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Julia Brooks Spaulding correspondence

 Collection
Identifier: MS 0735

Scope and Contents

Most of the correspondence in this collection consists of copies of four long, detailed letters to her family that Spaulding wrote in June, July and October 1832. The letters concern her experiences and activities as a missionary in the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii). She describes a severe attack of "billious colic" that she suffered during and after the voyage to the Islands. She also discusses living arrangements, provisions, the meeting house at the missionary station, her efforts to learn the language, her husband's work as a teacher in a school for men, and punishments administered for the use of "ardent spirits." The letters are copied into a bound notebook, circa late 1890s or early 1900s.

A fifth letter, in its original form, is addressed to her nephew and briefly reflects on her fond memory of Mary Lyon as an instructor. The letter, written on November 23, 1897, references Mount Holyoke's Jubilee.

The collection also contains photocopies of the correspondence.

Dates

  • Creation: 1832, 1897

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical Note

Julia Brooks was born in Buckland, Massachusetts. She attended Ipswich Female Seminary during Mary Lyon's tenure as a teacher and graduated in 1830. She married the Reverend Ephraim Spaulding, and in 1832 the two traveled to a mission in Lahaina in the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii). Her exact dates of birth and death are unknown, although a biographical note attached to her corespondence indicates that she died at the age of either 97 or 98 at her daughter's house in Evanston, Illinois.

Extent

0.21 Linear Feet (1 half Hollinger box)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Spaulding, Julia Brooks; missionary. Ipswich Female Seminary graduate, 1830. Papers consist of correspondence chiefly describing her activities as a missionary in the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) in 1832. Also includes an 1897 letter containing a recollection of Mary Lyon.

Arrangement

Chronological.

Title
Spaulding correspondence, 1832, 1897.
Subtitle
Finding Aid
Status
Edited Full Draft
Date
© 2003
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English
Sponsor
Encoding funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Repository Details

Part of the Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
50 College Street
8 Dwight Hall
South Hadley MA 01075-6425 USA
413-538-3079