Title
Frances Otte: A Transnational Life
Subject
A Life of Frances Otte
Description
Frances Otte (1860-1956) is often known either as the daughter of Philip Phelps, Hope College's first president, or the wife of Dr. John A. Otte, a medical missionary in Amoy, China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and the first member of the RCA to go to China as a missionary. Yet little is known about her own life. After being one of the first two women to graduate from Hope College in Holland, Michigan, she played an integral member of John's Amoy mission, both as a assistant to John and worker with the patients, as well as a mother to her and John's growing family. This all occurred under John's provision, with Frances having little say in such a life decision.
Early in her life, she spent most of her time around Hope College, where her dad was busy as the first President. Because she was not surrounded with other children her own age, sources say that she spent a lot of time by herself, which helped her develop a self-consciousness and an introspective attitude. Surrounded by a powerful family and kids aspiring to be powerful, she was ambitious and understood the necessary actions to benefit herself. Her ambition carried over into her time at Hope, when she was in the minority as one of the first women to graduate. She used friendship with other women and her personal ambition learned early in her life to move past the criticism and begin a promising career as a missionary's wife. This is also an early example of how she was both liberal (graduating from college, moving beyond criticism), and conservative (beginning a career as a wife and helper in Dr. John Otte's missionary plan in China).
After John unexpectedly died of disease in 1910, while Frances was living in the United States with the children (in order to give them, in their opinion, the best education for the kids), Frances moved to New York to be with her family and gain financial support. A few years after her husband's death, Frances moved back to Holland, MI and gradually transitioned into a more direct leadership role at Hope College as a director and president of a missionary's group, and mentor to other college educated women.
Her identity evolves with the times, and she is a simultaneously conservative and liberal woman, which complicates a classic binary in women’s history of women being either completely conservative or completely liberal. Frances' identity is also determined by her conscious awareness of audience and context, which leads to questions about sources and how one shapes and presents one's life.
This project’s significance is threefold. First, it recovers lost voices in the historical record, which is a common method in both historical analysis and gender studies. Second, it causes one to rethink the role of gender in relation to identity, another common rationale in gender studies and history. This project rejects standard dichotomy in gender studies between women being labeled as either conservative or liberal, but rarely describe them as both, which is closer to reality. Third, it exposes the rich archives at the Joint Archives of Holland through original archival research, which give a more holistic depiction of West Michigan history and a more personal connection of place.
Early in her life, she spent most of her time around Hope College, where her dad was busy as the first President. Because she was not surrounded with other children her own age, sources say that she spent a lot of time by herself, which helped her develop a self-consciousness and an introspective attitude. Surrounded by a powerful family and kids aspiring to be powerful, she was ambitious and understood the necessary actions to benefit herself. Her ambition carried over into her time at Hope, when she was in the minority as one of the first women to graduate. She used friendship with other women and her personal ambition learned early in her life to move past the criticism and begin a promising career as a missionary's wife. This is also an early example of how she was both liberal (graduating from college, moving beyond criticism), and conservative (beginning a career as a wife and helper in Dr. John Otte's missionary plan in China).
After John unexpectedly died of disease in 1910, while Frances was living in the United States with the children (in order to give them, in their opinion, the best education for the kids), Frances moved to New York to be with her family and gain financial support. A few years after her husband's death, Frances moved back to Holland, MI and gradually transitioned into a more direct leadership role at Hope College as a director and president of a missionary's group, and mentor to other college educated women.
Her identity evolves with the times, and she is a simultaneously conservative and liberal woman, which complicates a classic binary in women’s history of women being either completely conservative or completely liberal. Frances' identity is also determined by her conscious awareness of audience and context, which leads to questions about sources and how one shapes and presents one's life.
This project’s significance is threefold. First, it recovers lost voices in the historical record, which is a common method in both historical analysis and gender studies. Second, it causes one to rethink the role of gender in relation to identity, another common rationale in gender studies and history. This project rejects standard dichotomy in gender studies between women being labeled as either conservative or liberal, but rarely describe them as both, which is closer to reality. Third, it exposes the rich archives at the Joint Archives of Holland through original archival research, which give a more holistic depiction of West Michigan history and a more personal connection of place.
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