The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Marion Talbot Papers 1854-1948
© 2012 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | Talbot, Marion. Papers |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1854-1948 |
| Size: | 5.75 linear feet (13 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | Contains the correspondence and papers of Marion Talbot, Assistant Professor of Sanitary Science, Associate professor of Household Administration, and Dean of Women at the University of Chicago from its inception in 1892 until her retirement in 1925. |
This collection is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Talbot, Marion. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Marion Talbot received her A.B. (1880) degrees from Boston University where her father, Israel Tisdale Talbot, was dean of the medical school. In 1888 Miss Talbot was granted a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She served as president of the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women and as secretary of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, both organizations founded by her mother, Emily, to promote higher education among women. Miss Talbot resigned a position as instructor at Wellesley College to come to the University of Chicago when it first opened in October of 1892. As Dean of Women in the University (i.e. Senior) colleges, she, and Alice Freeman Palmer, organized the women's dormitories and initiated the academic and social life of the women of the University When Mrs. Palmer resigned, Miss Talbot became Dean of Women in the Graduate Schools. She was successively Assistant Professor of Sanitary Science; Associate Professor of Household Administration; and in 1905 became full professor in the latter department. She retired from the University in 1925. After her retirement, she served as Acting President of Constantinople Women's College. She also joined the controversy surrounding the 1944 faculty "Memorial" expressing lack of confidence in Chancellor Robert M. Hutchins. In her administration of women's affairs in a co-educational institution, Miss Talbot adhered firmly to the principles of academic equality and of relative social freedom between men and women.
Series I: Correspondence, covers most aspects of Miss Talbot's career and interests and frequently supplements the materials in other series. The letters written prior to 1892 are of two types: a small body of correspondence between Miss Talbot's parents and their associates which later came into her possession; and a body of Miss Talbot's early letters, which highlight her personal relationships and reflect her developing interest in equal rights for women-particularly in educational and career opportunities. Miss Talbot's early work in the field of "sanitary science" is also documented.
The letters written in 1892 vividly record the early days of the University of Chicago. Miss Talbot participated from the beginning in such matters as faculty organization and the establishment of student life; her letters also record the realities of life under initially primitive physical conditions. Most of the letters from this time are between Miss Talbot and her Boston family; usually both sides of this correspondence has been preserved. There are also many letters from Alice Freeman Palmer who spent much of this first year with her husband at Harvard. Here one is given a picture, not only of the new educational venture in Chicago, but also of the on-going concerns of the established Eastern intellectual community.
Talbot's correspondence from 1892 until her retirement as Dean of Women in 1925 illuminate her various activities as Dean, as head of Green Hall, and as professor of Household Administration. Daily issues such as social deportment and the exigencies of dormitory life find their place next to the broader issues of the social and vocational roles of women. Throughout her own career in Household Administration, Talbot was called upon to recommend qualified persons in the field, and her opinions were frequently solicited regarding curriculum and other theoretical and academic dimensions of this work. Correspondence with her University colleagues in the social sciences and activities such as lecturing on sanitation at Hull House point illustrate Talbot's concern that her own discipline keep in touch with its theoretical neighbors and at the same time serve as a tool to promote social service and feminine dignity
In addition to many University of Chicago faculty members and Talbot's personal associates, some of Talbot's major correspondents are:
Jacob Abbott
Lyman Abbott
Countess of Aberdeen
Herbert Austin Adams
Maude Addams
Jane Addams
Elizabeth C. Agassiz
A. Bronson Alcott
Louisa May Alcott
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Lady Nancy Astor
Katharine Lee Bates
Henry Bernard
Eduard Benes
Anita McCormick Blaine
Sophonisba Breckenridge
John Dewey
Cyrus Eaton
Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Hamlin Garland
Arnold Gesell
Lillian Gish
Simon Guggenheim
Edward Everett Hale
G. Stanley Hall
William Rainey Harper
Carter Harrison
Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Julia Ward Howe
Cordell Hull
Harold Ickes
Helen Keller
Martha Lamb
Julia C. Lathrop
Mary A. Livermore
Julia Marlowe
Walter Hines Page
Bertha (Mrs. Potter) Palmer
Palmer, Mrs. Potter, undated [Box 1, folder 1]
Elizabeth S.Phelps [Ward]
Theodore Roosevelt
Josiah Royce
Horace E.Scudder
Vida Dutton Scudder
Lucy Stone
W. I. Thomas
Thorstein Veblen
Booker T.Washington
Edith Wharton
Frances E. Willard
Ella Flagg Young
Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler
Brief abstracts of most letters in the Correspondence series are available in the Special Collections Research Center.
Series II: University of Chicago includes valuable material on the early history of the University, with a particular focus on women students.
Series III: Diaries, Articles and Books, includes diaries and travel journals, drafts and reprints of articles and addresses drafts, proofs and correspondence related to Talbot's books, particularly More than Lore (1936).
Series IV contains memorabilia and autographs collected by Talbot, material related to the life and work of her parents, particularly her mother, Emily Talbot and autobiographical documents.
Series V: Photographs, includes primarily family and personal images; also included are photographs of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Franz Liszt and views of Boston ca. 1892.
Series VI contains a small number of postcards, clippings on co-education, and small files of material on the World's Columbian Exposition and the Association of Collegiate Alumnae.
The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:
Browse finding aids by topic.Series I: Correspondence, 1897-1948 |
| Box 1 Folder 1 | Undated letters arranged alphabetically, including-
|
| Box 1 Folder 2 | Correspondence from Louisa May Alcott (and family) to Marion and Emily Talbot |
| Box 1 Folder 3 | Undated letters to Marion Talbot from her family |
| Box 1 Folder 3A | Transcripts of correspondence from Marion Talbot to her parents, September 25-October12, 1892 |
| Box 1 Folder 4 | Correspondence, 1854-1879 |
| Box 1 Folder 5 | Correspondence, 1880-1885 |
| Box 1 Folder 6 | Correspondence, 1886-1887 |
| Box 1 Folder 7 | Correspondence, 1888-1889 |
| Box 1 Folder 8 | Correspondence, 1890-1891 |
| Box 1 Folder 9 | Correspondence, 1892 [month unknown] |
| Box 1 Folder 10 | Correspondence, January-August 1892 |
| Box 1 Folder 11 | Correspondence, September 1892 |
| Box 1 Folder 12 | Correspondence, October 1892 |
| Box 1 Folder 13 | Correspondence, November -December 1892 |
| Box 1 Folder 14 | Correspondence, January-February 1893 |
| Box 1 Folder 15 | Correspondence, March-May 1893 |
| Box 1 Folder 16 | Correspondence, June 1893-1894 |
| Box 2 Folder 1 | Correspondence, 1895-1896 |
| Box 2 Folder 2 | Correspondence, 1897-1899 |
| Box 2 Folder 3 | Correspondence, 1900 |
| Box 2 Folder 4 | Correspondence, 1901-1902 |
| Box 2 Folder 5 | Correspondence, 1903-1904 |
| Box 2 Folder 6 | Correspondence, 1905-1909 |
| Box 2 Folder 7 | Correspondence, 1910-1913 |
| Box 2 Folder 8 | Correspondence, 1914-1919 |
| Box 2 Folder 9 | Correspondence, 1920-1924 |
| Box 2 Folder 10 | Correspondence, 1925 |
| Box 3 Folder 1 | Correspondence, 1926-1927 |
| Box 3 Folder 2 | Correspondence, 1928-1929 |
| Box 3 Folder 3 | Correspondence, 1930-October 1931 |
| Box 3 Folder 4 | Correspondence, November -December 1931 |
| Box 3 Folder 5 | Correspondence, 1932-1935 |
| Box 3 Folder 6 | Correspondence, 1936 |
| Box 3 Folder 7 | Correspondence, 1937-1938 |
| Box 3 Folder 8 | Correspondence, 1939 |
| Box 3 Folder 9 | Correspondence, 1940-1943 |
| Box 3 Folder 10 | Correspondence, 1944-1945 |
| Box 3 Folder 11 | Correspondence, 1946-1948 |
Series II: University of Chicago |
| Box 4 Folder 1 | Dean of Women, general, 1892-1910 |
| Box 4 Folder 2 | Dean of Women, general, 1911-1925 |
| Box 4 Folder 3 | Women's Clubs (Pi Beta Phi Fraternity and the question of admitting sororities at the University of Chicago, ca. 1894-1898) |
| Box 4 Folder 4 | Women's Clubs, 1910-1925 |
| Box 4 Folder 5 | Women Fellow's Club, minutes, 1898 |
| Box 4 Folder 6 | Women's Union, minutes, 1901-1904 |
| Box 4 Folder 7 | Women's Union, minutes, 1905-1909 |
| Box 4 Folder 8 | Women's Union, account books, 1902-1908 |
| Box 4 Folder 9 | Junior College of Arts (Women), minutes, 1906-1909 |
| Box 4 Folder 10 | Junior College of Science (Women), minutes, 1906-1909 |
| Box 4 Folder 11 | Women's Administrative Council, minutes, 1914-1916, holograph |
| Box 4 Folder 12 | Women's Administrative Council, minutes, 1914-1916, typescript |
| Box 4 Folder 13 | Women's Houses (dormitories), 1892-1924 |
| Box 5 Folder 1 | Women's Commons, 1894-1917 |
| Box 5 Folder 2 | Women's Gym, 1909 |
| Box 5 Folder 3 | Ida Noyes Hall, planning and dedication, 1913-1915 |
| Box 5 Folder 4 | Green House constitution and account books |
| Box 5 Folder 5 | Household Administration Department, general |
| Box 5 Folder 6 | Household Administration Department, conference and exhibit, June 6, 1916 (Quarter Centennial Celebration) |
| Box 5 Folder 7 | Child Welfare Study Group, Spring Quarter 1917 |
| Box 5 Folder 8 | Nurses' training courses, 1918-1923 |
| Box 5 Folder 9 | World War I, general |
| Box 5 Folder 10 | World War I, Women and the War |
| Box 5 Folder 11 | Status of University of Chicago women faculty and students, 1920s |
| Box 5 Folder 12 | Social life, 1923-1924 |
| Box 5 Folder 13 | Official University of Chicago color, ca. 1894 |
| Box 5 Folder 14 | (Graduate) Student Faculty, minutes, 1898-1899 (also membership and committee reports) |
| Box 5 Folder 15 | Curriculum Committee, ca. 1914-1916 |
| Box 5 Folder 16 | Racial discrimination, 1914-1915, Series Diaries, Articles and Books |
Series III: Diaries, Articles and Books |
| Box 6 Folder 1 | Diary, 1879-1880 |
| Box 6 Folder 2 | Diary, 1880-1881 |
| Box 6 Folder 3 | Marion Talbot's description of her trip to Norway, 1886 |
| Box 6 Folder 4 | European journal, 1908 |
| Box 6 Folder 5 | Papers read at Boston University, 1877-1881 |
| Box 6 Folder 6 | Dated articles and speeches, 1887-1915 |
| Box 6 Folder 7 | Dated articles and speeches, 1916-1925 |
| Box 6 Folder 8 | Dated articles and speeches, 1926-1948 |
| Box 7 Folder 1 | Undated articles |
| Box 7 Folder 2 | Articles and lectures on Household Administration and Sanitary Science |
| Box 7 Folder 3 | Articles, "Romping on Beacon Hill," and "Glimpses of the Real Louisa May Alcott" |
| Box 7 Folder 4 | Addresses delivered at the Constantinople Women's College |
| Box 7 Folder 5 | Biographical sketches written for the Association of Collegiate Alumnae |
| Box 7 Folder 6 | Reprints of Marion Talbot's column in The House Beautiful, 1902-1904 |
| Box 7 Folder 7 | Reprints, 1887-1899 |
| Box 7 Folder 8 | Reprints, 1900-1929 |
| Box 7 Folder 9 | Reprints, 1930-1945 |
| Box 8 Folder 1 | The Modern Household, Talbot and Breckinridge |
| Box 8 Folder 1A | The Modern Household, Talbot and Breckinridge |
| Box 8 Folder 2 | The Education of Women, Talbot |
| Box 8 Folder 3 | More than Lore, Talbot |
| Box 8 Folder 4 | More than Lore, Typescript draft |
| Box 8 Folder 5 | More than Lore, Galley proofs |
| Box 8 Folder 6 | Letters and documents concerning the publishing of Marion Talbot's books |
Series IV: Family and Memorabilia |
| Box 9 Folder 1 | Documents and letters concerning Marion Talbot's parents |
| Box 9 Folder 2 | Emily Talbot, reports and papers given under the auspices of the American Social Science Association, 1881 |
| Box 9 Folder 3 | Emily Talbot Lectureship (est. 1910) and the Marion Talbot Fellowship (est. 1925) |
| Box 9 Folder 4 | Lawsuit, Esther Mercy vs. Marion Talbot, 1912 |
| Box 9 Folder 5 | Lawsuit, Esther Mercy vs. Marion Talbot, 1912 |
| Box 9 Folder 6 | Speeches given on Marion Talbot's retirement from the University of Chicago, 1925 |
| Box 9 Folder 7 | Constantinople Women's College, reports, miscellaneous documents |
| Box 9 Folder 8 | Deeds and correspondence regarding Marion Talbot's home in Holderness County, New Hampshire |
| Box 9 Folder 9 | Marion Talbot's instruction concerning her funeral |
| Box 9 Folder 10 | Christmas cards |
| Box 10 | Passport, 1927-1928 |
| Box 10 | Passport, 1931-1932 |
| Box 10 | Women's clubs roster, 1903-1906 |
| Box 10 | Women's clubs roster, 1907-1915 |
| Box 10 | Women's clubs roster, 1915-1918 |
| Box 10 | Women's clubs roster, 1920-1922 |
| Box 10 | Women's clubs roster, 1922-1925 |
| Box 10 | Guestbook - "Pine Eyrie," Holderness, New Hampshire, 1902-1914 |
| Box 10 | Guestbook - "Pine Tree Cove," Holderness, New Hampshire, 1914-1936 |
| Box 10 | Engagement book, 1901 |
| Box 10 | Engagement book, 1902 |
| Box 10 | Engagement book, 1902 |
| Box 10 | Engagement book, 1904 |
| Box 10 | Engagement book, 1905 |
| Box 10 | Engagement book, 1906 |
| Box 10 | Engagement book, 1907 |
| Box 10 | Engagement book, 1908 |
| Box 10 | Engagement book, 1909 |
| Box 10 | Engagement book, 1910 |
| Box 10 | Engagement book, 1911 |
| Box 10 | Engagement book, 1912 |
| Box 10 | Engagement book, 1913 |
| Box 10A Folder 1 | United States certificate of citizenship, degrees, memberships, and awards, 1889-1947 |
| Box 10A Folder 2 | Invitations and programs, 1924-1945 |
| Box 10A Folder 3 | Memorial programs, 1939-1945 |
| Box 10A Folder 4 | Keepsakes, 1935 and undated |
| Box 10A Folder 5 | American Public Health Association certificate of appreciation, 1936 |
| Box 10A Folder 6 | Retirement keepsake, 1925 |
| Box 11 Folder 1 | Autographs. Collection of autographs disbound from Marion Talbot's scrapbook, including-
|
Series V: Photographs |
| Box 11 Folder 2 | Richards letter and photograph |
| Box 11 Folder 3 | Franz Liszt photographs |
| Box 11 Folder 4 | Photographs of Miss Talbot and Pine Tree Cove |
| Box 11 Folder 5 | Baby Party photographs, 1920 |
| Box 11 Folder 6 | Constantinople College Photographs |
| Box 11 Folder 7 | Social Service photographs, Constantinople |
| Box 11 Folder 8 | Identified Portrait photographs |
| Box 11 Folder 9 | Photographs of Boston and Cambridge |
| Box 11 Folder 10 | Postcards |
| Box 11 Folder 11 | Children's Party photographs, 1915 |
| Box 11 Folder 12 | Photographs of Baalbek and Jebeil, 1928 |
| Box 11 Folder 13 | Unidentified photographs |
| Box 11 Folder 14 | Miscellaneous identified photographs |
| Box 11 Folder 15 | Miscellaneous identified photographs |
| Box 11 Folder 16 | Miscellaneous identified photographs |
| Box 11 Folder 17 | Miscellaneous identified photographs |
Series VI: Miscellaneous |
| Box 12 Folder 1 | Postcards
|
| Box 12 Folder 2 | Articles and news clippings on co-education |
| Box 12 Folder 3 | World's Columbian Exposition correspondence |
| Box 12 Folder 4 | Association of Collegiate Alumnae materials |
| Box 12 Folder 5 | Biographical information |
| Box 12 Folder 6 | The Life of Alice Freeman Palmer by George H. Palmer; pasted inside volume is an invitation to the wedding of George Herbert Palmer and Alice Elvira Freeman addressed to Talbot, 1887 |