John D. Whiting
A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress
Prepared by Laura J. Kells
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.
2006
Contact information:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division,
2008
Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms008123
Title: John D. Whiting Papers
Span Dates: 1890-1970
Bulk Dates: (bulk 1904-1964) ID No.: MSS85237 Creator:
Whiting, John D. (John
David), 1882-1951 Extent: 900 items;
18 containers;
7.8 linear feet
Language: Collection material in
English
Repository:
Manuscript Division, Library of
Congress,
Washington, D.C. Abstract: Businessman,
photographer, author, tour guide, and intelligence officer. Correspondence,
diaries, photographs, notebooks, reports, printed matter, and other papers
pertaining to Whiting’s life as a prominent member of the American Colony in
Jerusalem.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person
or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed
alphabetically therein.
Personal Names Spafford,
Anna T., 1842-1923. Spafford,
Jacob. Vester,
Bertha Spafford, 1878-1968. Whiting
family. Whiting,
Alice Brauch. Whiting,
Edmund Wilson. Whiting,
Grace Spafford. Whiting,
John D. (John David), 1882-1951
Organizations American
Colony (Jerusalem) American
Colony (Jerusalem). Photo Dept.
Fr.
Vester & Co. Great
Britain. Army--Intelligence
specialists.
Subjects Americans--Jerusalem. Arab-Israeli
conflict--1948-1967. Christian
communities--Jerusalem. Communal
living--Jerusalem. Diplomatic and consular
service, American--Jerusalem. Historic sites--Middle
East. Industries--Middle
East. Industries--Palestine. Locusts--Middle
East. Missionaries--Jerusalem. Missionaries--United
States. National
geographic magazine. Photography--Middle
East. World War,
1914-1918--Jerusalem. World War,
1914-1918--Military intelligence--Great Britain.
Locations Hezekiah's
Tunnel (Jerusalem) Jerusalem--Commerce. Jerusalem--History--Siege, 701 B.C. Jerusalem--History. Middle
East--Antiquities. Middle
East--Commerce. Middle
East--Description and travel. Middle
East--History. Palestine--Commerce. Palestine--Foreign relations--United States. Palestine--History. United
States--Foreign relations--Palestine.
Occupations Authors. Businessmen. Intelligence
officers. Photographers. Tour
guides.
Provenance: he papers of John D. Whiting, businessman, photographer, author, tour
guide, and intelligence officer, were given to the Library of Congress by Wendy
Whiting Blome and John F. Whiting in 2005-2006.
Processing History:The papers of John D. Whiting were arranged and described in 2006. The
register was revised in 2008.
Transfers:Some photographs have been transferred to the Library’s Prints and
Photographs Division where they are identified as part of these papers.
Copyright Status: Copyright in the unpublished writings of John D. Whiting in these
papers and in other collections in the custody of the Library of Congress is
reserved. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division for further
information.
Restrictions:Restrictions apply governing the use, photoduplication, or publication
of items in this collection. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript
Division concerning these restrictions.
Preferred Citation:Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the
following information: Container number, John D. Whiting Papers, Manuscript
Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Date |
Event |
1882, June 10 |
Born, Jerusalem, Palestine (Ottoman Empire) |
1903-1904 |
Salesman and bookkeeper, Wingrave and MacNaughton Co.,
Chicago, Ill.
|
1904-1948 |
Partner and business manager, Fr. Vester and Co., American
Colony Store, Jerusalem
|
1908-ca. 1915 |
Deputy consul of the United States for Jerusalem |
1909 |
Married Grace Spafford |
1918 |
Undercover intelligence officer, General Headquarters Advance
Field Intelligence, British Army
|
1951, Oct. 3 |
Died, Jerusalem, Israel |
The papers of John David Whiting (1882-1951) span the years 1890-1970,
with the bulk of the material dating from 1904 to 1964. They document his life
and career as a member of the American Colony in Jerusalem, a Christian utopian
community founded in 1881. Whiting, the first child born at the American
Colony, married the daughter of the American Colony leaders, Horatio and Anna
Spafford, and, aside from a few periods abroad, raised a family and resided at
the American Colony until his death. He was a business manager and artifact
dealer with the colony’s enterprise, Fr. Vester and Co., also known as the
American Colony Store. Over the years he guided religious pilgrims,
archaeologists, and other tourists on tours to ancient historic sites in the
Middle East. Whiting was a photographer with the American Colony Photo
Department, and he published articles on the Holy Land and the Middle East in
National Geographic. His intimate knowledge of the region
also led to service as deputy United States consul for Jerusalem and to his
military intelligence work during World War I. The material in this collection
has been arranged into diaries, family correspondence, film catalogs and
caption lists, general correspondence, photographs, subject file, and
miscellany.
Whiting's diaries span the years 1905 to 1941 but do not cover the
entire period. Many focus on Whiting’s travels and provide details of his
guided trips to ancient sites in the Middle East that he conducted throughout
these years. The earliest diaries describe the use of horses and camels for
these excursions and those from the 1930s tell of travel by car and airplane.
His 1912 diary recounts a trip to London where Whiting sold antiquities and
photographs by the American Colony Photo Department. The journal for 1918
focuses on the intelligence work Whiting carried out in the region for the
British Army from September to November. In addition to the daily accounts, the
book contains notes for his intelligence reports. Diaries from the 1930s and
1940 provide the most detail about Whiting’s home life.
The family correspondence section, 1946-1951, n.d., focuses on events
in the lives of the next generation of the Whiting family, but it also
describes the dangerous situation in Jerusalem and its effects on the American
Colony during the last years of Whiting’s life. This correspondence chronicles
the move by Edmund Wilson Whiting, John and Grace Whiting’s youngest son, and
his wife, Alice Brauch Whiting (“Sally”), from the United States to Jerusalem,
to live at the American Colony in August 1947, at what proved to be the
beginning of the Arab-Israeli War. The major portion of the letters are from
Alice to her parents in Iowa describing her life at the American Colony, the
increasing tensions in Jerusalem, the birth and illness of their first child,
and their return to the United States in early 1948. Letters from John and
Grace Whiting describe acts of hostility and terrorism in Jerusalem and John’s
declining health.
Film catalogs and caption lists, 1929-1950, n.d., provide negative
numbers and captions for photographs Whiting took during his trips. Many of
these catalogs and caption lists relate to his “Diaries in Photos” that are
housed in the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division. These albums contain
captioned scenes of Petra, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, and Cappadocia, as well as
shrines, mosques, tombs, and holy or sacred spots in Palestine, Turkey, Syria,
Gaza, Lebanon, and other areas to which he traveled. The “Diaries in Photos”
complement his written diaries of the trips.
In the general correspondence, 1903-1920, n.d., letters sent and
received by Whiting provide details about his personal life and business
enterprises. Arranged chronologically, these letters chronicle two periods
separated by a gap during the years of World War I when the American Colony
received no postal service. Correspondents in the early years include Americans
who had visited the American Colony and lecturers who purchased American Colony
photographs and lantern slides of sites in the Holy Land for their
presentations. Some of Whiting’s letters contain lengthy accounts of his trips.
There is very little correspondence after 1911 until 1918, but a few typed
copies of letters from the United States in 1916 provide accounts of funds
raised to support American Colony relief activities during the war. The largest
group of letters dates from 1919 and documents Whiting’s efforts to reestablish
contact with friends and business contacts. The letters include his lengthy
accounts of wartime conditions and American Colony activities during World War
I. A letter from 17 July 1919 is particularly informative.
A section of photographs includes pictures of family members and
scenes depicting American Colony life and an album documenting the locust
plague of 1915. Another portion of photographs is housed in the Prints and
Photographs Division, including twenty-seven albums depicting family and
American Colony life, events in World War I and the early British Mandate era,
and scenes of the people and places of the Middle East, many of the images
produced by Lewis Larsson, Eric G. Matson, and other American Colony Photograph
Department photographers. Also housed in the Prints and Photographs Division
are Whiting’s “Diaries in Photos” from his travels in the 1930s.
Among the subject files are published volumes of the
National Geographic containing articles by Whiting and
photographs by him and other American Colony photographers as well as his
correspondence with the magazine. Included in material relating to his service
as deputy United States consul for Jerusalem are his reports on industry and
commerce in the region. Grace Spafford Whiting’s commonplace book, “Things To
Be Remembered,” contains lists of deaths of American Colony residents from 1885
to 1962. Many of the entries also include cause of death and place of burial.
Also enclosed in this book is a description by Jacob Spafford, adopted son of
Anna and Horatio Spafford, of his discovery of the inscription in Hezekiah’s
Siloam tunnel as a boy, and John D. Whiting’s curfew pass issued by the
Palestine police in 1936.
The John D. Whiting Papers are closely related to the
American Colony of Jerusalem Papers and the
G. Eric and Edith Matson Collection in the Prints
and Photographs Division.
This collection is arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Container |
Contents |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BOX 1
|
Diaries |
|
BOX 1
|
1905-1918
|
|
(7
folders)
|
|
BOX 1
|
1934-1935
|
|
(4
folders)
|
|
BOX 2
|
1938-1941
|
|
(3
folders)
|
|
BOX 3
|
Family correspondence,
1946-1951, n.d.
|
|
(5
folders)
|
|
BOX 4
|
Film catalogs and caption
lists
|
|
BOX 4
|
Caption lists |
|
BOX 4
|
“Diaries in Photos,”
1934-1939
|
|
BOX 4
|
Miscellaneous,
1934-1935, n.d.
|
|
BOX 4
|
Film catalogs |
|
BOX 4
|
“Kodachrome and contax,”
1929, 1940, 1950
|
|
BOX 4
|
Vol. 1, nos. 1-1900,
1934-1938
|
|
BOX 4
|
Vol. 2, nos. 1901-2664,
1938-1950
|
|
BOX 4
|
General correspondence |
|
BOX 4
|
1903-1909
|
|
(6
folders)
|
|
BOX 5
|
1910-1918
|
|
(10
folders)
|
|
BOX 5
|
1919
|
|
BOX 5
|
Jan.-May
|
|
(4
folders)
|
|
BOX 6
|
June-Dec.
|
|
(6
folders)
|
|
BOX 6
|
1920, 1944, n.d.
|
|
(3
folders)
|
|
BOX 6
|
Photographs |
|
BOX 6
|
American Colony in
Jerusalem
|
|
BOX 6
|
Buildings,
1997, n.d.
|
|
BOX 6
|
Daily life,
1900, 1917-1924, 1934-1935, n.d.
|
|
(2
folders)
|
|
BOX 7
|
Artifacts and antiquities,
undated
|
|
BOX 7
|
Bedouin, Arab, Turkish life,
1933, n.d.
|
|
BOX 7
|
Family
For additional material see Container 6, Daily
life |
|
BOX 7
|
Lind, Anna Grace Vester
(niece),
1922, n.d.
|
|
BOX 7
|
Spafford, Anna (mother-in-law),
ca. 1910, n.d.
|
|
BOX 7
|
Spafford, Jacob,
undated
|
|
BOX 7
|
Vester, Bertha Spafford
(sister-in-law),
1937, 1949, n.d.
|
|
BOX 7
|
Whiting, David (son),
1935, 1965, n.d.
|
|
BOX 7
|
Whiting, Edmund Wilson
(son)
|
|
BOX 7
|
Miscellaneous,
undated
|
|
BOX 7
|
World War II, Royal Canadian
Air Force
|
|
BOX 7
|
India and Tibet,
1945, n.d.
|
|
BOX 7
|
Miscellaneous,
1945, n.d.
|
|
BOX 7
|
Whiting, Grace Spafford (wife),
1911, 1958-1964, n.d.
|
|
BOX 7
|
Whiting, John D.,
1911, 1923, n.d.
|
|
BOX 7
|
Guided trips and other travel,
1934-1935, n.d.
|
|
(2
folders)
|
|
BOX 8
|
Locust plague album, photographs
by Lewis Larsson,
1915
|
|
BOX 9
|
Miscellaneous,
1938, 1964, n.d.
|
|
BOX 9
|
Municipal elections, Jerusalem,
Palestine,
1934
|
|
BOX 9
|
Portraits,
1909, 1957, n.d.
|
|
BOX 9
|
Religious groups,
1890, 1928?, n.d.
|
|
BOX 9
|
Samuel, Herbert Louis |
|
BOX 9
|
At signing ceremony,
undated
|
|
BOX 9
|
With Edmund Henry Hynman
Allenby and Emir Abdullah Ibn Hussein,
undated
|
|
BOX 9
|
Tel Aviv, Palestine,
1936-1938
|
|
BOX 9
|
Wartime scenes,
ca. 1918, 1945, n.d.
|
|
BOX 9
|
Weddings,
1949, n.d.
|
|
BOX 9
|
Subject file |
|
BOX 9
|
Military Intelligence work,
1918-1919, n.d.
For additional material see Container 1,
1918 |
|
BOX 9
|
National Geographic |
|
BOX 9
|
Correspondence,
1910-1911, 1918-1919
|
|
BOX 9
|
Published vols. |
|
BOX 9
|
1913
|
|
BOX 10
|
1914
|
|
BOX 10
|
1915
|
|
(1
vol.)
|
BOX 11
|
(1
vol.)
|
|
BOX 11
|
1917-1918
|
|
(2
vols.)
|
|
BOX 12
|
1920, 1926
|
|
(2
vols.)
|
|
BOX 13
|
1927-1929
|
|
(2
vols.)
|
|
BOX 14
|
1935-1937
|
|
(2
vols.)
|
|
BOX 15
|
1938-1939
|
|
(3
vols.)
|
|
BOX 16
|
1940
|
|
BOX 16
|
Pro-Jerusalem Society,
1919-1920, n.d.
|
|
BOX 16
|
United States Consulate,
Jerusalem
|
|
BOX 16
|
Appointment as deputy consul,
1908
|
|
BOX 16
|
Consular reports,
1909-1915, n.d.
|
|
(3
folders)
|
|
BOX 16
|
Miscellany,
1908-1910, n.d.
|
|
BOX 17
|
Whiting, Grace
Spafford
|
|
BOX 17
|
Charms and amulets |
|
BOX 17
|
Article |
|
BOX 17
|
Correspondence,
1960-1961
|
|
BOX 17
|
Texts,
1961, n.d.
|
|
BOX 17
|
Catalog and notes,
undated
|
|
BOX 17
|
Miscellany,
undated
|
|
BOX 17
|
Miscellany,
1924-1928, 1938, 1960
|
|
BOX 17
|
“Things to Be Remembered,”
commonplace book,
1925-1963, n.d.
|
|
(2
folders)
|
|
BOX 17
|
Miscellany |
|
BOX 17
|
Financial papers,
1916-1919, 1944, n.d.
|
|
BOX 17
|
Letter asking for independence of
Arabs, in Turkish, photostatic copy,
undated
|
|
BOX 17
|
Lists, minutes, and notes,
1912-1913, 1919-1922, n.d.
|
|
BOX 17
|
Memorabilia,
1921, 1928, n.d.
|
|
BOX 17
|
Printed matter,
1919, 1962-1970
|
|
BOX 18
|
Souvenir album, photographs and
flowers of the Holy Land,
undated
|
|