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The Ruth McBirney papers
MSS 113
The Ruth McBirney papers document the personal
life and professional career of a librarian from Boise, Idaho. A graduate
of Whitman College and the University of Washington, she worked at Columbia
University in New York (1942-1946) and the American Library in Paris (1947-1953)
before returning to her hometown, where she became head of the Boise Junior
College Library. During the course of her twenty-three years here
(1954-1977) she oversaw its transition from a junior college library to one serving
a four-year comprehensive state university. Her papers include
correspondence, datebooks, scrapbooks, clippings, memorabilia, family papers,
and photos, and
it is particularly rich in documenting her life and work in post-World War II
France. The collection occupies approximately
10 ft. of shelf space and spans the dates 1897-1991. It was processed by Mary
Carter-Hepworth and Alan Virta.
Outline of the collection
Biographical sketch
Series I…..Biographical
and Personal Papers
Series II…..Family correspondence
Series III…..General correspondence
Series IV…..American Library in
Paris
Series V…..Travel memorabilia
Series VI…..Memorabilia (including
datebooks)
Series VII…..Family papers
Series VIII…..Photos
Series I: Biographical and
Personal Papers
This series contains a variety of miscellaneous papers relating to
various aspects of Ruth McBirney’s personal life and library career. While
there are several files relating to her career at Boise State, most of the
records of her work at the university (including the library’s annual reports)
are located in the University Archives, Record Group 50 (Library).
Box 1:
Biographical and Personal Papers
Folder
1 Biography
Folder 2 Clippings, 1945-1965
Folder 3 Obituary, 1991
Folder 4 Death certificate, 1991
Folder 5 Education, 1936-1958
Folder 6 Whitman College
Folder 7 Columbia University: Course notes, 1942-1943
Folder 8 University of London, 1957
Folder 9 Diplomas, 1939 and 1940 (Whitman College; University of
Washington)
Folder 10 New York employment, 1942-1947
Folder 11 Boise Junior College: Library, 1958-1970
Folder 12 Boise Junior College: Library; Clippings
Folder 13 Boise State College: Clippings, etc.
Folder 14 Boise State University: Library, 1969-1974
Folder 15 Boise State University: Library; Retirement
Folder 16 Boise Junior College/Boise State University: Contracts,
1954-1977
Folder 17 Boise State University Foundation, 1974-1991
Folder 18 Ruth McBirney’s passports
Folder 19 Automobile records
Folder 20 Income tax records, 1941-1977
Folder 21 Finances
Folder 22 Retirement, Financial
Folder 23 Japanese porcelain purchases, 1969-1971
Folder 24 Rug purchases
Folder 25 Stocks and deeds, 1906-1948
Folder 26 Travel
Folder 27 Whitman College contributions
Ruth
McBirney’s letters home to her parents from Whitman College (1936-1939),
University of Washington (1939-1940), New York City (1942-1947), and Paris
(1947-1948), present almost day-by-day accounts of her activities while away
from Boise. She recounts entertainment and social events, as well as the
trials, joys, and routines of daily life, with occasional comments about
academics and work. Her letters from France present vivid descriptions of the
political and social turmoil of post-war Paris and the vibrant cultural life
that continued despite it all, as well as the work of the American Library and
her colleagues there. After the death of her mother in 1948, only occasional
letters home (to her father and Aunt Clara) are present in the files.
Ruth
McBirney saved letters she received from her parents, and they are full of local
Boise news and family matters. This series of letters is most complete through
1947, when she left for France. The letters Ruth McBirney’s mother wrote during
World War II, when Ruth was in New York, offer glimpses of wartime activities on
the home front, as well as commentary on social events, local concerts, and
activities at the First Presbyterian Church in Boise, of which the McBirneys
were active members. Ruth’s mother sent her letters more than once a week,
while her father was a less frequent correspondent.
Other letters written by Ruth
McBirney to her father during later vacation travel (after she moved back to
Boise) are found in Series V, Travel memorabilia.
Box 2:
Family correspondence
Folder
1 From Ruth: Whitman College, September- December 1936
Folder 2 From Ruth: Whitman College, January-May 1937
Folder 3 From Ruth: Whitman College, September-December 1937
Folder 4 From Ruth: Whitman College, January-June 1938
Folder 5 From Ruth: Whitman College, September-December 1938
Folder 6 From Ruth: Whitman College, January-May 1939
Folder 7 From Ruth: University of Washington, September-December
1939
Folder 8 From Ruth: University of Washington, January-August 1940
Folder 9 From Ruth: New York, September-December 1942
Folder 10 From Ruth: New York, January-May 1943
Folder 11 From Ruth: New York, June-December 1943
Folder 12 From Ruth: New York, January-May 1944
Folder 13 From Ruth: New York, June-December 1944
Box 3:
Family correspondence
Folder
1 From Ruth: New York, January-June 1945
Folder 2 From Ruth: New York, June-December 1945
Folder 3 From Ruth: New York, January-June 1946
Folder 4 From Ruth: New York, July-December 1946
Folder 5 From Ruth: New York, January-February 1947
Folder 6 From Ruth: Paris, February-May 1947
Folder 7 From Ruth: Paris, June-September 1947
Folder 8 From Ruth: Paris, October-December 1947
Folder 9 From Ruth: Paris, January-March 1948
Folder 10 From Ruth: Paris, March-December 1948
Folder 11 From Ruth: Paris, January-December 1949
Folder 12 From Ruth: Paris, January 1950-November 1951
Folder 13 From Ruth: Paris, January 1952-November 1953
Folder 14 From Ruth: Summer Trip, May-August 1955
Folder 15 From Ruth: To J.F. McBirney, 1968-1970
Folder 16 From Ruth: To Elizabeth Campbell, 1959-1962
Folder 17 From Ruth: Elizabeth Campbell Heller, 1965-1978
Folder 18 To and From Harry McBirney, 1964, 1975
Folder 19 To and From Warren McBirney, 1969-1982
Box 4:
Family correspondence
Folder
1 To McBirney family: From Ethel and Jon McBirney, 1932-1935, 1959-65
Folder 2 To Ruth, April 1936
Folder 3 During Denver Trip, June 1936
Folder 4 To Ruth: Whitman, September 1936
Folder 5 To Ruth: Whitman, October 1936
Folder 6 To Ruth: Whitman, November 1936
Folder 7 To Ruth: Whitman, December 1936
Folder 8 To Ruth: Whitman, January 1937
Folder 9 To Ruth: Whitman, February 1937
Folder 10 To Ruth: Whitman, March 1937
Folder 11 To Ruth: Whitman, April 1937
Folder 12 To Ruth: Whitman, May 1937
Folder 13 To Ruth: Whitman, September 1937
Folder 14 To Ruth: Whitman, October 1937
Folder 15 To Ruth: Whitman, November 1937
Folder 16 To Ruth: Whitman, December 1937
Box 5: Family correspondence
Folder
1 To Ruth: Whitman, January 1938
Folder 2 To Ruth: Whitman, February 1938
Folder 3 To Ruth: Whitman, March 1938
Folder 4 To Ruth: Whitman, April 1938
Folder 5 To Ruth: Whitman, May 1938
Folder 6 To Ruth: Whitman, September 1938
Folder 7 To Ruth: Whitman, October 1938
Folder 8 To Ruth: Whitman, November 1938
Folder 9 To Ruth: Whitman, December 1938
Folder 10 To Ruth: Whitman, January 1939
Folder 11 To Ruth: Whitman, February 1939
Folder 12 To Ruth: Whitman, March 1939
Folder 13 To Ruth: Whitman, April 1939
Folder 14 To Ruth: Whitman, May 1939
Folder 15 To Ruth: University of Washington, December 1939
Box 6: Family correspondence
Folder
1 To Ruth: University of Washington, January 1940
Folder 2 To Ruth: University of Washington, February 1940
Folder 3 To Ruth: University of Washington, March 1940
Folder 4 To Ruth: University of Washington, April 1940
Folder 5 To Ruth: University of Washington, May 1940
Folder 6 To Ruth: New York, January 1942
Folder 7 To Ruth: New York, September 1942
Folder 8 To Ruth: New York, October 1942
Folder 9 To Ruth: New York, November 1942
Folder 10 To Ruth: New York, December 1942
Folder 11 To Ruth: New York, January 1943
Folder 12 To Ruth: New York, February 1943
Folder 13 To Ruth: New York, March 1943
Folder 14 To Ruth: New York, April 1943
Folder 15 To Ruth: New York, May 1943
Folder 16 To Ruth: New York, June 1943
Folder 17 To Ruth: New York, July 1943
Folder 18 To Ruth: New York, August 1943
Folder 19 To Ruth: New York, September 1943
Folder 20 To Ruth: New York, October 1943
Folder 21 To Ruth: New York, November 1943
Folder 22 To Ruth: New York, December 1943
Box 7:
Family correspondence
Folder
1 To Ruth: New York, January 1944
Folder 2 To Ruth: New York, February 1944
Folder 3 To Ruth: New York, March 1944
Folder 4 To Ruth: New York, April 1944
Folder 5 To Ruth: New York, May 1944
Folder 6 To Ruth: New York, June 1944
Folder 7 To Ruth: New York, July 1944
Folder 8 To Ruth: New York, August 1944
Folder 9 To Ruth: New York, September 1944
Folder 10 To Ruth: New York, October 1944
Folder 11 To Ruth: New York, November 1944
Folder 12 To Ruth: New York, December 1944
Folder 13 To Ruth: New York, January 1945
Folder 14 To Ruth: New York, February 1945
Folder 15 To Ruth: New York, March 1945
Folder 16 To Ruth: New York, April 1945
Folder 17 To Ruth: New York, May 1945
Folder 18 To Ruth: New York, June 1945
Folder 19 To Ruth: New York, July 1945
Folder 20 To Ruth: New York, August 1945
Folder 21 To Ruth: New York, September 1945
Folder 22 To Ruth: New York, October 1945
Folder 23 To Ruth: New York, November 1945
Folder 24 To Ruth: New York, December 1945
Folder 25 To Ruth: New York, January 1946
Folder 26 To Ruth: New York, February 1946
Folder 27 To Ruth: New York, March 1946
Box 8:
Family correspondence
Folder
1 To Ruth: New York, April 1946
Folder 2 To Ruth: New York, May 1946
Folder 3 To Ruth: New York, June 1946
Folder 4 To Ruth: New York, July 1946
Folder 5 To Ruth: New York, September 1946
Folder 6 To Ruth: New York, October 1946
Folder 7 To Ruth: New York, November 1946
Folder 8 To Ruth: New York, December 1946
Folder 9 To Ruth: New York/Paris, 1947
Folder 10 To Ruth: Paris, 1948
Folder 11 To Ruth: Paris, 1949-1950
Folder 12 To Ruth: From father and Aunt Clara, 1960-1966
Other than two files labeled “Professional Correspondence” (relating mainly to
job searches and other business and non-personal concerns), the bulk of the
material in this series consists of letters Ruth McBirney received from European
friends after her return to America in 1953. Among them were Ian Forbes Fraser,
who continued as director of the American Library in Paris, and Suzanne Wang
(Suzanne Mozère), whom she hired as a cataloger in 1949. Other former
colleagues from the American Library also continued to write to her up through
the 1980s, relating news of the Library as well as their own personal lives.
Other foreign correspondents include
Louise Ferry (in French, from Paris), British bookseller Bertram Rota, and (in
the chronological letter files) Helena O’Loghlen (an occasional travel
companion, from England) and Kit Atkinson (a mutual friend of Ian Forbes Fraser,
also in England). The series also includes a small file of papers documenting
the financial support Ruth McBirney gave to Marcel Marceau in Paris at the
outset of his career (Box 9, Folder 10). Among the papers in that file are two
handbills announcing Marceau’s pantomime programs with Pierre Sonnier at the
Théatre de Poche in 1949.
American Library colleague Suzanne Wang Mozère was born in China of a Chinese
father and German mother. Her father and at least one of her siblings remained
there after the Communist revolution; other family members made their way to
Europe and America. Her letters (Box 9, Folders 12 and 13) reflect the
experiences of a family separated by the Cold War divide, her father’s
imprisonment in China, and their unsuccessful attempts to secure his release.
Her letters, like those of some of the other correspondents from France, also
include comments on the French political crisis in the 1950s and early 1960s
brought on by the war in Algeria.
Box 9:
General correspondence
Folder
1 Professional Correspondence, 1948-1955
Folder
2 Professional Correspondence, 1956-1982
Folder
3 Letter to the Editor, Idaho Statesman, February 1955
Folder
4 Boise Redevelopment Agency, 1974
Folder
5 Louise Ferry, 1954-1967
Folder
6 Louise Ferry, 1968-1983
Folder
7 Louise Ferry, 1984-1989 and undated
Folder 8
Ian Forbes Fraser, 1954-1962
Folder
9 Ian Forbes Fraser, 1963-1969
Folder
10 Marcel Marceau and Pierre Sonnier, 1949
Folder
11 Bertram Rota, 1953-1957
Folder
12 Suzanne Wang (Suzanne Mozère), 1955-1964
Folder
13 Suzanne Wang, 1965-1981
Folder
14 Correspondence, 1946, 1953
Folder
15 Correspondence, 1954
Folder
16 Correspondence, 1955-1957
Folder
17 Correspondence, 1958
Folder
18 Correspondence, 1959
Folder
19 Correspondence, 1960
Folder
20 Correspondence, 1961
Folder
21 Correspondence, 1962
Folder
22 Correspondence, 1963
Folder
23 Correspondence, 1964
Folder
24 Correspondence, 1965-1966
Folder
25 Correspondence, 1967-1968
Folder
26 Correspondence, 1969-1970
Folder
27 Correspondence, 1971-1972
Folder
28 Correspondence, 1973-1974
Folder
29 Correspondence, 1975-1976
Box 10:
General correspondence
Folder
1 Correspondence, 1977-1978
Folder
2 Correspondence, 1979-1980
Folder
3 Correspondence, 1981-1982
Folder
4 Correspondence, 1983-1990
Folder
5 Correspondence, Date Unknown
Folder
6 Christmas cards from France, 1954-1968
Folder
7 Christmas cards from elsewhere, 1954-1968
Folder
8 Envelopes
Ruth
McBirney maintained an active interest in the
American Library in Paris even
after returning to the United States in 1953. Most of the material in this
series dates after her return to Boise. The Library’s 30th
anniversary brochure (Folder 15) contains her picture as the institution’s head
librarian; otherwise the only other papers in this series contemporaneous with
her service there are some of the clippings in Folder 9. Extensive
correspondence with former colleagues at the Library (notably Ian Forbes Fraser
and Suzanne Wang Mozère) is located in Series III (General correspondence), and
Ruth McBirney’s own comments on the Library during her tenure there can be found
in her letters home to her parents (Series II). Photos of the Library and her
colleagues are located in Series VIII (Photos).
Ruth McBirney's years in France are the subject of an
online exhibit entitled
Chère Mac: An
American Librarian in Paris, 1947-1953.
Box 10: American Library in Paris
Folder
9 American Library in Paris: Clippings, 1950s
Folder
10 American Library in Paris: Minutes and Reports, 1954-1959
Folder
11 American Library in Paris: Minutes and Reports, 1960-1965
Folder
12 American Library in Paris: Minutes and Reports, 1966-1969
Folder
13 American Library in Paris: Minutes and Reports, 1970-1975
Folder
14 American Library in Paris: Correspondence, 1953-1990
Folder
15 American Library in Paris: Publications, 1951-1989
This
series consists chiefly of letters Ruth McBirney wrote to her father and other
relatives during vacation trips from 1956 on; together with miscellaneous travel
memorabilia. Photos from many of her trips are included in
Series VIII
(Photos). The lecture notes (Folder 1) recapitulate her work at the American
Library in Paris and contain some of her impressions of the country and the
people. They appear to have been written shortly after her return, for
presentation to an audience.
Box 11:
Travels
Folder
1 Lecture Notes: France, ca. 1954
Folder
2 Maps: Paris
Folder
3 Letters from Ruth: Mexico, 1956
Folder
4 Letters from Ruth: New York/London, Summer 1957
Folder
5 Letters from Ruth: Europe, Summer 1959
Folder
6 Letters from Ruth: Europe, Summer 1961
Folder
7 Letters from Ruth: United States, Summer 1962
Folder
8 Letters from Ruth: Europe, Summer 1965
Folder
9 Miscellaneous European Memorabilia, Summer 1978
Folder
10 Letters from Ruth: Egypt, 1979
Folder
11 Letters from Ruth: China, 1980
Folder
12 Letters to/from Ruth: Spain/Portugal, 1982
Folder
13 Miscellaneous India Memorabilia, 1984
Folder
14 Dried Flowers
Folder
15 Travel Slides
Oversize Drawer
Maps of Paris
Among
the notable items in this series are Ruth McBirney’s date books, or pocket
diaries, from 1947 to 1966 (Box 13). By and large they are a curt record of
social activities (“Dinner with Louise,” “Races at Longchamps, 2 pm,”), and
rarely are there any other comments. Hand in hand with her letters home,
however, they document an active social and cultural life during her years in
Paris, 1947-1953. A childhood diary (in Box 14), which she kept intermittently
from the age of ten until she was nineteen, are full of comments on family,
friends, school work, and news (she made particular note of the closure of
Boise’s banks in August 1932 and the impact on her family’s finances, for
example ), as well as introspective personal reflections on her life and
future. The series also contains notes and texts of talks she gave to the
Saturday Fortnightly Club, a women’s study club in Boise; memorabilia from Boise
High School, Whitman College, the P.E.O. Club, and Soroptimist Club; concert
programs from Europe and America; and her pearls.
Box 11: Memorabilia
Folder
16 Memorabilia, Boise High School, 1931-1935
Folder
17 P.E.O. Club: Chapter “R”, Boise, Idaho, 1979-1988
Folder
18 Soroptimist Club; Boise, Idaho, 1967
Folder
19 Saturday Fortnightly Club, Boise, Idaho, 1969-1988
Folder
20 Saturday Fortnightly presentation: China, 1980
Folder
21 Clippings, China
Folder
22 Saturday Fortnightly presentation: Alice Springs, Australia, 1983?
Folder
23 Saturday Fortnightly presentation: Crete, January 1985
Folder
24 Saturday Fortnightly presentation: Lapwai Mission and the McBeth
sisters, 1988
Folder
26 Saturday Fortnightly presentation: Alice Fletcher, Nez Perce
Indians, 1989
Folder
26 Saturday Fortnightly Unfinished presentation; Early Idaho
Newspapers
Box 12:
Memorabilia
Folder
1 Concert Programs: Boise, 1933-1935
Folder
2 Memorabilia; Boise Junior College, 1936-1941
Folder
3 First Presbyterian Church of Boise, 1937-1969
Folder
4 Knit For Victory, 194?
Folder
5 Programs: United States
Folder
6 Programs: Europe
Folder
7 Programs: New York City, 1944-1979
Folder
8 Programs: England, 1947-1978
Folder
9 Programs and memorabilia: France, 1947-1948
Folder
10 Programs and memorabilia: France, 1955-1978
Folder
11 Concert Programs: Boise, 1956-1969
Box 13: Memorabilia
Date books
(pocket diaries), 1947-1957, 1959-1962, 1965-1966
Box 14: Memorabilia
Diary, 1928-1937
(written in 1905 green diary book “Lest We Forget”)
New Testament
and Psalms (gift of her parents, 1926)
String of pearls
Small address
books (in one envelope)
Address book,
1979
Mileage
register, 1950-1955
Health and
garden journal, 1982-1989
Chapter R
(P.E.O.) yearbooks, 1978/79-1986/87
Membership
directories, Idaho State Chapter, P.E.O., 1979 and 1983
Box 15: Memorabilia
Scrapbook of
clippings, cards, programs, 1934-1939 (Boise Junior College and Whitman College)
Box 16: Memorabilia
Waiilaptu,
1937-1939 (Whitman College yearbooks, 3 vols.)
Whitman College
Class of 1939 50th Reunion booklet
The A Capella
Chorus Book, by Christiansen and Cain (1932)
This
series contains papers of Ruth McBirney’s parents, J.F. and Bertha Campbell
McBirney, and genealogical notes and compilations on the McBirney, Campbell, and
Tiedgen families. Miss McBirney’s paternal grandfather, Thomas McBirney
(1837-1932), was born in Northern Ireland, settled and married in Iowa (where
her father was born), and eventually relocated to Boise, Idaho, as did most of
his adult children in the first decade of the 20th century. Ruth’s
maternal grandparents, J.M. and Mary Campbell, also moved from Iowa to Boise
about 1900. The basic charts outlining her parents’ siblings are found in Box
17, Folder 16. Old family photos are located in Series VIII
(Photos).
Box 17:
Family papers
Folder
1 J.F. McBirney and Bertha Campbell bridal book, 1916
Folder 2
Bertha McBirney: Documents, 1897-1948
Folder
3 Bertha McBirney: Travel logs, 1936-1942
Folder
4 Bertha McBirney: Sympathy correspondence at her death, 1948
Folder
5 J. Frank McBirney: Documents, 1902-1973
Folder
6 J. Frank McBirney: Deeds, 1906-1962
Folder
7 J. Frank McBirney: Boise Sewer Rate Board, 1951-1962
Folder
8 J. Frank McBirney: Sympathy correspondence at his death, 1973
Folder
9 J. Frank McBirney estate, 1973-1974
Folder
10 McBirney family expenses, 1935-1938, 1945, 1946
Folder
11 McBirney home in Boise: Sprinkler system, 1970, 1984
Folder
12 Campbell family papers
Folder
13 McBirney family memorabilia (mainly obituaries and announcements)
Folder
14 McBirney family genealogy, by Stanley McBirney, 1961 and 1970
Folder 15 McBirney and
Tiedgen genealogy: Correspondence with Stanley McBirney, 1956-1982
Folder
16 McBirney and Tiedgen genealogy: Notes and documents
Folder
17 Mary Campbell: Sympathy correspondence at her death, 1934-1935
Folder
18 H.R. McBirney: Farm accounts, 1932-1955
Folder
19 Clara E. McBirney estate, 1969
Folder
17 Thomas McBirney estate, 1920, 1932
Folder
18 Helen Lambson estate, 1971-1973
Folder
19 Susan McBirney Randall, 1967-1968
Folder
20 Lois and Doris Randall, 1987
Box 18: Family papers
Memorial book
for J. Frank McBirney, 1973
Weather records
kept by J. Frank McBirney (5 vols.), 1943-1966
2 travel
logbooks kept by Bertha Campbell McBirney (?)
Small
commonplace book
Record of family
vacations, 1925-1947 (in “GE 1925”)
Leather wallet
with Boise Natatorium design
Oversize drawers
Diplomas and
certificates of J.F. McBirney
Box 19: Photographs
Family photo
album, 1907-1935
Family photo
album, 1936-ca. 1940
Box 20: Photographs (loose)
Photo 1-20
McBirney family photos
Photo 21-36
Campbell family photo
Photo
37 Christian Endeavour picnic, Boise, 1908
Photo 38-58
J.F. McBirney
Photo 59-74
Bertha Campbell McBirney
Photo 75-123
Ruth McBirney, to 1940
Photo 124-151
Ruth McBirney, 1940-1984 (including New York City)
Photo 152-184
Family and friends
Photo 185-188
Boise State University
Photo 189-205
Idaho
Photo 206-234
American Library in Paris and colleagues
Photo 235-272
Travel in France and Europe, 1947-1953
Photo 273-292
Travels, 1978-1980 (color snapshots)
Photo 293-300
Family camping and outdoor activities, pre-1940
Photo 301-320 American
Library in Paris, branches in Toulouse and Montpelier, 1951
Box 21 (Oversize)
Oversize and framed photos
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