File pertains to 26 hand-written letters written by Catharine Robb Whyte to her mother, Edith Morse Robb from May 20 to July 30, 1934. Topics include travelling around China, sight-seeing, arriving in Peking and details of their trip there by river boat and train [also includes details of the city …
2.1 cm of textual records (150 pages ; 21.4 x 27.8 cm or smaller)
History / Biographical
See fonds level description.
Scope & Content
File pertains to 26 hand-written letters written by Catharine Robb Whyte to her mother, Edith Morse Robb from May 20 to July 30, 1934. Topics include travelling around China, sight-seeing, arriving in Peking and details of their trip there by river boat and train [also includes details of the city itself], comments on the presence of Japanese soldiers in China, descriptions of the countryside [specifically farms], conversations with other travellers, weather, local foods, comparisons between Japan and China, descriptions of the hotels they stay in, different modes of transportation [busses, rickshaws, carriages, and the like], children, local fashions, temples, photography, visiting the Forbidden City [unclear if they actually went into the City], sketching, shops and shopping, their local guides, politics and world affairs [as they apply to China], various holidays [mostly North American], meeting up with D'Arcy Baker-Carr, visiting the Great Wall of China, travelling to Shanghai by train in early June, going to Hong Kong by ship, Catharine's 29th birthday [celebrated aboard ship], other travellers and sights from the water, books and magazines [also occasionally newspapers] that Pete and Catharine are reading, exploring Hong Kong [the city itself as well as the island] during their 10-day stay, people and events in Concord, leaving Hong Kong for Bali at the end of June, observations about the ship and the passengers, travel conditions, descriptions of other boats, short visits on land when their ship docked along the route, arriving in Bali and exploring the area, local people and wildlife, walking along the beaches, meeting with friends from Canada, and preparing for the next leg of their trip.
Notes
Please note: language and attitudes pertaining to Asian people [especially Chinese and Japanese] used throughout is outdated offensive.
Most letters are written on hotel/ship letterhead.
Most letters have been numbered in red pencil in the upper margin for an unknown project.
Some letters are marked with a small x in pencil, indicating where Jon Whyte made notes for use in his project "Catharine Robb Whyte, Peter Whyte: Commemorative Portfolio," originally published in 1981.
95 - 03 page 4 contains a sketch of a cross-bow.
95 - 07 appears to be missing the last page[s].
95 - 14 page 2 contains sketches in pencil of a Chinese ship and a woman with a child on her back.
95 - 25 appears to be missing the last page[s].