Contents

Collection Overview

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

Marian Sage Seewoster Papers, 1927-1986

Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Kate Baker.

Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© 2003

Biographical Note

Marian Sage Seewoster was born Marian Strong Sage on December 11, 1907 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The daughter of Herbert Strong Sage and Katherine Corkery, Marian attended the Wilkes-Barre Institute before beginning her studies at Smith College. Marian graduated with the class of 1929 after spending her junior year abroad in Paris, France at the University of Paris. She did graduate work at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

In St. Louis, Marian taught French at the Mary Institute, now the Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School, for 36 years, taught English to foreign students at the International Institute, and was active in community organizations that promoted French culture. These included the Alliance Francaise, Societe Francaise, and the American Association of the Teachers of French. She married Charles C. Seewoster and had a son, Charles Sage Seewoster in (1951?) Charles, Sr. died in 1972. Marian died on July 30, 1999 in St. Louis, MO at the age of 91.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

While attending her Junior Year in Paris she sent numerous letters home to her parents in Wilkes-Barre. This is a collection of those letters - kept and numbered by her parents as they were received - along with an incomplete set of transcriptions and miscellaneous correspondence received by Marian later in her life.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into two series:

• I. Correspondence
• II. Transcripts

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Series I: Correspondence (1927-1928, 1947-1986)

The first series, Correspondence (1927-1928, 1947-1986), contains Marian's correspondence to her parents during her Junior Year Abroad in Paris from August 1927 through April 1928. In her letters, Marian describes her studies, travels, and friends - much as any college student would. She wrote to her parents about her impressions of France and the French people she met, about her friends from Smith, and about the new friends and boyfriends she made in Paris. Marian describes in excited detail many of the operas, dances, and teas she attended. She chronicles her travels throughout Europe - her day trips in France and Switzerland, and her Spring Break trip around northern Italy.

A letter received by Marian from her aunt, Cornelia B. Sage Quinton, is also included. This is the only piece of received correspondence from Marian's JYA year included in the collection and is especially interesting because it congratulates Marian on her acceptance to the Sorbonne, something Marian doesn't mention in her letters home. Following the JYA correspondence are four folders containing postcards that Marian received later in her life.

Series II: Transcripts of JYA Correspondence

The second series, Transcripts, is composed of four folders containing transcripts of a majority of Marian's letters. These transcripts span the dates from 19 August 1927 to 7 May 1928. Those labeled "Transcripts by MSS" were transcribed by Marian Sage Seewoster. The transcriber of the others is Ms.Candace O'Connor, the donor of the papers.