Call Number:

MC.975.01.037

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

0.0625 linear ft. (3 folders)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Alice Jones diary (HC.MC.975.01.037), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

1919-1946 (inclusive) and 1930

Creator:

Jones, Alice Whittier

Form:

Diaries

Abstract:

This collection is comprised primarily of the original, handwritten diary of Alice Jones, and a photocopy of the original. Diary entries discuss the history of the Friends School in Ramallah, Palestine, religious reflection and discussions concerning the divides between Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Palestine, and discussions concerning the politics within Palestine. Jones also provides descriptions of the children she teaches at the school. In addition to the Jones's diary, the collection includes a single folder of related materials, which includes a certificate from the American Red Cross in Palestine thanking Jones for her service during World War I, four pages of typed diary entries dated 1946, and a typed poem, which is undated.

Alice Whittier Jones (1873-1960) was born on January 20, 1873, to Charles H. and Wlizabeth Farr Jones in Weare, New Hampshire. Jones was educated at Oak Grove Seminary, Wells College, and Earlham College. Alice Jones was a Quaker educator who spent much of her adult life in Israel and Palestine. Jones taught at Pleasant Valley, near Amesbury, Massachusetts (1891-1892), and was matron at the Institute for Adult Blind in Hartford, Connecticut (1895-1905), before leaving New England for Palestine. She taught at the Girls' School at the Friends Ramallah Mission from 1906 to 1907, before becoming principal in 1907. Jones returned to the United States in 1914, and remained there through 1918, during which time the Ramallah Scool was closed because of World War I. In 1918, Jones volunteered with the Red Cross to go to Palestine and was put in charge of a large orphanage in Jerusalem. Jones, along with her friend Katie Gabriel, returned to Palestine in 1919, restored the badly damaged school, and resumed her position as principal of the school. She retired from the school in 1929, but returned in 1939, to celebrate the Golden Jubilee. Jones remained at Ramallah despite the outbreak of World War II, working as a visiting teacher and aiding the refugees seeking safety in Ramallah.

After the war, Jones returned to Amesbury, Massachusetts, where she died on May 5, 1960, at the age of 87.

This collection is comprised primarily of the original, handwritten diary of Alice Jones, and a photocopy of the original. Diary entries discuss the history of the Friends School in Ramallah, Palestine, religious reflection and discussions concerning the divides between Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Palestine, and discussions concerning the politics within Palestine. Jones also provides descriptions of the children she teaches at the school.

In addition to the Jones's diary, the collection includes a single folder of related materials, which includes a certificate from the American Red Cross in Palestine thanking Jones for her service during World War I, four pages of typed diary entries dated 1946, and a typed poem, which is undated.