Call Number:

MC.975.07.072

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

0.06 linear ft. (2 folders)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

"Growing Up Quaker" (HC.MC.975.07.072), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

Undated.

Creator:

Paxson, Katherine Thompson

Form:

autobiographies (documents) and manuscripts (documents)

Abstract:

Katherine Paxson's family history/memoir, entitled "Growing Up Quaker," includes vignettes describing various events in Paxson's life, which she recorded to pass on to her family members. Includes biographical entries for her grandfathers, Isaac H. Thompson and Thomas E. Anderson; her grandmothers, Anne W. Hutton Thompson and Nancy Almina Anderson; her father, I. Walter Thompson; and her sister, Ruth Thompson Davidson. Vignettes describe Paxson's "Early Years," "Summer Days," "Twelfth Street Friends Meeting," her mother's influence in her life, "Visiting Grandpa and Grandma in N.C.," "Ecumenical Outreach," and "Westtown School."

Katherine (Thompson) Paxson (1912-2009) was a 20th-21st century Quaker writer and poet. Katherine Thompson was born May 19, 1912, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Ruth Ella (Anderson) Thompson and I. Walter Thompson. She grew up attending the Twelfth Street Meeting with her family, and later attended Lansdowne Meeting as an adult. Paxson attended Westtown School, where she graduated from in 1930. Paxson was secretary for both the Young Friends Movement of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and for the Director of the Philadelphia International House. Paxson married Charles Small Paxson in 1936, and the couple had two children, Stephen G. Paxson and Charles Paxson. From 1958 to 1973, Paxson worked in the Pediatric Unit of Hahnemann University Hospital and served as the chair person and liaison between the Medical Pediatric Department and the Women's Association for ten years. As a writer, Paxson mainly wrote articles, poetry, and devotionals. Her published works include two volumes of poetry, A Book for Brian and Widening Circles. She also contributed articles and poems to the Friends Journal. Katherine T. Paxson died on April 4, 2009, at the age of 96.

Source: Growing up Quaker, by Katherine T. Paxson

This collection is comprised of the single volume typed manuscript of Katherine Paxson's family history/memoir, entitled "Growing Up Quaker." The manuscript includes vignettes describing various events in Paxson's life, which she recorded to pass on to her family members. Includes biographical entries for her grandfathers, Isaac H. Thompson and Thomas E. Anderson; her grandmothers, Anne W. Hutton Thompson and Nancy Almina Anderson; her father, I. Walter Thompson; and her sister, Ruth Thompson Davidson. Vignettes describe Paxson's "Early Years," "Summer Days," "Twelfth Street Friends Meeting," her mother's influence in her life, "Visiting Grandpa and Grandma in N.C.," "Ecumenical Outreach," and "Westtown School."