Summary Information
M. Eleanor Fitzgerald Papers 1915-1974
- Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor (Mary Eleanor), 1877-1955
UWM Manuscript Collection 13
3.8 cubic ft. (7 boxes)
UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)
The collection mainly consists of the papers of M. Eleanor
Fitzgerald, a Wisconsin born Seventh Day Adventist sanatorium worker, literary agent,
theatrical manager, and associate editor of the anarchist magazines, The Blast and Mother Earth Bulletin.
Also
included in the collection are correspondence, passports, diaries, play programs,
memorabilia, and photographs documenting Fitzgerald's life and activity in the
anarchist/labor movement, and in the Provincetown Playhouse. Correspondence included
associates and friends such as; the anarchists Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman, writers
or theatrical administrators, E.E. Cummings, Susan Glaspell, Paul Green, James Lights and
Eugene O'Neill, long-time friend Pauline Turkel, and Danish tenor Mischa
Lèon.
Photographs in this collection span the period of 1890 to the 1950s
and include images of, Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman, Ben Reitman, Eugene O'Neill, and
Paul Robeson, also included are Fitzgerald and her family members, colleagues at the Seventh
Day Adventist sanatoria in Battle Creek and Chicago. The particular strengths of the
Fitzgerald collection are the Alexander Berkman material, and the materials on the
Provincetown Playhouse. English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-mil-uwmmss0013 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Mary Eleanor Fitzgerald was born in Deerfield, Wisconsin in 1877, the daughter of James and
Ada Fitzgerald. She lived with her family, siblings Arthur and Cora, in Hancock, Wisconsin,
teaching grade school there from 1893 to 1898 when she moved to Battle Creek, Michigan to
work in the Sanitorium to prepare for missionary work for the Seventh Day Adventists.
Between 1901 and 1902, Fitzgerald became interested in the anarchist and labor movement.
She joined a lecture circuit in about 1902, travelling around the country, speaking in
behalf of imprisoned labor leaders. She formed friendships with two fellow speakers,
Benjamin Reitman and Pauline Turkel. Pauline Turkel became her life-long friend. Through her
involvement with the anarchist movement, she met Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, joining
them in the publication of the Mother Earth Bulletin around
1906. During World War I (1914-1918) she turned her attention to the "political
prisoners"-the conscientious objectors. She raised money for their bail and defense and
spoke in their behalf. She also co-edited The Blast: Revolutionary
Labor Weekly at this time. She left the movement in 1918 when Emma Goldman and
Alexander Berkman were deported. It is often claimed that Fitzgerald gave up on political
work after Berkman and Goldman were deported from the United States.
In 1918 George Cram Cook, founder of the Provincetown Players, an experimental theater
group, asked Fitzgerald to join his theater company. She joined the Provincetown Players as
a part-time secretary in October 1918, and consequently served as executive manager for the
Players until it disbanded in 1929. Keeping the group together through financial
difficulties and morale problems, she became acquainted with such playwrights as Eugene
O'Neil, Paul Green, and E.E. Cummings, with whom she corresponded.
From 1929 to 1940 Fitzgerald managed various theatrical enterprises. In 1940 she joined the
Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Research. During these years she corresponded
with Erwin Piscator, Helen Deutsch, Susan Jenkins, Peggy Guggenheim and Stella Hanau.
In 1953 she retired to Hancock, Wisconsin where she remained until her death two years
later from cancer. The bulk of the correspondence she produced in these last years are
addressed to her friend Pauline Turkel.
Scope and Content Note
The collection contains correspondence, contracts, financial records, play scripts, play
bills, political printed materials, and photographs related to the life and varied work of
M. Eleanor Fitzgerald.
Scope and content notes of each series are included in the contents list.
Arrangement of the Materials
The records are arranged into the following series:
-
Political Files, 1892-1955
-
Provincetown Playhouse Files, 1919-1955
-
Family and Personal Files, 1916-1955
-
Pauline Turkel Files, 1918-1976
-
Mischa Lèon Files, 1917-1927
The files are organized alphabetically by personal name or subject within each series.
Preferred Citation
Citation Guide for
Primary Sources
Related Material in the UWM Libraries
Administrative/Restriction Information
There are no access restrictions on the materials, and the collection is open to all
members of the public in accordance with state law.
The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel,
privacy, and copyright which may be involved in the use of this collection (Wisconsin
Statutes 19.21-19.39).
The collection was acquired as a gift from Pauline Turkel in 1979.
Processed by Nancy Sandleback in 1984. Reprocessed by Gareth Evans in 2002. Finding aid
completed by Karen Bjork in 2003.
Contents List
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Series: 1. Political Files, 1892-1955 : The bulk of the Political Files contains material about the period from 1917 to 1929.
The focus of these files include a number of signed, typed and carbon copied drafts of
work by Alexander Berkman, as well as a series of letters and postcards Berkman sent to
M. Eleanor Fitzgerald and Pauline Turkel.
Photographs of Fitzgerald's political
colleagues and acquaintances are included in the Political Files. They include pictures
of Alexander Berkman, Ben Capes, Emma Goldman, Frank Harris, Hippolyte Havel, Robert
Minor, Harry Kelly, Carl Nylander, Ben Reitman, Bob and Lucy Robins, and Harry
Weinberger. There are eleven photographs of Berkman, a number of them affectionately
inscribed to Fitzgerald. The collection also includes a photograph of Emma Goldman
inscribed to Fitzgerald.
Transcriptions of letters between Goldman and Rietman
from May 31-June 1 1909, September 14, 1913, and September 20, 1913 can be found in the
Fitzgerald, Eleanor case file.
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Alsberg, Henry G., "Unearthed Roman Parchment," undated
|
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Anonymous, Quotes, undated
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|
Box
1
Folder
4
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Anonymous, "What's the Use of Poetry?" undated
|
|
Box
1
Folder
5
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Avrich, Paul, "Introduction To The Dover Edition," 1971
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Berkman, Alexander, undated
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Box
1
Folder
9
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Berkman, Alexander, Correspondence, 1922-1925
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|
Box
1
Folder
8
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Berkman, Alexander, Correspondence, Contract Agreements, 1926-1927, 1929,
undated
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Box
1
Folder
7
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Berkman, Alexander, Correspondence, M. Eleanor Fitzgerald,
undated
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Box
1
Folder
10-11
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Berkman, Alexander, Correspondence, M. Eleanor Fitzgerald, and Pauline
Turkel, 1919-1923, undated
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Box
1
Folder
12
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Berkman, Alexander, Deed, 1919
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|
Box
1
Folder
13
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Berkman, Alexander, "Introduction," The Bolshevik
Myth, 1925
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Box
1
Folder
14
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Berkman, Alexander, "Kronstadt" 1922
|
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Box
1
Folder
15
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Berkman, Alexander, "My Odyssey," 1922
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Box
6
Folder
2
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Berkman, Alexander, Photographs, 1892, 1919, 1927, undated
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|
Box
1
Folder
16
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Berkman, Alexander, Release from the United States Penitentiary,
1919
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|
Box
1
Folder
22
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Berkman, Alexander, "Russian Lessons," undated
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Box
1
Folder
17
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Berkman, Alexander, "The Surgeon's Duty," 1918
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Box
1
Folder
28
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Deportation Fund, 1919
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|
Box
1
Folder
20
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Correspondence, Kropotkin, Peter, 1921
|
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Box
1
Folder
19
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Correspondence, Morton, E. B., 1925-1926
|
|
Box
1
Folder
21
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Correspondence, Political Prisoners and Deportees,
1918, 1924, 1926,1955, undated
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|
Box
1
Folder
18
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Correspondence, Union Memberships, 1925, 1927,
1940
|
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Box
6
Folder
7
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Photographs, Berkman, Alexander, 1916,
undated
|
|
Box
6
Folder
8
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Photographs, Reitman, Ben, 1906, undated
|
|
Box
1
Folder
25
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Press Release, 1918-1919
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Box
1
Folder
23
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Goldman, Emma, Correspondence, Ballantine, Stella, and M. Eleanor Fitzgerald,
1920, 1923-1924, 1927, 1929, undated
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Box
1
Folder
26
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Goldman, Emma, Mother Earth Bulletin,
1918
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Box
6
Folder
9
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Goldman, Emma, Photographs, 1928, undated
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Box
1
Folder
24
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Kropotkin, Peter, "Ethics," undated
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Box
1
Folder
30
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Miscellaneous Printed Material, Announcements, undated
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Box
1
Folder
27
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O'Carroll, Joseph, "The City of Our Dream," undated
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Box
6
Folder
12
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Photographs, 1916, undated
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Box
6
Folder
1
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Photographs and Postcards, 1915, undated
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Box
6
Folder
14
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Reitman, Ben, Photographs, 1905-1906
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Box
1
Folder
29
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Tolstoy, Leo, "Count Leo Tolstoy's War Prophecy," undated
|
|
|
Series: 2. Provincetown Playhouse Files, 1919-1955 : The bulk of the Provincetown Playhouse Files contains material about the period from
1910 to 1947. The focus of this file includes contract agreements, correspondence,
financial reports, newspaper clippings, playbills, photographs of Provincetown Playhouse
colleagues, press list, and proposed budgets. Included are correspondence material
covering the period 1921 to 1929. Correspondence include Susan Glaspell, Paul Green,
Edmond Robert Jones, Edna Kenton, James Light, Kenneth Macgowan, Macklin Marrow, and
Agnes O'Neill.
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Box
2
Folder
32
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Address Book, 1925, 1928
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Box
2
Folder
31
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Address Book, undated
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Box
2
Folder
33
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Address Book, undated
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Box
2
Folder
39
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Anonymous, "Milestones in American Drama," undated
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Box
2
Folder
14
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Blair, Mary, Correspondence, 1938, 1947
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Box
2
Folder
34
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Brookfield Players, Correspondence, 1932
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Box
2
Folder
8
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Contracts and Agreements, 1924
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Box
2
Folder
9-11
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Contracts and Agreements, 1926-1929
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Box
2
Folder
5
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Contracts and Correspondence, Dream Play,
1924-1926
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Box
2
Folder
6
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Contracts and Correspondence, Fashion,
1924-1939
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Box
2
Folder
1
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Contracts, Correspondence, Receipts, 1926
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Box
6
Folder
3
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Cook, George Cram, Photographs, undated
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Box
2
Folder
12
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Cook, Nilla Cram, Correspondence, 1927, 1931-1932
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Box
6
Folder
4
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Cook, Nilla Cram, Photographs, undated
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Box
2
Folder
25
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Correspondence, 1931
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Box
2
Folder
13
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Correspondence, 1936
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Box
7
Folder
2
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Cummings, E. E., Playbills, undated
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Box
2
Folder
27
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Cummings, E. E., Prompt Scripts, undated
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Box
7
Folder
1
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Cummings, E. E., Summary Listing of Scenes, undated
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Box
2
Folder
29-30
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Financial Reports, 1924-1926
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Box
2
Folder
35
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Diary, 1926
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Box
6
Folder
13
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Photographs, Colleagues, undated
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Box
2
Folder
2
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Garrick Building Company, Contracts, 1929
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Box
2
Folder
28
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Garrick Theatre, Estimated Budget, 1929-1930
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Box
2
Folder
53
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Garrick Theatre, Playbills, 1929-1930
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Box
2
Folder
15
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Glaspell, Susan, Correspondence, 1924-1925
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Box
2
Folder
3
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Green, Paul, Contracts, 1927
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Box
2
Folder
16
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Green, Paul, Correspondence, 1932
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Box
2
Folder
36
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Green, Paul, Diary, Playbill, Photographs, 1932
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Box
2
Folder
37
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Investments, Preferred Stockholders, 1924-1926, undated
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Box
2
Folder
38
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Johnson, Hall, Run Little Children,
1933
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Box
2
Folder
17
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Jones, Edmund Robert, Correspondence, 1926, 1937, undated
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Box
2
Folder
18
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Kenton, Edna, Correspondence, 1924
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Box
2
Folder
19
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Light, James, Correspondence, 1930, undated
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Box
2
Folder
55
|
Lists of Productions and Subscription Forms, 1922, 1924,
1927-1929
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Box
2
Folder
4
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Liveright, Horace B., Contracts, 1927
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Box
2
Folder
45
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Madden, Richard, Agreement, 1928
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Box
2
Folder
20
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Macgowan, Kenneth, Correspondence, undated
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Box
2
Folder
21
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Marrow, Macklin, Correspondence, 1927
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Box
2
Folder
7
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Matthias, Rita, Contracts and Correspondence, 1923-1925
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Box
2
Folder
40
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Miscellaneous, Correspondence, 1925-1927, 1929
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Box
2
Folder
22
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Miscellaneous, Correspondence, 1940, 1954-1955, undated
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Box
7
Folder
3
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Music and Song Sheets, undated
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Box
2
Folder
41
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Newell, Willard, "History of the Drama," undated
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Box
2
Folder
42
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Newspaper Clippings, 1926, 1929
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Box
2
Folder
23
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O'Neill, Agnes, Correspondence, undated
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Box
2
Folder
24
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O'Neill, Eugene, Correspondence, To M. Eleanor Fitzgerald and Pauline Turkel,
1924-1925, 1929, undated
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Box
2
Folder
43-44
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O'Neill, Eugene, Play Script, undated
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Box
2
Folder
46
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Playbill, 1919
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Box
2
Folder
47-51
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Playbills, 1923-1929
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Box
2
Folder
52
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Playbills, Listing, 1923-1924, 1924-1925, undated
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Box
2
Folder
54
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Press List and Theatre Statement, 1939, undated
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Box
7
Folder
4
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Proposed Budget, 1925-1926
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Box
2
Folder
56
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Seating Diagrams, undated
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Box
2
Folder
26
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Young, Stark, Correspondence, 1933, 1936, undated
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|
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Series: 3. Family and Personal Files, 1916-1955 : The bulk of the Family and Personal Files contains material about the period 1890 to
1950. The focus of this file includes an account and date book, correspondence with her
brothers Arthur and Judson, her sister, Cora, and the last letter sent to Fitzgerald by
her mother, Ada. The series also includes a penciled hand-written four page biography on
Fitzgerald, a 1906 farewell book with messages from her colleagues at Seventh Day
Adventist sanatoria, Fitzgerald's passports from the 1920s, and photographs of her
family.
Miscellaneous material in this series includes cancelled mortgage deeds
and maps of the property Fitzgerald owned in Sherman, Connecticut, and photographs of
Fitzgerald and her colleagues at the Seventh Day Adventist sanatoria where she worked in
the late 1890s and early 1900s.
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Box
3
Folder
1
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Account Book, 1948-1949, 1951
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Box
3
Folder
2
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Bills and Expenditures, 1947-1952
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Box
3
Folder
7
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Fitzgerald, Ada, Correspondence, 1916
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Box
3
Folder
8
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Fitzgerald, Arthur, Correspondence, 1930, 1932-1933, 1935
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Box
3
Folder
9
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Fitzgerald, Cora, Correspondence, 1930, 1938-1941, 1944-1948,
undated
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Box
3
Folder
19
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Fitzgerald, Cora, Certificate of Death, 1948
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Box
3
Folder
10
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Fitzgerald Family, Correspondence, 1938-1939, 1949, undated
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Box
3
Folder
26
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Fitzgerald Family, Genealogy, undated
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Box
6
Folder
5
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Fitzgerald Family, Photographs, 1958, undated
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Box
3
Folder
11
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Fitzgerald, Judson, Correspondence, 1948-1951
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Box
3
Folder
3
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Biography, [1910]
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Box
3
Folder
6
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Correspondence, 1940
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Box
3
Folder
18
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Farewell Book, undated
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Box
3
Folder
20
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Property, Sherman, Connecticut, 1943
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Box
3
Folder
23
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Obituaries, 1955
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Box
3
Folder
24
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Outpatient Card, 1955
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Box
3
Folder
25
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Passports and Boarding Ticket, 1923,
1927-1928
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Box
6
Folder
6
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Photographs, 1923-1924, undated
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Box
3
Folder
17
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Property Detail, Sherman, Connecticut, Season Ticket
Order, undated
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Box
3
Folder
22
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Guggenheim, Peggy and Vail, Laurence, Remittances, 1951-1952
|
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Box
3
Folder
12
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Job Applications, Correspondence, 1931
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Box
3
Folder
5
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Mattekeunk Cabin Colony, Inc., Capital Stock, 1922
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Box
3
Folder
13
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Miscellaneous, Correspondence, 1923-1928, undated
|
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Box
3
Folder
14
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Miscellaneous, Correspondence, 1941-1942, 1947, 1949, 1952
|
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Box
3
Folder
15
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Miscellaneous, Correspondence, 1954-1955
|
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Box
3
Folder
16
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Miscellaneous, Correspondence, undated
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Box
3
Folder
21
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Miscellaneous, Images and Printed Materials, 1917, 1920, undated
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Box
6
Folder
11
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Miscellaneous, Photographs, 1930, undated
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Box
3
Folder
4
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Mortgage Deeds, 1936, 1948, 1951
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Box
6
Folder
15
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Seventh-Day Adventist and Chautauqua, Photographs, undated
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|
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Series: 4. Pauline Turkel Files, 1918-1976 : The bulk of the Pauline Turkel Files contains material about the period 1899 to 1987.
This file focuses on correspondence between Turkel and Fitzgerald, as well as
correspondence to and from the Fitzgerald family. Also included are correspondences
about Fitzgerald's death and contributions to the manuscript In
Memory of Fitzi. Included are signed original letters of the contributions
made by Djuna Barnes, Malcolm Cowley, E. E. Cummings, Trixie Martin, Erwin Piscator, and
Edmund Wilson.
The series also includes information about the political
activities of Turkel in the period 1910s and early 1920s and her involvement in the
International Workers' Defense League, and the American Labor Alliance for Trade
Relations with Russia.
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Box
4
Folder
1
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American Labor Alliance, Correspondence, 1921
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Box
4
Folder
2-4
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Fitzgerald Family, Correspondence, 1954-1961
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Box
4
Folder
5
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Fitzgerald Family, Correspondence, Will and Testament, 1963, 1964
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Box
4
Folder
13
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Correspondence, 1944, 1954
|
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Box
4
Folder
6
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Correspondence, Turkel, Pauline, 1954
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Box
4
Folder
7
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Fitzgerald, M. Eleanor, Correspondence, Turkel, Pauline, 1955
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Box
4
Folder
8
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International Workers' Defense League, Correspondence, 1918
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Box
4
Folder
9-10
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Miscellaneous, Correspondence, 1954-1956
|
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Box
4
Folder
11
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Miscellaneous, Correspondence, 1957, 1962-1964, 1974, 1976
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Box
4
Folder
12
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Turkel, Pauline, Correspondence, Jenkins, Susan, 1955
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Box
4
Folder
14
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Turkel, Pauline, In Memory of Fitzi, Booklet,
1956
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Box
4
Folder
15
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Turkel, Pauline, In Memory to Fitzi,
Manuscript 1955-1956
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|
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Series: 5. Mischa Lèon Files, 1917-1927 : The bulk of the Mischa Lèon Files contains material about the period 1918 to
1927. Lèon, a tenor trained in Cophenhagen, toured Europe, worked in Paris and
came to the United States in 1924. The file focuses on contracts, concert programs,
correspondences to Fitzgerald, notebook containing lyrics from songs, press clippings,
and photographs of Lèon and one of his sons.
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Box
5
Folder
1
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Announcements and Concert Programs, 1918, 1925-1926, undated
|
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Box
5
Folder
4
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Correspondence, 1924
|
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Box
5
Folder
3
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Correspondence, Contracts, 1921-1926, undated
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Box
5
Folder
2
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Lèon, Mischa, Application to Reenter the United States,
1924
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Box
5
Folder
6
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Lèon, Mischa, Diary, 1926
|
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Box
5
Folder
8
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Lèon, Mischa, Newspaper Clippings, undated
|
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Box
5
Folder
10
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Lèon, Mischa, Pen Drawing, undated
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Box
6
Folder
10
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Lèon, Mischa, Photographs, 1917, undated
|
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Box
5
Folder
5
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Lèon, Mischa, Postcard, 1926
|
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Box
5
Folder
7
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Miscellaneous, Correspondence, 1926-1927
|
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Box
5
Folder
11-13
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Newspaper Clippings, 1921-1926
|
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Box
5
Folder
14
|
Newspaper Clippings, undated
|
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Box
5
Folder
15
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Proposal, Establish Art Theatre, undated
|
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Box
5
Folder
9
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Song Lyrics, undated
|
|
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