Loretta Leonard Shaw
Loretta Leonard Shaw (19 July 1872 – 29 July 1940) was a Canadian Christian missionary in Japan from 1905 to 1939.
Loretta Leonard Shaw | |
|---|---|
Loretta Leonard Shaw, from an 1892 yearbook. | |
| Born | 19 July 1872 Saint John, New Brunswick |
| Died | 29 July 1940 Saint John, New Brunswick |
| Occupation(s) | Educator, missionary |
| Years active | 1895-1940 |
| Known for | Taught in Osaka, Japan, for over thirty years |
Early life edit
Loretta Leonard Shaw was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, one of the eight children of Arthur Neville Shaw and Margaret Elizabeth Hilyard Shaw. Her father was a carriage manufacturer.[1] She studied modern languages and graduated from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton in 1894. She trained as a teacher in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[2]
Career edit
Shaw taught school in the Boston area for a few years after earning her teaching credentials.[3] In 1904, she was accepted as a missionary by Church Missionary Society of the Church of England in Canada,[4] and became a teacher at the Bishop Poole Girls' School in Osaka, Japan,[5][6][7] where she taught from 1905 to 1919, and from 1923 to 1932. She wrote about her work for Canadian church publications, and in a book, Japan in Transition (1922).[8] She was a delegate to the World's Sunday School Convention in Oslo in 1936.[9] She toured in Canada during furlough leaves, speaking on Japan.[10]
Shaw donated hundreds of Japanese objects, including clothing, coins, dolls, toys, and photographs, for display in Canada, and many are now in the collection of the New Brunswick Museum.[11][12] In 1932, she left teaching to work at the Christian Literature Society of Japan, overseeing the publication of books for women and children.[2] In that work, she is credited with bringing Anne of Green Gables to the attention of translator Hanako Muraoka, whose translation Akage no An (1952) became a favorite of Japanese readers for generations.[1][13][14]
Personal life edit
Shaw returned to Canada in 1939, and she died from cancer in 1940, at her sister's home in Saint John, ten days after her 68th birthday.[9][11][15] "She was always keen to strengthen what was weak, right what was wrong," recalled a colleague in 1941. "She was an ideal friend, faithful, true, and understanding, with strong and deep affection."[16]
References edit
- ^ a b Gerson, Carole. "Loretta Leonard Shaw | CWRC/CSEC". Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
- ^ a b Kirkpatrick, Andrea. "Loretta Leonard Shaw". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
- ^ "Cambridge School Board". The Boston Globe. 1897-09-24. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-10-27 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Our Autumn Reinforcements". The Church Missionary Review. 55: 797–798. August 1904.
- ^ Society, Church Missionary (1906). Proceedings of the Church Missionary Society. pp. lxvi.
- ^ Society, Church Missionary (1908). Proceedings of the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East... Church Missionary House. pp. lii.
- ^ "From the Foreign Field: Japan". The Church Missionary Gleaner: 125. August 1, 1906.
- ^ Shaw, Loretta L. (1922). Japan in Transition. Church Missionary Society.
- ^ a b "Last Rites for Former Missionary Held". Times Colonist. 1940-08-22. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-10-27 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Women's Club Hears Talk on Japan". The Winnipeg Tribune. 1931-03-23. p. 9. Retrieved 2020-10-27 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Progress and Permanence: Women and the New Brunswick Museum, 1880-1980: Loretta Leonard Shaw". New Brunswick Museum. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
- ^ Huskins, Bonnie (2009). "Review of Progress and Permanence: Women and the New Brunswick Museum: 1880–1980". The Public Historian. 31 (1): 129–136. doi:10.1525/tph.2009.31.1.129. ISSN 0272-3433. JSTOR 10.1525/tph.2009.31.1.129.
- ^ Arita, Eriko (2009-01-18). "Of orphans and granddaughters". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
- ^ Gammel, Irene; Lefebvre, Benjamin (2010-06-19). Anne's World: A New Century of Anne of Green Gables. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-9869-7.
- ^ "Miss Loretta L. Shaw Dies". The Gazette. 1940-07-30. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-10-27 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Missionary Obituaries: Miss Loretta L. Shaw". The Japan Christian Year-Book. 39: 324–325. 1941 – via Internet Archive.