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Nannie B. Gaines

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Nannie B. Gaines
A white woman with dark hair in an updo
Nannie B. Gaines, from a 1919 publication
Born
Ann Elizabeth Gaines

April 23, 1860
Union County, Kentucky, U.S.
DiedFebruary 26, 1932 (age 71)
Hiroshima, Japan
Other namesNannie Bett Gaines
Occupation(s)Missionary, educator
Known forPrincipal of Hiroshima Jogakuin

Nannie B. Gaines (April 23, 1860 – February 26, 1932) was an American missionary teacher in Japan. She was head of Hiroshima Jogakuin, a Methodist girls' school in Hiroshima, for 45 years, beginning in 1887.

Early life and education

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Ann Elizabeth Gaines[1] was born on a farm in Union County, Kentucky,[2] the daughter of August (or Gustavus) Cooke Gaines and Catherine Mary Cromwell Gaines.[3] Her father, a lawyer, died when she was a little girl,[4] and her mother died in 1881. Her brother J. B. Gaines was a judge in Florida.[3] She graduated from Franklin Female College in 1878.[5]

Career

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Gaines taught at schools in Kentucky and Florida as a young woman.[4] She moved to Hiroshima in 1887, as a missionary teacher under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS). She began teaching at a girls' school organized by a Japanese Christian minister, Teikichi Sunamoto,[6] and was the school's principal or principal emeritus for the rest of her life.[7] She rebuilt the program after a typhoon and fire destroyed its buildings in 1891, and added a kindergarten program.[8] In 1906, the school expanded and became an official girls' high school; it was described as "the largest mission school for girls" in Japan.[9][10] In 1919, Gaines added a teacher training program, elevating the school to a college-level institution.[7]

After she retired as principal emeritus, she left daily school work for missionary travels around Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. During a 1914 furlough in the United States,[11] she persuaded her mission board in Nashville to fund an automobile for her work.[12] In 1916 she was decorated by the Japanese government for her work.[13] She supported the work of Michi Kawai and Umeko Tsuda with the YWCA in Japan. She had an audience with the Crown Prince in 1926, to discuss women's education.[4]

Publications

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  • "Japan: In the School" (1896)[14]

Personal life and legacy

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Gaines' sister Rachel Cromwell Gaines joined her in Hiroshima in 1916, and the sisters taught and lived together on the school's campus.[7][15] Gaines died in 1932, at the age of 71, in Hiroshima.[3] Although her ashes were interred in Hiroshima, a memorial marker was also placed at the courthouse in Dixon, Kentucky.[16]

A statue of Gaines was erected on the campus of her school, but it was removed and recycled as scrap metal during wartime.[17] The school's buildings were destroyed and more than three hundred teachers and students were killed by the atomic bomb in 1945.[18] Hiroshima Jogakuin University (HJU) reopened at a new location away from the city's center; it is still an educational institution for women as of 2024.[19] Gaines Chapel, on the campus of HJU, is named in memory of Nannie B. Gaines.[20]

References

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  1. ^ Yrigoyen, Charles; Warrick, Susan E. (2013-11-07). Historical Dictionary of Methodism. Scarecrow Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-8108-7894-5.
  2. ^ Kentucky, Writers' Program (U S. ) (1941). Union County, Past and Present. Schuhmann Printing. p. 210.
  3. ^ a b c "Nannie B. Gaines, Noted Missionary, Succumbs in Japan". The Union County Advocate. March 3, 1932. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c Robins-Mowry, Dorothy. "Not a Foreigner, but a Sensei—a Teacher: Nannie B. Gaines of Hiroshima." In Leslie A. Flemming, ed., Women's Work For Women: Missionaries and Social Change in Asia, pp. 87-115. Routledge, 2019.
  5. ^ "Miss Nannie Gaines Dies in Japan". The Franklin Favorite. March 3, 1932. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Masuyuki, Imaishi (October 1991). "Mary McMillan: Hiroshima's Angel of Peace". Japan Quarterly. 38 (4): 470.
  7. ^ a b c Klein, Ronald (2011-10-01). "Nannie B. Gaines: Teacher, Educator, Missionary, and Founder of Hiroshima Jogakuin 日本基督教団公式サイト". Kyodan News. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  8. ^ Dearing, John Lincoln (1914). The Christian Movement in Japan: Including Korea and Formosa : a Year Book. Published for the Conference of Federated Missions. p. 267.
  9. ^ Prang, Margaret (2011-11-01). A Heart at Leisure from Itself: Caroline Macdonald of Japan. UBC Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-7748-4265-5.
  10. ^ Pell, Edward Leigh (1919). Adventures in Faith in Foreign Lands: A Glance at the Salient Events in the History of Southern Methodist Missions. Centenary commission of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. p. 136.
  11. ^ "Miss Gaines; Missionary to Japan Visiting This Country". Bowling Green Messenger. April 23, 1914. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Automobiles for our Foreign Missionaries". The Jeffersonian. May 21, 1914. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Japan Decorates Woman for Work in Cause of Education". Nashville Banner. August 24, 1919. p. 26 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Lambuth, Daisy (1896). Child Life in Our Mission Fields, Or Pen Pictures from Busy Workers. Barbee & Smith.
  15. ^ Missionary Yearbook of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 1924. p. 22.
  16. ^ "Erect Marker to Noted Missionary in Dixon". The Union County Advocate. March 28, 1935. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Mission Photograph Album - Japan #06 Page 0095". UMC Digital Galleries. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  18. ^ Hiroshima Jogakuin University. "History". 広島女学院大学. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  19. ^ Laszlo, Chloe (April 1, 2024). "Hiroshima Jogakuin's Annual Visit to Mount Union Spreads a Message of Peace". University of Mount Union. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  20. ^ "Campus Map and Facilities | Hiroshima Jogakuin University". 広島女学院大学. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
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