Dyer, Dr. Lora Genevieve (1880-1969)
Very Large Archive including Journals, Letters, Photographs, and More.

Massachusetts 1899-1903; New England 1904-1907; Atlanta 1908-1910; Women's Medical College, Philadelphia 1910-1914; New England Hospital Boston Intern 1914-1915; New York 1915 (missionary training); Foochow, China January 1, 1916-July 1, 1922; New York 1922-1923; Foochow, China 1923-1948; Davao City; Philippine Islands 1950-1954.

Including:

Approximately 200 letters by LGD written to her mother, Mary Marie Antoinette Ford Dyer (1852-1931), during her time as an undergraduate at Smith College, through her early teaching career, job as secretary to the president of Atlanta University, covering her time at medical school in Philadelphia, and her internship at New England Hospital in Boston, 1899-1915.

2 1/2 linear feet of diaries spanning more than 50 years of LGD's life, beginning circa 1897 while she was a teenager, and extending through the 1950s; with college notebooks, several commonplace books, and a large scrapbook containing ephemera related to her attendance and graduation at Northampton public schools and high school in 1897, through her time at Smith, including her 1903 graduation, and continuing on to 1909. She literally kept everything.

Approximately 175 letters written 1923-1940 from Foochow to family at home addressed to Dr. Dyer's aunt and namesake, her mother's younger sister, Lora Genevieve "Jennie" Ford Taylor (1854-1940), [in the 1900 census, LGD and her younger brother Fred, both older teens, are listed as living with 45 year-old Aunt Jennie, a widow].

Approximately 150 autograph letters signed by Dyer written to her mother during her time abroad, 1916-1947, most with envelopes.

Approximately 200 typed letters signed addressed to family at home whilst overseas, 1916-1950.

One linear foot of photographs beginning with family albums, and proceeding through LGD's young adulthood stateside, with a majority of images from her time as a missionary, including group shots of medical colleagues, and dozens of portraits of Chinese patients and colleagues, views of China, formal portraits of LGD, three of her passports, and one passport belonging to her friend and colleague Hazel Atwood (1891-1965).

Smith College Class Books 1902-1904 (two copies of the 1903 book).

Box of Chinese ephemera collected and presented to LGD.

LGD's medical diploma and a small collection of painted and calligraphic Chinese scrolls she collected.

Several printed books used by LGD, along with a collection of pamphlets printed in Foochow detailing the work of the mission and hospital there, including issues of the Foochow Messenger, (33 issues, 1915-1940); Loose Leaves from Missionaries Diaries, Foochow, (eight issues, 1917-1924); [and] approximately 10 other related pamphlets from the same city and period.

[Together with] A collection of letters related to other Dyer family members, including her mother, niece, and brother.

"All hearts are rejoiced at the coming of Dr. Lora Dyer to undertake the woman's medical work so long conducted by Dr. Kate Woodhull, and since the days of her active service ceased, left without any woman physician in charge. Dr. Dyer says, 'Foochow has given me a very pleasant surprise. I must own I was not prepared for half of the nice things I have found here.' Her year has been spent largely in language study and learning the people in the field, so that when she is once in command of the language she may be able to inaugurate constructive work. We are hoping the near future will see the woman's hospital erected, funds being in hand for the purpose." (Quoted from the Forty-ninth Annual Report of the Woman's Board of Missions, Boston: Insurance Press, 1916.)

"Miss Lora Genevieve Dyer, M.D., graduate of Smith and of the Woman's Medical College, Philadelphia, came by the Shinyo Maru, and after a trip overland and a brief visit at Kobe, continued by the same boat, on her way to take the place of Miss Kate C. Woodhull, M.D., in the Foochow Hospital of our Foochow Mission. Between her collegiate and medical courses she taught two years at Atlanta University." (Quoted from Mission News, with Especial Reference to the Work of the American Board in Japan, Vol. XIX, Kobe Japan, March 15, 1916, see page 124.)

Among Dr. Dyer's extensive papers is a short curriculum vitae that she wrote herself which ends circa 1926. LGD graduated from Northampton High School in 1897. She taught for two years in Plainfield, MA and then entered Smith College in 1889. She graduated in the science course in 1903. She then taught high school for two years in South Manchester, CT, and although she accepted a fellowship at Smith, the resignation of Mary E. Byrd scuttled that plan. She resumed teaching as a substitute at Springfield, MA Polytechnic and taught French and German at the Arms Academy in Shelburne Falls, MA. Her Aunt Sophie broke her ankle some time circa 1907, and she went to nurse her for a few months, during which time she studied shorthand and stenography and worked for an attorney. This led to a job as private secretary to the president of Atlanta University in Georgia, where she lived from 1908 until 1910. Dyer entered the Woman's Medical College in Philadelphia in 1910, and graduated in 1914. After graduation she served as an intern for general training (medical and surgical) at the New England Hospital in Boston. In 1915 she joined the missionary service, and received training in New York City. She departed for Foochow China, before the hospital there had been built, on January 1, 1916. She traveled through Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Los Angeles to San Francisco, where she sailed on the S.S. Shinyo Maru. They traveled by way of Honolulu, Manila, Yokohama, Kobe, Tokyo and Shanghai, finally arriving in Foochow, China on March 14, 1916. This expansive archive documents LGD's life and career from her teen years at high school through the 1950s in great detail. The majority of the material dates from 1916-the late 1930s. LGD lost her mother in 1931 and although she continued to write to her aunt and nieces, the letters decline in frequency, especially in late the 1930s. In the prime years, she wrote home faithfully, often sending long letters once a week. Her proud family meticulously kept hundreds and hundreds of her letters and effects for generations.

Condition
For inquiries about condition, please contact:
Devon Eastland, Senior Specialist: deastland@swanngalleries.com
Grace Meschery-McCormack, Cataloguer: gmccormack@swanngalleries.com