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Marjorie Severyns Ravenholt post-World War II reports from China
Title
Marjorie Severyns Ravenholt post-World War II reports from China, 1945-1946.
Physical Description
0.21 linear feet (1 box)
Language
English
Notes
In English.
Provenance
Purchased from William Reese Co. (Hands of Women sale, 2022: 57511) on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2022. Formerly owned by the Ravenholt family.
Organization
Arranged chronologically.
Access and use
This material is open for research.
Biographical / Historical Note
Marjorie Severyns Ravenholt (1920-1992) was an expert on Asia who worked for government, news, and non-profit organizations. She studied political science, international law, and history at the University of Washington, and earned her master's in international law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts. During World War II she served in India and China as an intelligence officer for the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and later became a correspondent in China for LIFE magazine. After the war she served as an analyst for a U.S. economic mission to China, served as director of education and information for the Sino-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction, and spent more than 30 years working for the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation.
Summary
This collection consists of 69 typescript reports (151 pages), the majority of which are carbon copies with typescript and manuscript corrections, sent by Marjorie Severyns Ravenholt via wireless transmission from China to Time, Inc., in New York between September 1945 and May 1946. The majority of the reports are written in cablese. The collection includes a few original typescripts, and a small number of the carbon copies are duplicates. All reports except one have been signed or initialed by Ravenholt; in addition, Annalee Jacoby is listed alongside Ravenholt as a co-author on the September 22, 1945, report. Many of the reports have been stamped and signed or initialed by a Chinese censor, with occasional redactions. The collection also contains two newspaper clippings.
Subjects covered include the return of British and American banking and industry to China, post-war tension between China and Japan, post-war epidemics in China, General George C. Marshall's arrival in China in December 1945 and April 1946, the trip of the US naval vessel LSM 470 to deliver medicine and gasoline to towns along the Yangtze River, the experiences of press correspondents and American foreign service members in China, and delays in the return of American soldiers to the US. Severyns' dispatches include interviews with Yasuji Okamura, general of the Imperial Japanese Army and commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army, and Pei Tsu-Yi, head of the Central Bank of China.
Her reports also include profiles of Ariadne Lee, the only female officer in the Chinese army, and Tatar lexicographer Abdullah Mussah, as well as a cultural interest piece on Peking Man. Also present are several informational reports providing status updates about the work and movements in China of other journalists and photographers affiliated with LIFE, including Dmitri Kessel, Jack Wilkes, Richard Lauterbach, and John Hersey.
Format
Archives or Manuscripts
Added to Catalog
November 14, 2022
References
Marjorie Severyns Ravenholt Post-World War II Reports from China. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Cite as
Marjorie Severyns Ravenholt Post-World War II Reports from China. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Subjects
Genre/Form
Dispatches.
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