I've been researching Helen Barrett Montgomery on and off for about 15 years now, and I frequently come across a book called The Empire of the East: A Simple Account of Japan as It Was, Is, and Will Be. This book is sometimes attributed to Helen Barrett Mongtomery, but she did NOT write it.
Let me say it again, for emphasis. Helen Barrett Montgomery did not write this book. I learned this the hard way. When I was working on my dissertation, I was trying to collect all of HBM's writings. I saw this book advertised as one of hers, so I bought an over-priced copy from a used book store. Then, when I figured out it was not written by Helen Barrett Montgomery, I could not return it.
Since then, I have been on something of a crusade to correct this factual error wherever I find it. So far, I've gotten the Library of Congress and Amazon.com to correct their listings. I've written an explanatory review for the Internet Archive and posted a message to their forum explaining the situation.
How do I know that HBM did not write this book? Here are my reasons.
(1) The author, H.B. Montgomery, writes from the perspective of an Englishman. Helen Barrett Montgomery was an American woman.
(2) This book offers a pessimistic assessment of the missionary prospects of Christianity in Japan, and it presents this assessment in a detached, analytical manner. Helen Barrett Montgomery was an active churchwoman, an evangelical Baptist, a pastor's daughter, and a lifelong advocate of Christian missions. She wrote numerous books championing the cause of missions, especially women's missionary activities. She would never have taken such a dispassionate, pessimistic view regarding the evangelization of Japan.
(3) The New York Times reviewed The Empire of the East when it came out. The reviewer refers to the author as "Mr. Montgomery."
(4) This book was written before Helen Barrett Montgomery ever traveled to Asia.
(5) Helen Barrett Montgomery never abbreviated her name on her publications; she always listed her full name.
My conclusion: The author of this book, H.B. Montgomery, was not Helen Barrett Montgomery.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Welcome to the Helen Barrett Montgomery blog!
Hello, and welcome to the Helen Barrett Montgomery blog! I've created this blog as a place where people who are interested in HBM can learn and share information, and as a forum for discussion of my book, Helen Barrett Montgomery: The Global Mission of Domestic Feminism (Baylor University Press, 2009).
Here's a link to my book on amazon.com.
So who was Helen Barrett Montgomery?
Helen Barrett Montgomery (1861-1934) was a social reformer, a Baptist leader, a New Testament translator, and a prominent intellectual of the American woman’s ecumenical missionary movement. She developed an apologetic that transformed the cause of woman’s emancipation into a rationale for global mission. My book sets her in the context of progressivism and the women’s rights movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Montgomery’s childhood experiences and early education inclined her toward progressive thought and social reform. Like other prominent women’s rights activists, Montgomery’s intellectual development was profoundly influenced by her father. Her Wellesley education provided her with strong female role models and training in faith-based social reform. She received crucial support from her husband, parents, and church, which allowed her to transcend the traditional boundaries for women and integrate her marriage and her family with her career as a social reformer.
Montgomery’s experience as president of the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union of Rochester, New York, and on the Rochester school board were primary in the formation of her social reform thought. She maintained a decade-long partnership with suffragist leader Susan B. Anthony. They disagreed on style and emphasis, but worked together for women’s higher education and political empowerment. Their approaches were complementary and mutually supportive. She was also a contemporary of Social Gospel theologian Walter Rauschenbusch, who was sometimes critical of her educational reform initiatives.
Montgomery defined a theoretically limitless sphere for “woman” in society. She argued that society, like the home, needed the particular skills and sensibilities of women and mothers. Women had a duty to work publicly for social betterment and the uplift of poor women and children; and women’s activism would lead to women’s rights. In her mission textbooks, she gave those principles a biblical basis and argued that “woman’s work for woman” represented the cutting edge of a global movement for women’s emancipation because Christianity gave women equal spiritual and social status with men.
Here's a link to my book on amazon.com.
So who was Helen Barrett Montgomery?
Helen Barrett Montgomery (1861-1934) was a social reformer, a Baptist leader, a New Testament translator, and a prominent intellectual of the American woman’s ecumenical missionary movement. She developed an apologetic that transformed the cause of woman’s emancipation into a rationale for global mission. My book sets her in the context of progressivism and the women’s rights movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Montgomery’s childhood experiences and early education inclined her toward progressive thought and social reform. Like other prominent women’s rights activists, Montgomery’s intellectual development was profoundly influenced by her father. Her Wellesley education provided her with strong female role models and training in faith-based social reform. She received crucial support from her husband, parents, and church, which allowed her to transcend the traditional boundaries for women and integrate her marriage and her family with her career as a social reformer.
Montgomery’s experience as president of the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union of Rochester, New York, and on the Rochester school board were primary in the formation of her social reform thought. She maintained a decade-long partnership with suffragist leader Susan B. Anthony. They disagreed on style and emphasis, but worked together for women’s higher education and political empowerment. Their approaches were complementary and mutually supportive. She was also a contemporary of Social Gospel theologian Walter Rauschenbusch, who was sometimes critical of her educational reform initiatives.
Montgomery defined a theoretically limitless sphere for “woman” in society. She argued that society, like the home, needed the particular skills and sensibilities of women and mothers. Women had a duty to work publicly for social betterment and the uplift of poor women and children; and women’s activism would lead to women’s rights. In her mission textbooks, she gave those principles a biblical basis and argued that “woman’s work for woman” represented the cutting edge of a global movement for women’s emancipation because Christianity gave women equal spiritual and social status with men.
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