Guide to the Jeanne Victor Hugo Carruthers Papers

Jeanne Victor Hugo was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on February 21, 1904; she first joined the Presbyterian church in 1915. She received a BA in home economics from Macalester College in 1926 and attended Columbia during 1928-29; in 1954 she received her MA from Cornell University. She married Lyman Bruce Carruthers, a surgeon, in 1929, and in 1931 both applied to the Board of Foreign Missions requesting to be sent to India. In August of that year they arrived at Miraj Hospital Centre in western India; they would remain there until 1954. Dr. Carruthers worked as a surgeon, hospital administrator, and dean of the medical school. Jeanne Carruthers, who had no background in medicine and no formal training in education, spent her time at Miraj visiting patients, helping to organize social activities for students and hospital staff, and raising her three children. In 1953 she took charge of the school's audiovisual program. The Carruthers retired in 1954 due to Dr. Carruthers' failing health and returned to the United States. He died in 1957.

In the period 1958 to 1970 Jeanne Carruthers served as Secretary for the Fine Arts of the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA) and also of the Division of Overseas Ministries of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. In 1961 she become the first secretary of the UPCUSA's newly created Office of Fine Arts whose focus was to make a breach in the wall of misunderstanding that exists today between the world of the church and the world of the arts. In the 1960s Carruthers produced a number of dramas at the Commission-owned Barn Playhouse at the Church Conference Center in Stony Point, New York, a site which hosted summer repertory theater and workshops in religious dramas. From 1971 to 1976, Mrs. Carruthers worked as a volunteer in Mexico where she co-founded, with Oscar Rodriquez, the International Christian Center for the Arts. She believed that any art form with integrity has relevance to the world.

In 1977, Carruthers returned to the United States, taking up residence in Westminster Gardens, a retirement community in Duarte, California. During this time she assisted with the establishment of the first International Christian Center for the Arts in the United States which was headquartered in the Pasadena Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, California. Serving southern California, this center provided materials for programs, exhibits, and references for groups and individuals.

Jeanne Carruthers died in 1996.