Charles K. Ober Letter to Bowne (September 6, 1890)

Charles Kellogg Ober wrote this letter, which has a positive recommendation of Genzaburo Ishikawa, to Jacob T. Bowne on September 5, 1890.Bowne came to the School for Christian Workers (now Springfield College) in 1885 to head the YMCA Secretarial Department. Bowne was the first head of the department, which trained young men for work as executives at YMCAs in the United States and around the world. Bowne is known as the “father of professional education” in the YMCA and worked at Springfield College until his retirement in 1925. While at the college, Bowne played an integral role in the building of Marsh Memorial Library and became the school’s first librarian. Bowne was known for his modesty and whenever anyone tried to express their gratitude to him his response was “pass it on.” An avid collector and the YMCA’s first archivist, Bowne’s YMCA materials form the basis for the YMCA archives housed at the University of Minnesota. Bowne died shortly after his retirement in 1925 at the age of 78. Genzaburo Ishikawa (July 27, 1866 - December 7, 1956) was born in Tatebayashi, Gunma-prefecture, Japan. When he was only two years old, his father died. In 1876, he moved to Tokyo, where his mother had been born. On September 30, 1886, he left Japan and entered the Westminster Prep School in San Francisco. Three years later, he entered the Pacific Theological Seminary in San Francisco. The following March, he moved to Massachusetts and entered the Mount Hermon Prep School. That September, he enrolled at Springfield College. In 1891, he was one of the original 18 students to play in the first game of basketball created by Dr. James Naismith. Most famously, he is credited with a drawing of the first game of basketball that appeared in the 1892 Triangle edition that announced the game to the world. In 1892, he graduated from Springfield College and became a director of the San Francisco YMCA. He stayed in this position for five years, at which point he left to enter the University of Wisconsin (Madison). In 1899, he submitted his master’s degree thesis. In 1901, he submitted his doctoral degree thesis and returned to Tokyo with Mary MacRea, whom he married that August. In 1903, he began working at the Mitsui Products Company, Ltd. In Tokyo. Five years later, he was promoted to general manager of the company’s branch in Hamburg, Germany. On April 4, 1906, his first child, Akemi, was born. By 1917, Ishikawa was having a hard time in Hamburg due to World War I, so he returned to Tokyo. However, his wife and daughter moved to Alexandria, Canada, and never again returned to Japan. In 1918, he left the Mitsui Products Company, Ltd. In 1923, he became a representative of the International Wireless Telephone Co., Ltd., in Tokyo. The following year, he became a member of the board of the directors of the NHK in Tokyo. In 1934, he joined the Board of Trustees of the NHK in Tokyo. Ober was born in Beverly, Massachusetts in 1856. He entered into YMCA work after surviving eight days afloat at sea off the Newfoundland coast. Crediting his survival to prayer, Ober decided to devote himself to Christian work