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Blake papers, ca. 1913-1964.Finding AidEncoding funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.© 2004
Biographical NoteMarion Elizabeth Blake was born on March 23, 1892 in New Britain, Connecticut to Arthur C. and Elizabeth Snow Blake. She attended New Haven High School and arrived at Mount Holyoke College in 1909, earning her B.A. in 1913 with majors in Greek and Latin. She earned her M.A. (1917) and her Ph.D. (1921) from Cornell University. Blake was a teacher at Wethersfield (Connecticut) High School, 1913-1917; an instructor of Latin and Greek at Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois, 1921-1922; an assistant and associate professor of Greek and Latin at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1922-1928; an associate professor of Greek at Mount Holyoke College, 1929-1936; an associate professor of Art and Archaeology at Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Virginia, 1936; a Latin professor at Winthrop College in Rock Hill, South Carolina, 1937-1938; and a research associate on Roman Archaeology at the Carnegie Institute in Washington, D.C., 1938-1947. She then worked and lived in Rome, Italy as a researcher at the American Academy Library, where she studied Roman construction from 1947 to 1961. Blake died in Rome on September 11, 1961 at the age of seventy-three. Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Contents of the CollectionThe Marion Elizabeth Blake Papers consist of correspondence; a travel diary; writings, including academic papers for her masters and Ph.D. degrees (Cornell University) and two published archaeological articles; biographical information; archaeological photographs and sketches; photographs of Blake, and photographs taken on a visit to Scandinavia in 1930. Of particular note are the letters she wrote to Cora L. Eastman, 1937-1961, discussing her life in Rome at the start of World War II and her research conducted in Roman construction at the American Academy in Rome, and her writings, all of which deal with Roman construction and archaeology, a topic which occupied a significant part of her life. The letters discuss people and events at the American Academy in Rome, social conditions, visits to the opera, events in the deDaehn family, with whom Blake boarded, travels in Italy, air raids in Sicily, bombings, wartime shortages and restrictions, Mussolini's power, and the Marshall Plan. Also of particular note is the travel diary from Blake's trip to Scandinavia in 1930, in which she documents the itinerary of her stops in Oslo, Norway, Stockholm, Sweden, Danzig, Poland, and Visby, Gotland, Sweden, and her thoughts on each destination along the trip. Return to the Table of Contents Search TermsReturn to the Table of Contents Organization of the CollectionThis collection is organized into six series: Return to the Table of Contents Contents ListCorrespondence, 1937-1961 2 foldersThis series consists of typed and edited letters that Blake wrote to her friend, Cora L. Eastman, between 1937-1961. The letters date from August 1, 1937 to April 14, 1940, when Blake was a researcher at the American Academy in Rome, then from 1948-1961, when she returned to the Academy after spending the World War II years in the United States. Blake's letters discuss visitors to the Academy, the many different nationalities represented at the Academy, and the lectures given there. The letters also discuss excavations, the opera, and trips taken to Cortona and Cassino. In addition, the letters mention the deDaehn family with whom Blake boarded while in Italy. Blake's letters then go on to report on problems with maids and wartime and postwar shortages of food, coal, cooking gas, water, and electricity. The letters also discuss Mussolini, wartime rationing, and the impact of the Marshall Plan on Italy after 1948. The correspondence also includes a short letter from Blake written to Mary Woolley, President of Mount Holyoke College, in 1937, inquiring if a teaching position may be open for her and Woolley's reply. Arranged chronologically.
Diary, 1930 1 folderThe diary is a personal account of a trip Blake took to the North Cape in Scandinavia in 1930. The diary documents Blake's trip to Norway, Sweden, and Northern Poland. The diary is eleven pages long and includes her thoughts of people and places she saw along her trip. It documents her stops in Visby, Gotland, Sweden; Stockholm, Sweden; Danzig, Poland; and Oslo, Norway. Included in the diary are pictures of sites. Included is a brochure describing the itinerary of this trip. Arranged chronologically.
Writings, 1918-1948 5 foldersThe writings include a thesis Marion Blake submitted to Cornell University in 1918, for fulfillment of her Master of Arts degree, with a concentration on Latin and archaeology. Her bound thesis is entitled "The Reliefs of the Arch of Constantine." The series also includes the dissertation she submitted to Cornell University in 1921, as a partial fulfillment of the requirement for her Ph.D. Her dissertation is entitled, "A Laboratory Manual for the Study of Pre-Euclidean Attic Inscriptions. Part I. Inscriptions Prior to 480." Also included is a manuscript paper entitled "The Pavement of Rome and its Vicinity of the Republican and Augustan Epochs" by Marion Blake,(1925) which includes archaeological photographs. The paper is accompanied by a letter to Blake from William Buren, written in 1926, at the American Academy in Rome Library regarding her research in Rome and her application for a Guggenheim Fellowship The letter also includes corrections and changes to the paper. At the back of the paper is another letter to Blake from the Archaeological Institute of America acknowledging that the paper will be read at their next meeting. Also included is a handwritten "Chronological Study of the Cement Pavements of Pompeii," (circa 1929) which was to be published in the memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. Also included in the series are published works by Blake including "The Pavements of the Roman Buildings of the Republic and Early Empire," 1930, "Roman Mosaics of the Second Century in Italy," 1936, and "Roman Mosaics of the Third Century After Christ," 1940. The series also includes a published paper by Blake entitled "Ancient Roman Construction in Italy from the Prehistoric Period to Augustus (1948). Arranged chronologically.
Biographical Information, 1918-1961, 1963, 1964 2 foldersThe biographical information included Blake's resume, newspaper clippings, an announcement of Blake's renewed Guggenheim fellowship, a report composed through the Carnegie Institute of Washington about Blake and her research, two telegrams to Cora Eastman from her brother, Azel Blake, regarding Marion Blake's death and funeral arrangements, an obituary note, a letter from the American Academy in Rome sent to Cora Eastman concerning Blake's death, a copy of the Classical Society of the American Academy in Rome's Fall Newsletter announcing Blake's death, and a collection of four letters from Doris Bishop of the American Academy in Rome to Cora Eastman, written between October 1963-January 1964, which discusses the details of Blake's work and the people who Blake may have worked with in Rome. Arranged chronologically.
Archaeological Material, 1920 1 folderThe archaeological material includes a sketch plan of Mausoleum and Nereid Mon, sketches of building structures, several sketches of the Todi Mosaic, a sheet of sketch of the different shapes of vases, archaeological photographs, and pictures of Roman mosaics. According to a note found with this material, these sketches and photographs date from 1920. Arranged chronologically.
Photographs, circa 1913-circa 1962 2 foldersThis series includes a photograph of Blake probably taken when she graduated from Mount Holyoke College in circa 1913, a snapshot of her from the 1920s or 1930s, and two snapshots of Blake taken late in life and printed in April 1962. There is also a collection of mostly unlabeled photographs collected by Cora Eastman which were apparently taken in Italy and include snapshot of buildings, people, and scenes. Blake may be in some of the photographs. Included in the series are five photographs of Scandinavian people from Blake's trip to Scandinavia in 1930. Arranged chronologically.
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