Scope and Content Note
The papers of Clara Alma Norton Whitney Kaji (1860-1936) cover the years 1872-1975, with the bulk consisting of diaries, 1873-1887, together with speeches and writings, scattered correspondence, notebooks, account book, clippings, photographs, and scrapbook.
Clara Whitney’s diaries begin during her girlhood in Newark, New Jersey. Starting with the third volume in 1875, they document her travels to and life in Japan, where her father, William C. Whitney, established a business college at the request of the Japanese government. Clara and her mother Anna taught English and encouraged Christianity among the daughters and wives of upper-class Japanese. Clara describes religious observances and rituals, children’s games and parties, theatrical and musical performances, food and drink, Mount Fuji and other scenic places, earthquakes and monsoons, superstitions and folklore, and other aspects of Japanese life and culture. Her insight into the role of Japanese women, the political atmosphere of Meiji Japan, and Japanese efforts at westernization is also reflected in her writings.
Clara fills three diaries during the Whitney’s return to the United States in 1880, describing stops in Hong Kong, Saigon, Singapore, Ceylon, Cairo, Naples, Rome, Florence, Geneva, and Paris, and a prolonged stay in London. There is no volume for 1881, but the 1882 diary finds the Whitney’s retracing their route through Europe to Japan. In August, her father dies in London, and Mrs. Whitney’s health begins to fail. Clara’s grief and religious beliefs are reflected in the diaries as well as her impressions en route. The entries after their arrival in Japan, and especially after Mrs. Whitney’s death in April 1883, are intermittent, and more descriptive of Clara’s state of mind than of her daily activities. The diaries end 1884, although there is an addendum written in 1887 after Clara’s marriage to Kaji Umetarō. Anna Whitney’s diary, 1873, mentions the Japanese students she tutored in Newark, and her “praise book” serves as a journal, 1872-1875, of religious devotions.
The collection includes Clara’s biographical sketch of her mother; her unpublished novel, “The Guide of Her Youth”; notebooks containing short stories and articles for children about life in Japan; writings on the family and household of her father-in-law, Katsu Kaishū; school notebooks and household account book; and scrapbook of printed articles. Scattered correspondence, speeches, clippings and photographs complete the collection.
There are also typewritten transcripts filed with many of the writings. Selection from the diaries have been published in Clara’s Diary, an American Girl in Meiji Japan (Tokyo, New York, and San Francisco: 1976 and 1979), edited by M. William Steele and Taniko Ischimata.