Photo Record
Images
Metadata
Object Identification Number |
1986.050.026 |
Object Name |
Print, photographic |
Donor |
Edwards, Delbert |
Description |
Black and white photograph of an interior living room. There is a decorated Christmas tree on a round dark wooden table in the back viewer left corner of the room; each wall has a picture hung above it. Another wooden table stands in front of it, holding a lamp and picture frame; there are light-colored drapes on the wall behind it. To the viewer right side of the photograph sits a floral-print couch with a cushion reading "OBERLIN" on it. A wooden chair sits on the viewer left side of the room. The photograph has a white border. The back reads "Christmas 1921 - Our / first little Christmas tree". It is also stamped with "FINISHED BY / H. S. STOVALL / NEWTON, KANSAS. / Let us do your Kodak finishing / Price list on request." The photograph likely came from albums 1986.050.001 - .005. |
Print Size |
5.75 x 3.375 |
Creation Date |
Christmas 1921 |
Place of Creation |
India |
Associated People |
Edwards, Delbert Blair, Mette K. |
Search Terms |
Edwards, Delbert Blair, Mette K. Christmas Christmas tree Oberlin |
Provenance |
The photograph is identified as "Christmas 1921 - Our first little Christmas tree." Although no other details are given, it is possible the photograph was taken during Mette K. Blair's first year in India with the Lutheran Missionary Service. ----- Mette K. Blair was born on August 20, 1895 on a farm near Kimballton, Iowa. Her parents Niels C. and Kristine L. (Bjorn) Blair were Danish immigrants and early settlers of Audubon County. She had one older sister - Karen. Their parents died within a year of each other, leaving Karen and Mette as orphans. The accession file says that they were 8-10 years old and were raised in Florence, Nebraska by Mrs. Chet Haas, the donor's mother's sister. A biographical article published in the October 1920 issue of Lutheran Woman's Work says that Karen was 17 and Mette 14 when their parents died; they stayed on the farm by themselves for six months before moving to Benson, Nebraska in September 1910. The same article gives further information, noting that they attended Benson High School and both graduated on June 10, 1915. Mette was confirmed in 1913 at the Kountze Memorial Lutheran Church of Omaha and began to think of missionary work. She trained to become a registered nurse at Clarkson Hospital from 1915-1918. After graduating, Mette joined the National Red Cross to serve during the World War I, working for three weeks as a civilian relief nurse at Fort Omaha during the flu epidemic before the armistice was signed. After traveling with her sister and doing private nursing, in September 1919 she became a student at the Moody Bible Institute. Then, from January - April 1920, she worked at the Post-Graduate Hospital in Chicago before taking a position managing a small hospital in Arapahoe, Nebraska. In October 1920 she was preparing to do missionary work. She joined the Lutheran Missionary Service and worked in India for over 30 years, as well as doing special trips around the U.S. Most of her time was spent at the tuberculosis sanitarium in Visrantipuram, India. Mette retired from the service in 1963 and traveled back to Omaha. She died in 1978 and is buried in the Kimballton, Iowa as are her parents. |
Images |
197\1986050026-2.JPG |
Accession number |
1986.050 |