San Fran Letter to Bowne (August 20, 1890)

Item Information

Title:
San Fran Letter to Bowne (August 20, 1890)
Description:
This is a letter from an unidentified author (the handwriting is illegible) to Jacob T. Bowne. It was written on August 26, 1896, and the stationary is from the San Francisco Young Men’s Christian Association. The letter endorses Genzaburo Ishikawa, who was applying to the School for Christian Workers (now known as Springfield College).
Date:
August 20, 1890
Format:
Documents
Location:
Springfield College Archives and Special Collections
Collection (local):
College Archives Digital Collections
Series:
Student Files
Subjects:
Springfield College
School for Christian Workers (Springfield, Mass.)
Springfield College--Alumni and alumnae
Springfield College--Faculty
Springfield College--International
Ishikawa, Samuro Genzaburo
Bowne, J. T. (Jacob Titus), 1847-1925
Correspondence
Places:
Massachusetts > Hampden (county) > Springfield
Link to Item:
http://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15370coll2/id/8051
Terms of Use:
Text and images are owned, held, or licensed by Springfield College and are available for personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that ownership is properly cited. A credit line is required and should read: Courtesy of Springfield College, Babson Library, Archives and Special Collections. Any commercial use without written permission from Springfield College is strictly prohibited. Other individuals or entities other than, and in addition to, Springfield College may also own copyrights and other propriety rights. The publishing, exhibiting, or broadcasting party assumes all responsibility for clearing reproduction rights and for any infringement of United States copyright law.
Contact host institution for more information.
Publisher:
Springfield College
Language:
English
Notes:
Jacob Titus Bowne came to the School for Christian Workers (now Springfield College) in 1885 to head the YMCA Secretarial Department. Bowne was the first head of the department, which trained young men for work as executives at YMCAs in the United States and around the world. Bowne is known as the “father of professional education” in the YMCA and worked at Springfield College until his retirement in 1925. While at the college, Bowne played an integral role in the building of Marsh Memorial Library and became the school’s first librarian. An avid collector and the YMCA’s first archivist, Bowne’s YMCA materials form the basis for the YMCA archives housed at the University of Minnesota. Bowne died shortly after his retirement in 1925 at the age of 78. Genzaburo Ishikawa (July 27, 1866 - December 7, 1956) was born in Tatebayashi, Gunma-prefecture, Japan. When he was only two years old, his father died. In 1876, he moved to Tokyo, where his mother had been born. On September 30, 1886, he left Japan and entered the Westminster Prep School in San Francisco. Three years later, he entered the Pacific Theological Seminary in San Francisco. The following March, he moved to Massachusetts and entered the Mount Hermon Prep School. That September, he enrolled at Springfield College. In 1891, he was one of the original 18 students to play in the first game of basketball created by Dr. James Naismith. Most famously, he is credited with a drawing of the first game of basketball that appeared in the 1892 Triangle edition that announced the game to the world. In 1892, he graduated from Springfield College and became a director of the San Francisco YMCA. He stayed in this position for five years, at which point he left to enter the University of Wisconsin (Madison). In 1899, he submitted his master’s degree thesis. In 1901, he submitted his doctoral degree thesis and returned to Tokyo with Mary MacRea, whom he married that August. In 1903, he began working at the Mitsui Products Company, Ltd. In Tokyo. Five years later, he was promoted to general manager of the company’s branch in Hamburg, Germany. On April 4, 1906, his first child, Akemi, was born. By 1917, Ishikawa was having a hard time in Hamburg due to World War I, so he returned to Tokyo. However, his wife and daughter moved to Alexandria, Canada, and never again returned to Japan. In 1918, he left the Mitsui Products Company, Ltd. In 1923, he became a representative of the International Wireless Telephone Co., Ltd., in Tokyo. The following year, he became a member of the board of the directors of the NHK in Tokyo. In 1934, he joined the Board of Trustees of the NHK in Tokyo.
Identifier:
san-fran-letter-to-bowne-1890-08-20