Scope and Contents
Collection consists primarily of travel diaries, notes, correspondence and ephemera related to research about shrines and religious ceremonies. The bulk of the materials are about Japan during the time period of 1909-1923. Materials are written in English, Japanese and/or Chinese.
Series I: Shinto Religion consists of information on Shinto deities, festivals, practices, myths and legends.
Series II: Shinto Shrines is divided into subseries and organized alphabetically within each subseries. Subseries A includes lists and descriptions of shrines and pilgrimages. Subseries B-D are seperated by the rank and class of the shrines while Subseries E: consists of only Hero Worship Shrines. Subseries B-E include festival, deity, ceremonial and historical information about individual shrines. Oversize maps, guides and other writings regarding specific shrines are listed together in the finding aid, but may be stored in separate boxes for preservation purposes.
Series III: Diaries and Field Notes,1912-1919 contains research on shrines, life in Asia, and religious ceremonies.
Series IV: Lexicons consists of handwritten thesaurus/dictionary type entries of words and phrases.
Series V: Correspondence, 1910-1921, is organized by date and includes both incoming and outgoing correspondence. The letters are personal, professional, and financial in nature. Information included in the correspondence describes Eastern Asia, religious shrines, art collecting and research relating to manuscripts Getrude Bass Warner was writing.
Series VI: Research and Miscellaneous contains information on Japan, China, festivals, worship, manners, customs, research notes, and the University of Oregon. Included here is the manuscript “When East Meets West,” by Gertrude Bass Warner.
Dates
- 1909-1923
Creator
- Warner, Gertrude Bass, 1863-1951 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries. Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs. All requests for permission to publish collection materials must be submitted to Special Collections and University Archives. The reader must also obtain permission of the copyright holder.
Biographical / Historical
Gertrude Bass Warner was born May 14, 1863 in Chicago, Illinois to prosperous parents. Warner was educated at fashionable schools in Philadelphia and in Paris. In 1888 she married Dr. George F. Fiske of Chicago and bore three children: Sam, George, and Clara, who died as an infant in 1893. The couple divorced, George staying with his father while Gertrude raised Sam.
At the turn of the century, Asia experienced much political and military turmoil and was forcibly influenced by European cultures. In 1904 Gertrude accompanied her journalist brother, John Foster Bass, to Japan during the Russo-Japanese war. The following year John sent her to Shanghai for safety, recommending an acquaintance with his friend Maj. Murray Warner (1869-1920). Gertrude and Murray were married in 1905 and took up residence in Shanghai until 1909.
Mrs. Warner continued her travels, exploring China, Japan, Korea and Cambodia while based in Shanghai. She was an appreciative witness to many religious and cultural traditions that were destroyed in later wars. She experienced political unrest and military conflicts that complicated her travels. She photographed as she traveled, purchased images and collected artifacts, books and photographs.
Following Murray’s death in 1920, Gertrude moved to Eugene to live near her son who was a professor of law at the University of Oregon. For the next thirty-one years, Gertrude Bass Warner worked to build a campus museum that would house the extensive collection of Asian art she brought back from her travels. In addition, Ms. Warner helped establish one of the first Asian studies departments at the University of Oregon. Assisted by Maude Kerns and Mabel Klockars Garner, Warner continued her collecting trips and managed the museum through the Great Depression and political battles on campus.
Mrs. Warner was an active supporter of the United Nations and a member of many organizations related to Asian studies and art. She was indefatigable in support of multiculturalism. Gertrude Bass Warner died in 1951 at the family home in Peterborough, NH.
Extent
4.5 linear feet (13 containers) : 11 manuscript boxes, 1 small box, 1 flat box
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Collection consists primarily of travel diaries, notes, correspondence and ephemera related to research about shrines and religious ceremonies for several manuscripts that Gertrude Bass Warner (1863-1951) was working on. There is also correspondence about pieces of art that she and her husband were collecting to bring back to the United States for a museum exhibit. The bulk of the materials are about Japan during the time period of 1909-1923. Ms. Warner was the founder and director emeritus of the University of Oregon Fine Art Museum.
Arrangement
Collection is organized into the following series:
Series I: Shinto Religion
Series II: Shinto Shrines
Subseries A: Lists of Shrines and Descriptions of Shrine Pilgrimages
Subseries B: Shrines of 1st Rank, 1st Class
Subseries C: Shrines of 1st Rank, 2nd Class
Subseries D: Shrines of 1st Rank, 3rd Class
Subseries E: Hero Worship Shrines
Series III: Diaries and Field Notes
Series IV: Lexicons
Series V: Correspondence
Series VI: Research and Miscellaneous
Existence and Location of Copies
Collection is available online in the the Gertrude Bass Warner papers, 1909-1923 in Oregon Digital.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Dick Yates in 2003-2004; Amanda Steele, and Tanya Parlet in 2011.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
- Architectural drawings Subject Source: TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms
- Architecture Subject Source: Archiveswest
- Manuscripts (documents) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Maps Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Photographs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Warner, Gertrude Bass, 1863-1951
- Warner, Gertrude Bass, 1863-1951
- Warner, Murray, 1869-1920
- Title
- Guide to the Gertrude Bass Warner Papers
- Status
- Complete Description
- Author
- University of Oregon Libraries, Archivists' Toolkit Project Team and Tanya Parlet
- Date
- 2011
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English
Repository Details
Part of the University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives Repository
