Anna Cope Hartshorne (January 8, 1860 – October 2, 1957) was an American educator and writer based in Japan. A member of a prominent Philadelphia

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

family, she was a founder and faculty member of

Tsuda University is a private women's university based at Kodaira, Tokyo. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious higher educational institutions for women in Japan, contributing to the advancement of women in society for more than a century. History The ...

, with her close friend

Tsuda Umeko was a Japanese educator who founded Tsuda University. She was the daughter of Tsuda Sen, an agricultural scientist, and at the age of 7, she became Japan's first female exchange student, traveling to the U.S. on the same ship as the Iwakura ...

Early life and education

Anna Cope Hartshorne was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Henry Hartshorne and Mary Elizabeth Brown Hartshorne. Philosopher

Charles Hartshorne Charles Hartshorne (; June 5, 1897 – October 9, 2000) was an American philosopher who concentrated primarily on the philosophy of religion and metaphysics, but also contributed to ornithology. He developed the neoclassical idea of God and ...

and geographer

Richard Hartshorne Richard Hartshorne (; December 12, 1899 – November 5, 1992) was a prominent American geographer, and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who specialized in economic and political geography and the philosophy of geography. He is ...

were her cousins. Her father, a Quaker physician, was an advocate for public health and women's higher education, and a medical missionary in Japan. She attended

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

, where she and Tsuda Umeko became friends.

Career

Hartshorne taught English literature at the Friends' School in Tokyo in the 1890s. She helped raise funds to open the Joshi Eigaku Juku (Women's Institute of English Studies) in 1900, which was forerunner of Tsuda University. She taught at the Tsuda school from 1902 until 1940, as a volunteer. When the

1923 Great Kantō earthquake The 1923 Great Kantō earthquake (, or ) was a major earthquake that struck the Kantō Plain on the main Japanese island of Honshu at 11:58:32 JST (02:58:32 UTC) on Saturday, 1 September 1923. It had an approximate magnitude of 8.0 on the mom ...

destroyed the school's campus, she toured in the United States to raise money to rebuild it, and oversaw the rebuilding after Tsuda Umeko's death in 1930. In 1931 she made another tour in the United States, to thank donors, raise more funds, and report on the school's progress. She reported on the school's reopening on another visit to the United States in 1937. Hartshorne wrote ''Japan and Her People'' (1902, 2 vol.) and ''A Reading Journey Through Japan'' (1904). She also designed the American cover of

Nitobe Inazō was a Japanese agronomist, diplomat, political scientist, politician, and writer. He studied at Sapporo Agricultural College under the influence of its first president William S. Clark and later went to the United States to study agricultural ...

's '' Bushido: The Soul of Japan'' (1900).

Personal life

Hartshorne left Japan in 1940, possibly intending to return, but

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

made her return to the United States permanent. She died in Philadelphia in 1957, aged 97 years. The main hall at Tsuda University is named for Hartshorne. Her papers are with her father's and grandfather's papers, in the

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...

library.

References

External links

Photographs of Hartshorne Hall at Tsuda University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartshorne, Anna Cope 1860 births 1957 deaths Bryn Mawr College alumni Educators from Philadelphia American Quakers American expatriates in Japan American women educators American women writers Academic staff of Tsuda University