Scope and Contents
The collection contains correspondence and other materials relating to the family of American novelist and author John Hersey. Correspondence consists of letters from John Hersey and other members of the Hersey and Baird families to Roscoe Monroe and Grace Baird Hersey. There are letters from John Hersey to his parents dating from his graduate studies in Cambridge, England, in 1936 and 1937, to dispatches written as a war correspondent, in 1942, while in the South Pacific. Other materials include various family papers, such as John's school books, a copy of his undergraduate thesis, "The Letters of John Trumbull," clippings and printed ephemera, photographs, and manuscript notes by Roscoe Monroe Hersey. Photograph albums contain images of China, circa 1907 and 1908, the Hersey family, and France in WWI, and a scrapbook documents the lives of Hersey children starting in 1912.
Dates
- 1860 - 1952
- Majority of material found within 1906 - 1942
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Hersey Family Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Charles Apfelbaum on the Eugene G. O'Neill Memorial Fund, 1994.
Arrangement
Organized into two series: I. Correspondence, 1881-1942. II. Other Materials, 1860-1952.
Extent
2.29 Linear Feet ((8 boxes) + 1 broadside folder)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
Collection contains correspondence and other materials relating to the family of American novelist and author John Hersey. Correspondence contains letters from John Hersey and members of the Hersey and Baird families. There are letters from John Hersey to his parents dating from his graduate studies in Cambridge, England, in 1936 and 1937, to dispatches written as a war correspondent, in 1942, while in the South Pacific. Other materials include various family papers, such as John's school books, a copy of his undergraduate thesis, "The Letters of John Trumbull," clippings and printed ephemera, photographs, and manuscript notes by Roscoe Monroe Hersey. Photograph albums contain images of China, circa 1907 and 1908, the Hersey family, and France in WWI, and a scrapbook documents the lives of Hersey children, starting in 1912
Hersey Family
Roscoe Monroe Hersey (1878-) and Grace Baird Hersey (1882-1966) were missionaries in Tientsin, China, where Roscoe worked as a secretrary for the Young Men's Christian Association. The Hersey family returned to the United States in 1925 and settled in Briarcliff Manor, New York. After they returned to the U.S.,their son John Richard Hersey (1914-1993), the novelist and author, attended public school, Hotchkiss School, Yale University, and Clare College, Cambridge before working as a journalist, first for Time magazine (1937-1944), and then as a correspondent and editor for Life and The New Yorker.
Biographical information taken from "Hersey, John Richard." The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives. Ed. Kenneth T. Jackson, Karen Markoe, and Arnold Markoe. Vol. 3: 1991-1993. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. 268-270. Biography In Context. Web. 8 April 2013.
Language(s)
Chiefly in English; some material in Chinese.
Processing Information
The collection received preliminary processing around the time of acquisition in 1994. Further organization, rehousing, and description were carried out in 2013.
Former call number: Uncat Za Ms 343.
- American literature -- 20th century
- Authors -- United States -- 20th century
- Authors, American -- 20th Century -- Archives
- China -- Pictorial works
- Hersey family
- Hersey, Grace Baird
- Hersey, John, 1914-1993
- Hersey, Roscoe Monroe
- Photographic prints
- Trumbull, John, 1750-1831
- World War, 1914-1918 -- France -- Pictorial works
- Title
- Guide to the Hersey Family Papers
- Author
- by Beinecke staff
- Date
- April 2013
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.