Guide to the Annie Dowd Papers
Open for research.
Annie Dowd was born November 6, 1861, in Aberdeen, Mississippi. A graduate of Aberdeen College, Dowd served as a music teacher at Chickasaw Female College from 1886 to 1888. She was appointed in 1887 as a missionary by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (PCUS) Executive Committee of Foreign Missions, and spent the next forty-seven years in Japan. Stationed in Kochi, on the island of Shikoku, Dowd focused her missionary efforts on an industrial school for poor girls that she founded. Officially designated the Carrie McMillan Home, the school was more commonly known as “Miss Dowd’s School for Girls.” The girls were given a place to live and provided with a basic education as well as religious studies and some industrial training. The first Birthday Offering of the PCUS Women’s Auxiliary went to construct new facilities for the home. The buildings would later be destroyed during World War II. After her retirement in 1934, Dowd resided at a home for elderly women in Jackson, Mississippi, until her death on April 23, 1960.
The papers consist of correspondence from Dowd to her mother and sister, 1896-1931; a typescript history of the PCUS Japan Mission, circa 1953; an audiocassette of an oral history interview of Dowd, conducted in 1956, and a transcript of the interview; an oversized book containing Japanese drawings; a photograph album of portraits of Japanese individuals and families; and loose photographs, including images of Annie Dowd, her Japanese friends and students, group photographs of students in Japan and at the Auxiliary Training School, and several Japanese landscapes and buildings.
The papers consist of one series that is arranged according to the type of record.
A wristwatch belonging to Annie Dowd, engraved on back, "A. H. D. 1917," is in the Museum Collection.
Received from Perrin Henderson in 1998.
A preliminary inventory is provided in this guide. Guide revised in 2009 by Jennifer Barr, Archives Intern.
Annie Dowd Papers, RG 430, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
| Box | Folder | Description | |
| 1 | 1 | Correspondence, 1896-1899 | |
| 1 | 2 | Correspondence, 1901-1904 | |
| 1 | 3 | Correspondence, 1905 | |
| 1 | 4 | Correspondence, 1906 | |
| 1 | 5 | Correspondence, 1907-1909 | |
| 1 | 6 | Correspondence, 1912-1913 | |
| 1 | 7 | Correspondence, 1914-1916 | |
| 1 | 8 | Correspondence, 1917-1920 | |
| 1 | 9 | Correspondence, 1922-1923 | |
| 1 | 10 | Correspondence, 1924-1926 | |
| 1 | 11 | Correspondence, 1927-1929 | |
| 1 | 12 | Correspondence, 1930 | |
| 1 | 13 | Correspondence, 1931 | |
| 1 | 14 | Correspondence fragments, undated | |
| 1 | 15 | Annie Dowd calling cards, undated | |
| 1 | 16 | Typescript history of the PCUS Japan Mission, circa 1953 | |
| 1 | 17 | Japanese souvenir booklet, 1925 | |
| 1 | 18 | Oral history audiotape and transcript, “My Experiences in Japan,” by Annie Dowd, recorded 1957 Feb. 6 | |
| 2 | Oversized book containing Japanese drawings, undated | ||
| 3 | Photograph album, 1940 and undated | ||
| 4 | Photographs, 1937-1939 and undated |