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Doris Hastings Darnell Collection
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Held at: Bryn Mawr College [Contact Us]Bryn Mawr College Library, 101 N. Merion Avenue, Bryn Mawr 19010
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Bryn Mawr College. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Doris Hastings Darnell was born in Chicago in 1916 but grew up in Pennsylvania, attending the Westtown Friends School and graduating from Bryn Mawr College in 1939. In 1938 she married Howard Darnell, and was thus the first Bryn Mawr student to be married before her senior year and still graduate with official permission and recognition. She served as a librarian at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges and at Westtown, and was the executive secretary of the Westtown Alumni Association and editor of its magazine from 1955 to 1964.
From 1964 to 1968 she worked as a recruitment coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). In 1968 she was appointed the AFSC's head of personnel, becoming the first woman to hold a top administrative post with the AFSC. In 1978, Doris Darnell retired from the AFSC to focus on her interest in antique clothing. She toured the country with her show "A Century of Elegance," which featured volunteer models displaying her collection with her commentary on the clothing's provenance, history, and its implications for the culture of its time. She died in 2006.
The Doris Hastings Darnell (class of 1939) papers consist primarily of Darnell's correspondence. Throughout her life, Darnell maintained a voluminous correspondence with her husband, family, friends, and professional contacts. Much of the correspondence dates from her time with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), which includes the controversial final years of the Vietnam War.
An additional highlight of the collection is Darnell's correspondence with her classmate and life-long friend, May Chow. Chow was a Chinese student who returned to China after graduation to take up work as an English professor. Darnell and Chow's communication spans the entirety of their acquaintance including the years of the Cultural Revolution in China. For additional description about this aspect of Darnell's collection, see Series III: Correspondence: May Chow.
Darnell kept in regular correspondence with much of her graduating class. Other correspondents include Katharine Hepburn, the actress Elizabeth Franz, the author Peggy Anderson, Robert Dyson, the former director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Jim Fowler, the host of the television show "Wild Kingdom," Dr. Frank Hastings, one of the pioneers of the artificial heart, and former Bryn Mawr College president Pat McPherson.
Boxes 1-7 of the Darnell Collection are concerned primarily with Darnell family materials. They include a number of early letters, photographs, scrapbooks and the like, from Mrs. Darnell's childhood through college, her wedding, and the early years of her marriage, as well as some correspondence with her children.
Boxes 8-16 contain the first series of her correspondence, from the mid-1930s to 1990; these letters are arrange alphabetically by correspondent. As with other sections of the collection, the bulk of the material consists of letters to Mrs. Darnell. In only a few rare instances, such as her correspondence with May Chow or with the Greek and Latin professor Gabriel McCulloch, was she able to recollect letters she sent; when her letters are present this is noted in the catalogue.
Box 17 contains Mrs. Darnell's daily letters to her husband during their engagement (1937-8); his daily replies are contained in box 38.
Box 18 contains the majority of the materials related to the AFSC, including carbon copies of official correspondence, committee meeting minutes, official reports and other such materials. Mrs. Darnell kept in touch with many of her fellow AFSC members after her retirement; this correspondence is spread through the normal correspondence series with notes indicating AFSC affiliation for the individuals concerned. Box 19 contains materials related to the Westtown Friends School.
Boxes 20-22 contain Mrs. Darnell's correspondence with May Chow, as well as some correspondence with other members of Ms. Chow's family, including her uncle Fred in Hong Kong.
Boxes 23-30 contain the second series of alphabetical correspondence, which begins in the 1980s but covers primarily the period from 1990 to Mrs. Darnell's death in 2006; many of the same correspondents have folders in both series, and it is therefore recommended that researchers attempting to locate all materials related to specific individuals refer to the alphabetical list of correspondents below.
Boxes 31 and 32 contain materials related to Mrs. Darnell's period clothing collection, including notes on individual pieces of clothing, press releases, brochures, fliers, etc.
Boxes 31-42 are largely unsorted (with the exception of Howard Darnell's daily letters in box 38); they contain some additional correspondence, materials related to cruising and travel, materials related to the Darnell's retirement home, Foxdale village, travel diaries, calendars, and some clothing show materials.
Mrs. Darnell's period clothing collection is housed at l'Ecole Supérieure des Arts et techniques de la Mode in Sydney, Australia, under the care of her goddaughter, Charlotte Smith (www.esmod.com).
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- Bryn Mawr College
Collection Inventory
To DHD; photos
To DHD
Pre-wedding letters
35th & 50th anniversaries
Eldest son, Biochemist, solar energy expert; letters to DHD
Photos
Writings
Younger son; inventor, boomerang athlete; Photos
Photos
Photos
Photos
Photos
Photos
Pen pal from Ramallah, Palestine; photos
Westtown classmate, Buffalo, NY; husband medical prof; photos
Westtown classmate, meeting member
Ran Journey's End summer camp during war; distant relatives through marriage
Friend, reporter, author of Nurse, Children's Hospital, etc.
AFSC
Westtown, author; one postcard
Westtown student
AFSC
M author of Mothers of Feminism; A Westtown
Close family friends, in Oregon; photos
Westtown faculty, "second parents"
Artist, bridesmaid
Bert's brother
Widow of A. Lang Baily, friend; w/ DHD's letters
Pendle Hill, California
AFSC
J Abington Friends classmate, H AFSC
Doctor son of Will Beardslee
Husband of bridesmaid Kathryn Walker; theologian, NT translator
Haverford neighbor
Westtown classmate, actor
Westtown faculty
Colleague of HD
Haverford and Bryn Mawr students
AFSC
AFSC
Westtown, AFSC
Westtown faculty
Westtown classmate
Westtown classmates
Westtown classmate; photos
New York and Philadelphia lawyer
Friend
Plant geneticist, Phila friends; photos
AFSC exec. sec.; photos
Bryn Mawr classmate
Westtown
AFSC; w/2 memorial books to Carrie
BMC library colleague
Quadraplegic English prof., husband of Gabriel McCulloch
Neil and Gabriel's daughter; "free spirit"
Meeting member
Haverford and sailing friends
HD's mother, always critical of marriage, lived to 104; photos
HD's sister; photos
Eric's son
Eric's daughter
Eric's wife (divorced), mother of Mike and Natalie
HD's sister; photos
HD's cousin
Westtown; photos of Doris and Howard
Haverford library colleague
Daughters of Cheslye, Eric's 2nd wife
AFSC, wife of Lovett Dewees
Daughter-in-Law of Edith
Son of Polly; one letter
BMC classmate
Friend of Audrey Chancellor
Painter, friend from waitressing days
AFSC
Wife of BMC prof. Samuel Cross
Pendle Hill
Husband of Elizabeth
Head of Penn Museum, close friend
Wife of Westtown teacher
Westtown, peace activist
AFSC
Westtown colleague
Japanese daughter of Bailys
Friends from 1968 China trip
Friend
Friends of Sue Williams
Westtown
Son of J.H. Foss, AFSC colleague
Husband of Westtown classmate Barbara Will, surgeon
Son of Bill and Barbara, laywer
Bill's second wife
Westtown
Host of "Wild Kingdom," Westtown alum; photos
Colleague of HD at American Water Works
Friend of Ruth Dross
Westtown colleague
BMC classmate, Latin major
BMC classmate, painter
Daughter of Edith Hastings
Colleague of HD at American Water Works
Friends from 1982 Greek cruise
HD's cousin, prof. of English and Latin, refused loyalty oath
Westtown
DHD's paternal uncle, wife, and son
Cousin, prof. of Biochemistry at Harvard
DHD's brother, surgeon, founded NHI's artificial heart program; wife Frances
Sister, PhD in psychology; includes DHD's letters
DHD's parents; W. doctor, cancer researcher; F. feminist, activist; photos
Family trees, family history
Westtown classmate
Cruising companions, hospital administrator
Westtown teacher
Main Line friends, sailing companions
Cousins, Haverford prof.; photos,
Japanese family aided by Darnells after WWII; photos
Westtown faculty
Westtown, AFSC; with DHD's letters
Westtown classmate; photos
Sister of Kay, Westtown
Westtown music teacher, tragic death immediately after Vienna conducting debut
Westtown German teacher, married Phil's father
HD's employer 1942-1946, a very difficult time for the family
Phil Jacob's sister
Westtown classmate, HD's best man; photo
BMC classmate, PhD economics
AFSC colleague, librarian in Botswana
Sister of Indra, daughter attended BMC
BMC '48, librarian colleague
Indra's parents; S.K. held various high governmental posts in India before and after partition
Westtown art teacher, painter
Westtown classmate
Sylvia Haviland's parents, from Dublin; photos
Promoter of period clothing shows, neighbor
Westtown '60, lawyer, AFSC
Son of Robert Birchall; DHD helped with search for information about his father
Contains a poem translated from Chinese by May Chow's niece
AFSC psychiatric consultant, quadraplegic
Chinese student at BMC, recipient of Allen Hilles Fund grant; photos
Bridesmaid, married to Phil Jacob, died from suicide; photos
Usher, married Jane Hosmer, PhD Harvard, English prof.
Author of camping guides and novels, Westtown
Usher, Rutgers classmate of HD, engineer, sailor
Wife of AFSC controller
Westtown graduate; longest serving federal judge in American history; photos
BMC classmateMatchett, Bill and Judy
Parents were friends; Bill prof. of English at U of Washington
Westtown '53, AFSC
Usher, Rutgers classmate of HD, history prof.
Mother of Gabriel
Prof. of Greek and Latin, "most interesting person in my collection"
HD's cousins, Bob historian and collector of pianos and organs
Edith Hastings' son, Haverford grad, wife BMC grad; photos
Edith Hastings' daughter; photos
BMC classmate, poet, painter, author, feminist
Mary's twin sister
AFSC
Japanese daughter of Bailys'
Haverford '55, urban planner
Westtown, AFSC
Friend of Ruth Dross, world traveler
AFSC
Westtown faculty 1960s
AFSC
Westtown '65
Assoc. Dean of Grad. Studies at Med. College of PA, close friend
Westtown faculty, AFSC, among best letter writers; with DHD's letters
DHD's cousin; led an "unhappy life"
DHD's maternal uncle; photos
DHD's cousins, taught at Presbyterian boarding school in Utah
Cousin, worked at Cornell
DHD's maternal aunt; photos
Son of Shirley
Westtown classmate, bridesmaid, curator of slides at Earlham College
New Zealand friends of Ruth Dross
China trip 1986
Daughter of Yves and Anne Marie
French family with whom DHD stayed in 1972
West Chester doctor, closest friends 1946-1953
AFSC, Swiss, authority on families in West Africa
AFSC, Middle East desk
AFSC, Amnesty International
DHD's paternal aunt
Manager of Philadelphia Fund, adviser to Allen Hilles
Westtown hostess
Round Top colleagues of HD
Betts' husband 1962-1978
Grandsons; photos
Eric Darnell's first wife
Gabriel's sister's ex-husband, play producer and set designer
Janet Beerits' nephew, economics prof.
Edith Hastings' daughter by second husband Joe Ryan
AFSC, teacher
Norwegian authority on computers
HD's sister Ruth's husband
Executive Secretary of AFSC
Head of AFSC Personnel until 1972
Clowns on cruise
Friends from 1986 China trip
English godchild, daughter of Margaret Stafford; coordinator of clothing museum in Australia
Meeting friends; W. expert on book binding, in charge of bindings at BMC
Meeting, Haverford, Pendle Hill and AFSC
Westtown, Haverford, usher; sparse correspondence
Worked at Westtown 1957-8, lived with Darnells, mother of godchild C. Smith
Margaret's mother
BMC classmate
Nonie's sister; husband appointed head of AFSC but died; photos
Westtown '60, actress
Westtown classmate, usher
Westtown roommate
Westtown 1891, BMC 1897, lived to 101, Haverford meeting friend; photos
BMC classmate; photos
Westtown, neighbors in West Chester
Westtown '54, BMC '58; photos
Married Alice John
Westtown, cousin of Sue Todd
Japanese friend, wanted to bring clothing show to Japan
Abington Friends '32
BMC classmate
Composition student at Curtis
Head of International Division of AFSC
Westtown, Bryn Mawr, bridesmaid
Westtown classmate
Westtown classmate, bridesmaid
Fund raiser, cruising friends
BMC classmate, bridesmaid
Cheltenham High, bridesmaid
AFSC, Pendle Hill
These letters chronicles the more than sixty year friendship between Doris Darnell and May Chow, both graduates of Bryn Mawr College class of 1939. Directly following their graduation, Chow returned to China and began teaching English. Darnell remained in Pennsylvania where she married and began a family. Only a few letters from this period survive, all of which are from Chow to Darnell. In the following decades- the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's- there was little to no correspondence between the two women. Darnell ascribes these "blackout periods" to the Communist takeover of China and the subsequent Cultural Revolution. However, their communication slowly resumed in the 1970's and then became regularized after Chow's trip to Bryn Mawr for their 40th class reunion in 1979. Letters were then sent back and forth between the two women, generally arriving once a month, with few gaps in contact from that point onward.
In the 1990's, following Chow's wishes, Darnell began to transcribe and/or excerpt letters from May, while destroying the original handwritten copies. Therefore, letters sent from Chow between 1979 and 1998 exist only in Darnell's typed form. She stopped this practice of transcription in 1998 and the remaining letters, going up to 2005, exist as Chow's handwritten originals. Eventually, Chow also sent her collection of letters to Darnell which she had saved over the years, so both sides of the correspondence remain intact. Other letters in the collection include correspondence between Darnell and Fred and Ruby Chow, May's brother and sister-in-law, whom Darnell met while visiting Hong Kong in 1986. Darnell and her husband returned to China again in 1988 and 1993, though Chow never again visited America after her 1979 visit. Finally, a photo album and a loose photo collection exist of Darnell and Chow together at their Bryn Mawr reunion and later in China. Other photos exist of Chow's extended family and friends, some from an early period in her life, which capture the Chinese setting well.
Several different typed versions of a short biography by Darnell on May Chow exist in the collection. These contain details about Chow's life and her family, some mention of the historical context in which the letters were written, and recollections of their visits with one another both in America and China. The letters themselves are interesting in that they chronicle two women's parallel lives in two very different countries. The relationship is remarkable for its longevity, suggested also in the breadth of time and information covered in their correspondence. The letters for the most part maintain a marked interiority; most often discussing the gradual changes in their family constructs, home or job locations, health concerns and mutual friends. This collection also provides the unusual benefit of having both sides of the conversation present, as Darnell and Chow's correspondence are both intact.
Introduction to letters, biographies of May Chow
Letters from May Chow to DHD
DHD's typed abridgement of May Chow's letters
Rough draft of DHD's treatment of Chow letters
DHD's letters to May, a BMC classmate who returned to her native China after graduation
May's brother and sister-in-law in Hong Kong
Other members of May's family
Letters from DHD to May Chow
Letters from DHD to May Chow
Letters from DHD to May Chow
Letters from Chinese friends of May Chow to DHD
May's brother and his family to DHD
Correspondence re: May Chow's attendance at reunion
Miscellaneous greeting cards
Westtown classmate, mostly undated; Buffalo, NY; husband medical prof
Westtown classmate, meeting member
AFSC
Close family friends, in Oregon
Arist, bridesmaid
Widow of A. Lang Baily, friend
Kay's daughter, artist
AFSC
Husband of bridesmaid Kathryn Walker & second wife Cynthia; theologian, NT translator
J Abington Friends classmate, H AFSC
Westtown friend in France & English wife
Westtown faculty
Westtown, AFSC
Westtown classmate
Meeting friends
Foxdale friends
Foxdale friends, artist
Plant geneticist, Phila friends
BMC classmate who returned to her native China after graduation
Bryn Mawr classmate
BMC library colleague
Meeting member
Haverford and sailing friends
Grandson, lawyer
Daughter-in-Law of Edith Dewees
Son of Polly
BMC classmate
Friend of Audrey Chancellor
Painter, friend from waitressing days
Cruising companion, Century of Elegance model
AFSC
Neil and Gabriel's daughter; "free spirit"
Haverford library colleague
Wife of BMC prof. Samuel Cross
Pendle Hill
Head of Penn Museum, close friend
Wife of Westtown teacher
Westtown, peace activist
Westtown colleague
Misc. Cards
AFSC
Japanese daughter of Bailys
Friends from 1968 China trip
Friends of Sue Williams
Friend
BMC classmate
Westtown
Foxdale friends
Former husband of Westtown classmate Barbara Will and second wife Stella
Daughter of Yves and Anne Marie Ponsort and her husband
Westtown colleagues
Host of "Wild Kingdom," Westtown alum; photos
Wife of Westtown classmate, stage actress
Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania
Colleague of HD at American Water Works
Bryn Mawr classmate, artist
Friend of Ruth Dross
HD's sister and husband
Teacher, author, son of AFSC member
Artist
Daughter of Edith Hastings
BMC classmate, painter
Colleague of HD at American Water Works
Parents of Eric Darnell's first wife, Renee
Friend of Betts Darnell
HD's cousin, prof. of English and Latin, refused loyalty oath
Westtown, AFSC
DHD's sister-in-law (wife of Frank Hastings)
Sister, PhD in psychology
Westtown classmate
Cruising companions, hospital administrator
Westtown teacher
Main Line friends, sailing companions
Correspondence re: loan of garment for DHD's BMC reunion show
Japanese family aided by Darnells after WWII; photos
Canadaigua neighbor
Music teacher, Main Line Unitarian Church music director
Westtown faculty
Westtown classmate
AFSC colleague, librarian in Botswana
BMC '48, librarian colleague
Westtown classmate
Eric Darnell's second wife
Son of Robert Birchall; DHD helped with search for information about his father
May Chow's niece
AFSC psychiatric consultant, quadraplegic
Chinese student at BMC, recipient of Allen Hilles Fund grant
Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania associates
Usher, Rutgers classmate of HD, history prof.
Prof. of Greek and Latin, "most interesting person in my collection"
HD's cousins, Bob historian and collector of pianos and organs
BMC PhD '69, dean, and college president
Wife of AFSC controller
Partner of Olaf Saugen
Parents were friends; Bill prof. of English at U of Washington
Edith Hastings' son, Haverford grad, wife BMC grad
BMC classmate, poet, painter, author, feminist
Mary's twin sister
Japanese daughter of Bailys'
Grandchildren
English artist, friend of Charlotte Smith
Pendle Hill
Friend of Ruth Dross, world traveler
Westtown faculty 1960s
Cruise friend, clothing donor, museum director
Westtown '65
Canadaigua
Assoc. Dean of Grad. Studies at Med. College of PA, close friend
Westtown faculty, AFSC, among best letter writers
DHD's cousins, taught at Presbyterian boarding school in Utah
Son of Shirley
Quaker friends
Westtown classmate, bridesmaid, curator of slides at Earlham College
Westtown faculty
New Zealand friends of Ruth Dross
China trip 1986
French family with whom DHD stayed in 1972
AFSC, Amnesty International
Pendle Hill, AFSC
Betts' husband 1962-1978
Eric's wife (divorced), mother of Mike and Natalie
Janet Beerits' nephew, economics prof.
AFSC, teacher
Norwegian authority on computers
HD's sister Ruth's first husband
Head of AFSC Personnel until 1972
Executive Secretary of AFSC
Clowns on cruise
Friends from 1986 China trip
Quaker educators in Maryland
Haverford friend
Meeting friends; W. expert on book binding, in charge of bindings at BMC
Margaret Stafford's mother
Worked at Westtown 1957-8, lived with Darnells, mother of godchild C. Smith
Meeting, Haverford, Pendle Hill and AFSC
State College artist friends
Pilot friend
English godchild, daughter of Margaret Stafford; coordinator of clothing museum in Australia
BMC classmate
Nonie's sister; husband appointed head of AFSC but died; photos
BMC grad, friend of Indra Kirpalani
Westtown '60, actress
Westtown classmate, usher
Foxdale friends
Westtown, Bryn Mawr, bridesmaid
BMC classmate; photos
State College friends
Friends of Willman and Carol Spawn
Westtown '54, BMC '58
Irish friend
Married Alice John
BMC alum
Abington Friends '32
Gordie Grosvenor Wallace's husband and his second wife
Composition student at Curtis
Foxdale friends
Vita and Ishmael Wallace's band
Westtown classmate, bridesmaid
Fund raiser, cruising friends
BMC classmate, bridesmaid
Cheltenham High, bridesmaid
Foxdale friends
AFSC, Pendle Hill
DHD's files
DHD's files
DHD's files
DHD's files
DHD's files
DHD's files
DHD's files
DHD's files
DHD's files
DHD's files
Foxdale friends
Family letters and letters to Nonie Taft
Miscellaneous email
Foxdale friends
Westtown '60, lawyer, AFSC
Usher, married Jane Hosmer, PhD Harvard, English prof.
Promoter of period clothing shows, neighbor
DHD's sister, PhD in psychology
Foxtown friends
Introduction to Doris for the archive, letters to archive staff
Foxdale Oral History Project
Music from BMC Choir performance
Music from Cheltenham High performance
"Duplicates of Interest"
DHD Who's Who enrollment paperwork
Correspondence re: Foxdale with Community Care Residents of NC
Physician at Foxdale
Retirement scrapbook
Unedited text of interview conducted by PSU grad student of Darnells