan 1926
Physical Description: 1 volume (64 pages); 31 cm x 26.5
cm.
Photographs of men and women in India and Afghanistan, photographs of journey through
Khyber Pass and at border between India and Afghanistan, news clippings about "The
North West Frontier" and the Khyber Pass, map of the journey through "The North West
Frontier" (India and Afghanistan) (1926). Majority of the photographs appear to be of
individuals Mrs. Osborne met on her travels in Peshawar. Some of the news articles are
dated from 1-2 years after Mrs. Osborne's journey through India and Afghanistan, and
are about the areas she traveled through. Although this scrapbook contains few letters
and programs, they are largely correspondence related to events in Peshawar, like a
hospital visit. Despite there being no exact dates on many of the photographs, it is
likely to assume that, since those with information are dated 1926, that is the year
in which the collected content occurred.
Box 2, Volume 1
Travels through India and Pakistan 1925 - 1934
Physical Description: 1 volume (76 pages); 35.75 cm x
25.5 cm.
Personal photographs of individuals met in India, personal correspondence, small
watercolor, RSVPs and invitations to dinner events in India with British government
officials, calling card collection, and long list of signatures, presumably from
people met on travels. Extensive travel log (1925 - 1930). Most of the locations
represented in this scrapbook are in India, Iraq, and Pakistan; however, choice
sketches and images are also included from Italy and Paris, France, as well as New
York and Boston. Other types of content in this scrapbook are signatures across many
of the pages, likely from individuals Mrs. Osborne met on her travels, although exact
origins are unclear.
Box 2, Volume 2
Travels through Switzerland and Hudson Bay 1908 - 1934
Physical Description: 1 volume (75 pages); 39.5 cm x
28.5 cm.
Loose leaf atlas with handwritten addition of all travels, routes taken, and dates of
journey for travels in Switzerland (1910 - 1932). Map of Labrador and Newfoundland
with images from said travels, including Hudson Bay trading station, St. Anthony, and
Laura Young (relation unknown) with artwork made in style of indigenous community in
Hudson Bay. Brochure for Art Week Boston (April 9 - 14, 1934) as well as a lecture on
domestic arts (spoons, utensils, etc.). Programs from Miss. Sacker's school (1931),
and International Federation of University Women (April 10, 1931). Only one letter is
in this scrapbook, written from Charles Moore to a Mr. Moore of unknown first name.
There is also a newspaper clipping with biographical information on Mrs. Osborne,
specifically, her relation to Miss. Sacker's school.
Series 2: Religious texts undated
Box 3, Volume 1