Sherwood F. Moran Papers, ca. 1920s-1974, undated | Oberlin College Archives

Title: Sherwood F. Moran Papers, ca. 1920s-1974, undated

ID: RG 30/062

Extent: 0.6 Linear Feet

Predominant Dates: 1942-1946

Creators

Administrative/Biographical History

Sherwood F. Moran was born in 1885 in Covington, Kentucky. He was a graduate of Oberlin College in 1914 with a B.A. in philosophy, after a year out of college travelling in Russia, Turkey, Greece and the Balkans as secretary to Sherwood Eddy, a national secretary with the YMCA. He attended Union Theological Seminary from 1914, graduating in 1916 with a Congregational ordination. That year he also attained the M.A. in philosophy from Columbia University. In 1915 he married Ursul Mildred Reeves, a graduate of Oberlin that year.

Moran was a missionary with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Japan from 1916 to 1940. During World War I from 1917-1918 he was a YMCA secretary in Siberia. The Morans had three children between 1917 and 1924. They set up and directed a community center with an organized Christian Church in Osaka, the Yodagawa Neighborhood House, dedicated in 1925.

During World War II Sherwood Moran volunteered as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1942-46, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He was sent to Guadalcanal with the First Marine Division as senior language intelligence officer, where his skill and humane approach in talking with Japanese prisoners won him commendations for his consequent ability to elicit valuable voluntary tactical information. He received the Bronze Star medal for his part in the Guadalcanal campaign in 1944. He left the Marine Corps in 1946 to complete his missionary work in Japan, from which he retired with his wife in 1956. Sherwood Moran was awarded by the Emperor of Japan the official decoration known as the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Fifth Class. The Morans returned to the United States for their retirement in Claremont, California. Mrs. Moran predeceased her husband in 1967.

Sherwood Moran’s study of Oriental art as a side activity led to contacts with Buddhist priests in whose temples were found the major art treasures of Japan. In his later years Moran published articles on Japanese sculpture in Artibus Asiae and Oriental Art, and authored one book on Japanese sword guards and accessories. His papers include a photograph album with photographs of Japanese architecture, sculpture and decorative arts, meticulously captioned. Moran died in Claremont in 1983 at age 97.

SOURCES CONSULTED

Accession records, Oberlin College Archives.

Sherwood F. Moran student file, RG 28/2 Alumni & Development Records.

Author: Anne Cuyler Salsich

Forms of Material (links to similar genres)

Languages of Materials

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Scope and Contents:

The Sherwood F. Moran Papers consist of correspondence, published writings, photographs, and some miscellaneous items arranged in four series. Series one holds the bulk of the collection, comprising letters written by Moran to his wife, Ursal Reeves Moran, during his service as a commissioned officer in the Marine Corps in the South Pacific during World War II. The letters date from May 17, 1942, through January 15, 1946, covering his part in the Guadalcanal campaign for which he received the Bronze Star medal. The first five folders contain extracts from these letters, while the remaining twelve folders contain the original letters. Letters numbered 1 through 8, written in 1942, contained photographs, received separately from Moran and placed in Series 4, Photographs.

Series two holds offprints of two published articles by Moran on Oriental sculpture and the copy print photographs for these publications. Series three, Miscellany, holds a 1925 dedication booklet in Japanese for the Yodogawa Neighborhood House in Osaka, the main project of the Morans as missionaries from 1916 to 1956 exclusive of the war years. The other item in the series is a typed document from the Division Intelligence Section of the Fleet Marine Force on suggestions for Japanese interpreters, 1943.

The Photographs and Cartoons series holds the afore-mentioned enclosures for letters 1-8, cartoons and photographs from Moran’s war years, and a photograph album dating from the 1920s or 1930s of Japanese architecture and sculpture. The cartoons include two copy prints of cartoons featuring the Donald Duck character in Marine uniform drawn for Moran by a former staff member of Walt Disney Studios.

The photograph album is of special significance. Moran originally donated the album to the Allen Memorial Art Museum, which transferred it to the Archives in 1999. The photographs were made by professional photographers in Japan, and are accompanied by detailed captions by Moran, who had access to Buddhist temples through his extensive contacts. The locations of the architecture and sculptures include, in order of appearance, Horyuji, Horinji, Hokkiji, Yakushiji, Toshadaiji, Uji, Nara, the Nara Imperial Museum, Kyoto, Nikko, and Yakushiji, dating from the sixth through the nineteenth centuries.

Detailed Description
Series 1: Correspondence, 1942-1946
Series 2: Writings, 1961-1974
Series 3: Miscellany, 1925-1943
Series 4: Photographs and Cartoons, ca. 1920s-1946