Collection ID: LMC 1688
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Collection context

Summary

Creator:
McClure, Eleanor Amelia, 1884-, McClure, Robert Louis Stevenson, 1888-, McClure, Samuel S., 1921-, Mackenzie, Elizabeth Harriet (McClure), 1886-, Giordiano, Enrico, 1901-, and Steele, Frederic Dorr, 1873-1944
Abstract:
The McClure mss. II, 1883-1947, consists of papers and correspondence relating to family members and acquaintances of the McClure family.
Extent:
3 Boxes (2 standard, 1 custom) and 2 bound
Language:
Materials are in English .
Preferred citation:

[Item], McClure mss. II, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Background

Biographical / Historical:

Eleanor McClure, 1884-1973, was an American teacher and the daughter of S.S. McClure. She was born on July 17, 1884 in East Orange, New Jersey. She attended Knox College and became a French teacher there. In 1908 she was engaged to her classmate Fred Savage, but they never married. After her engagement, she continued to live and travel with her parents. She died in Westport, Connecticut.

Elizabeth Harriet (McClure) Mackenzie, 1886-1967, was a clothing buyer and the daughter of S.S. McClure. Elizabeth, also known as "Bess" or "Bessie" was born on September 17, 1886 in New York. In 1907 she married Cameron Mackenzie, 1882-1921, who was working as the assistant managing editor of McClure's Magazine. They had one son, the younger Cameron Mackenzie, 1910-1993. During World War I, Elizabeth worked with the Red Cross in France while her husband worked as a war correspondent in Europe. Elizabeth was widowed in 1921 when Cameron Mackenzie died suddenly of pneumonia. She would eventually move in with her father, S.S. McClure, while supporting herself and her son as a buyer of ladies wear.

Robert Louis Stevenson McClure, 1888-1949, was the son of S.S. McClure. He was born on November 1, 1888 in New York City. He attended Knox College and Bellarmine University. On June 26, 1909 he married Edith Dodds and they had four children. During World War I, McClure served as a first lieutenant, Air Service, Acting Operations officer of Lafayette Escadrille. Since he was fluent in French, he also served as a military interpreter in France. He died on October 2, 1949.

Enrico Giordiano, 1901-?, was the son of Italian immigrants in New York who was adopted by the McClure family. In 1904, Elizabeth McClure informally adopted Enrico and brought him to the McClure household, where he was promptly accepted into the McClure family. From 1910 to 1914 Enrico was enrolled at Interlaken Boarding School for Boys in Rolling Prairie, Indiana. In 1911 a fire in the house where he lived destroyed all of his belongings. In 1917 Enrico misrepresented his age and was recruited into the 76th Field Artillery. By December of 1919 he was in LaPorte, Indiana, walking the streets in an effort to find a job. He was unsuccessful there, but in 1920 he found a job in South Bend with the Studebaker Corporation. To supplement his finances he became the local representative in South Bend for The Curtis Publishing Company. Early in 1921 he was working for Armour & Company, but by 1925 he was employed in Waterbury, Connecticut.

Scope and Content:

The collection has been arranged into three categories. In the first category are letters from artists, clergymen, diplomats, dramatists, editors, journalists, lawyers, novelists, and poets primarily to Samuel Sidney McClure. The bulk of the material, however, falls into the second category which consists of correspondence between members of the family and is of a personal nature. There are numerous letters from the McClure children when they were young. These letters include correspondence from their time at the Mackenzie School and Misses Masters School for Girls, both at Dobbs' Ferry on Hudson, New York; as well as correspondence from their time enrolled in both Knox College and universities abroad. Family correspondence also includes letters from Enrico Giordiano and reports from his boarding school. Other letters relate to his experiences during World War I and during the long stay of his division in Europe after the war.

There are also a number of letters from Eleanor's son, Samuel S. McClure, 1921-1965, while a student in England and Cornell University, and while he was stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas.

In the third category are photographs of Samuel Sidney McClure, members of his family and friends, and snapshots, which were not identified.

Included also are fifteen drawings by Frederic Dorr Steele for McClure's Autobiography; passports, 1898-1932; a few printed items; and C. C. Reiger's The Era of Muckrakers (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1932).

Among correspondents in the collection not related to the family are William Archer, William Black, Mrs. Frances Eliza (Hodgson) Burnett, Mrs. Marie (Van Vorst) Cagiati, Charles Benedict Driscoll, Francis Patrick Duffy, Elizabeth Dunbar, Thomas Gold Frost, Hamlin Garland, James Watson Gerard, Alberto Giaccardi, John Gunther, Henry Harland, Frederic Jennings Haskin, Clara Hill, Sidney Kramer, Oliver Lippincott, Hudson Maxim, Mrs. Alice Christina (Thompson) Meynell, Cincinnatus Heine Miller, Anne Eugenia Delicia Morgan, Raymond Riordon, Evelyn Blantyre Simpson, Theodore Stanton, Theodore Lothrop Stoddard, Mrs. Katherine Cecil (Madden) Thurston, Elmo Scott Watson, Mrs. Mabel (Walker) Willebrandt, Ames W. Williams, Mrs. Alice Muriel (Livingston) Williamson, and Samuel Thurston Williamson.

Note on Indexing Term - "World War, 1914-1918": During World War I there are letters from Eleanor McClure who was in England, Elizabeth (McClure) Mackenzie who was associated with the Red Cross in France and Robert McClure who was a first lieutenant in the Air Service acting as an interpreter in France. Elizabeth (McClure) Mackenzie's adopted son Enrico was in the 76th Field Artillery and numerous letters relate his experiences during the war and during the long stay of his division in Europe after the war.

Acquisition information:
Gift: 1971
Physical location:
Lilly - Stacks

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

This collection is open for research.

Many collections are housed offsite; retrieval requires advance notice. Please make an appointment a minimum of one week in advance of your visit.

TERMS OF ACCESS:

Photography and digitization may be restricted for some collections. Copyright restrictions may apply. Before publishing, researchers are responsible for securing permission from all applicable rights holders, then filling out the Permission to Publish form.

PREFERRED CITATION:

[Item], McClure mss. II, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
1200 East Seventh Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405-5500, USA
CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
CONTACT:
(812) 855-2452
liblilly@indiana.edu