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Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm2005085237
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of John D. Whiting were given to the Library of Congress by Wendy Whiting Blome and John F. Whiting in 2005-2006. Additions were given by Wendy Whiting Blome and John F. Whiting in 2017 and 2021.
The papers of John D. Whiting were arranged and described in 2006 by Laura J. Kells. The register was revised in 2008. The finding aid was updated in 2023 by Maria Farmer as part of a division-wide remediation project by the Inclusive Description Working Group. An addition was processed in 2023 by Chelsea Liu.
Digital files were received as part of an addition to the John D. Whiting Papers on a USB drive, which was assigned a unique digital ID number. Use the digital ID number to request access copies of the files. A description of the standard processes taken on all born digital records can be found in the Processing History Note: Born Digital Collection Material at https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.digital.
Some photographs and photograph albums have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of the John D. Whiting Papers. Patrons are encouraged to contact the Prints and Photographs Division in advance of a research visit.
Related collections in the Manuscript Division include the American Colony in Jerusalem Collection (see https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms010123) and the papers of G. Eric Matson and Edith Matson (see https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms010210).
Copyright in the unpublished writings of John D. Whiting in these papers and in other collections in the custody of the Library of Congress is reserved.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 apply governing the use, photoduplication, or publication of items in this collection. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division concerning these restrictions.
Digital photographs were created by the donor in August 2021. The photographs are Raw JPEG Streams with .jpg extensions. A reference proof sheet is in Adobe PDF 1.6 format with a .pdf extension. Neither format requires specialized tools to view and can be opened with a standard file viewer.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number or digital ID number, John D. Whiting Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
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 and leader of the American Colony in Jerusalem, a Christian utopian community founded in 1881. Whiting, the first child born at the American Colony, married Grace Spafford, fellow American Colony in Jerusalem member and 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 cultural 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
Whiting's diaries span the years 1905-1941 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, 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 Whiting and Grace Spafford Whiting’s youngest son, and his wife, Alice ("Sally") Brauch Whiting, 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 Whiting and Grace Spafford Whiting describe acts of hostility and terrorism in Jerusalem and John’s declining health.
Film catalogs and caption lists, 1929-1950, 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 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, 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
The 2023 Addition is primarily comprised of forty watercolor paintings of flowers of the Holy Land made between 1940 and 1955 by Grace Spafford Whiting, teacher, artist, social welfare advocate, and American Colony in Jerusalem member. Fifteen paintings were previously mounted for exhibit and annotated with plate numbers. Digital photographs of all forty paintings created by the donor are included in the collection. The photographs do not capture the illustrations and notations on both sides of the paintings and are only provided for reference purposes.
This collection is arranged alphabetically by type of material, followed by an addition.
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm2005085237