Contents
Descriptive Summary
SCOPE AND CONTENT
SELECTED SEARCH TERMS
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE RECORDS
Ser. 1. Correspondence, 1937-1990
Ser. 2 Notes of Olga B. Skeehan
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Nora Waln Research Papers, 1933-1990
RKO
1995
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Creator
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Olga B. Skeehan |
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Title
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Nora Waln Research Papers, |
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Dates:
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1933-1990 |
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Abstract:
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The research papers of Olga B. Skeehan, compiled in the 1970s to aid Ann Waln Ody in writing a biographical memoir of her sister, the Quaker writer Nora Waln. Ann Waln Ody died before she could write the memoir, and Olga B. Skeehan donated her research papers to Friends Historical Library in 1989. Collection contains correspondence, notes, and some printed material relating to the lives of Nora Waln and her husband, George Edward Osland-Hill, whom she referred to as "Ted". Includes a bibliography of Nora Waln's writings. Nora Waln (1895-1964) was in the class of 1919 at Swarthmore College, but left before graduating to pursue relief work during World War I. In 1920 she sailed for China to visit the Lin family in Hopei Province and ended up living there for twelve years. While in China she met and married George Edward Osland-Hill. She and her husband lived in Germany from 1934-1938. Later, she traveled widely in Europe, Asia and the Americas, contributing articles to the Saturday Evening Post, Atlantic Monthly and other magazines.
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Extent:
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1 box; 0.25 linear ft. |
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Identification:
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RG 5/169 |
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Location:
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For current information on the location of materials, please consult the Library's online catalog |
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
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1895-1920 |
Nora Waln was born June 4, 1895, and died September 27, 1964, aged 70. She was born in Grampian Hills, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, daughter of Thomas Lincoln and Lillian (Quest) Waln, and granddaughter of Elijah and Ann Waln. She was a descendant of Nicholas Waln, who came to Pennsylvania on the ship Lamb in 1682, on the Settle certificate, from Yorkshire, England. Nora Waln was in the class of 1919 at Swarthmore College, but left before graduating to pursue relief work during World War I. |
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1920-1932 |
In 1920 she sailed for China to visit the Lin family in Hopei Province and ended up living there for twelve years. While in China she met and married George Edward Osland-Hill, an officer in the English Foreign Service, whom she called "Ted." Ted had one daughter by his first wife, Marie Osland-Hill Wade, Class of 1940 at Swarthmore College. Nora wrote House of Exile about her years in China. |
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1934-1939 |
She and her husband lived in Germany from 1934-1938 after he had retired from the Foreign Service and wanted to study music. Her book Reaching for the Stars was published in 1939 and dedicated to Charles F. Jenkins. In this book she expressed great faith in the German people and predicted that such an educated people would not permit the National Socialism of Hitler to last. By the time World War II was over she was not so sure, because so many of the people who had been against the Nazis were no longer living. |
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1940s-1950s |
She traveled widely in Europe, Asia and the Americas, contributing articles to the Saturday Evening Post, Atlantic Monthly and other magazines. She was one of the few correspondents and journalists who reported from Communist China and Mongolia. From 1947-1951 she was Tokyo correspondent for the Saturday Evening Post and later was correspondent for Atlantic Monthly in Germany and Scandinavia. She was a freelance writer from 1951 on. Other books she wrote were The Street of Precious Pearls and Surrender the Heart. |
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1940-1964 |
In 1940 Swarthmore College conferred on Nora Waln the honorary degree of Master of Arts, which was accepted in absentia by her step-daughter, a member of the graduating class, as her representative. After the war she made a lecture tour of 90 speeches around the United States, including one at the College. All of the proceeds were to go to the war relief organizations. Her husband died in 1958, and for the last three years of her life, she lived near Malaga, in southern Spain. She had brothers Robert and James, and sisters Emma, Mabel Waln Smith, and Ann Waln Ody. |
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This collection consists of the accumulated correspondence and notes compiled by Olga B. Skeehan about Nora Waln (1895-1964), a Quaker writer. Nora Waln's sister, Ann Waln Ody, was gathering material for a biographical memoir of her sister and asked Olga B. Skeehan for assistance. Olga B. Skeehan did research and made notes of her personal recollections of Nora Waln, whom she first met in Vienna in the 1930s.
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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Friends Historical Library (TRIPOD). Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings:
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Ser. 1. Correspondence, 1937-1990
Letters from Olga B. Skeehan are carbon copies.
Box
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Folder
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1 |
Nora Waln to Olga Skeehan
1937-63 & n.d. 7 ALsS, 1 TLS
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Olga Skeehan to Nora Waln
1963 TL
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Nora Waln to Charles F. Jenkins
1933 TL
Original in PG7, Waln, Nora.
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Olga Skeehan to and from Marie Osland-Hill Wade, Nora Waln's stepdaughter
1964-71 1 ALS, 4 TLs
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Olga Skeehan to and from Ann Jenkins Lennox, Nora Waln's goddaughter,
1964-90 3 ASLsS, 3 TLs
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Olga Skeehan to and from Alice Waln (Mrs. Robert Waln), Nora Waln's sister-in-law,
1964-79 6 ALsS, 4 TLs
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Olga Skeehan to and from people unrelated to Nora Waln who knew her
1966-74 7 ALsS, 4 TLsS, 12 TLs
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Olga Skeehan to and from Friends Historical Library concerning the donation of this collection
1989-90 1 ALS, 2 TLsS, 3 TLs
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Ser. 2 Notes of Olga B. Skeehan
These are the categories established by Olga B. Skeehan.
Box
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Folder
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| 1 |
6 |
Genealogical notes and addresses
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8 |
George Edward Osland-Hill
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China and Chinese History
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Larson, Duke of Mongolia, thought to be Nora Waln's first literary pursuit
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Bibliography of Nora Waln's writings
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