Call Number:

MC.830

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

0.25 linear ft. (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Correspondence of Allen Grover and Earl M. Freligh; Correspondence of Allen Grover and Josiah Marvel (HC.MC.830) Quaker and Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

1940-1949 (inclusive)

Creator:

Grover, Allen, Marvel, Josiah P. (Josiah Philip), 1896-1959, and Freligh, Earl M.

Abstract:

Correspondence, 1941-1945, between Allen Grover (ca. 1903-ca. 1996) and Earl M. Freligh (1917-2005), the former on the staff of Time Magazine, the latter an ambulance driver for the American Field Service in Italy and North Africa during World War II. A second section is the correspondence, 1940-1948, between Allen Grover and Josiah Marvel (1896-1959) relating particularly to his relief work in France in 1940.

Allen Grover (ca. 1903-ca. 1996) joined Time Magazine in 1930 or 1931, writing for the business section. He became an editor of Fortune, where he corresponded with many people. After 1941, he became Assistant Director of the Office of Facts and Figures (OFF), which later became the Office of War Information (OWI), which even later became the CIA. At OFF and OWI, his immediate supervisor was the poet Archibald MacLeish. After about a year, he returned to work at Time, where he remained for more than 30 years. He likely met Earl M. (Mort) Freligh in early 1941. He was married to Beatrice.

Information from Robinson Grover (son)

Earl M. (Mort) Freligh (1917-2005) worked for the American Field Service during WW II as an ambulance driver in Italy and North Africa. He lived in McLean, VA.

Information from Robinson Grover and Ancestry.com

The Grover-Freligh correspondence encompasses the years 1941-1945 while Allen Grover was in Washington working for the government and then working for Time Magazine and Earl M. (Mort) Freligh was a member of the American Field Service. Almost all the correspondence is between Allen Grover and Earl Freligh ("Mort"). There are a few letters to Mort's wife (Barbara Bradley Freligh) and mother from Grover.

The letters highlighted below indicate who the letter writer is, the recipient is the other correspondent in this collection. ca. 90 items.

Highlights include:

Freligh. 1942 8/26. Has taken job with the War dept. which will be a Civil Service job

Grover: telegram, n.d. Freligh asking for character reference for 7th regiment

Freligh. Ca. 1943 May. Hand-written c.v. stating he will be in the Middle East as an ambulance driver and at times will be attached to the Fighting French armies

Grover: 1943 6/11. Notes the surrender of Pantelleria and probably other Italian Island possessions, popular events, e.g. Frank Sinatra and "zoot suiters"

Freligh: APO NY, no date [1943]. Has been on leave in Cairo, Alexandria and CENSORED

Freligh. Am. Field Service. [1943] 9/15. "A group of us are down at the beach on the Med to enjoy a nice rest (from what I don't know)"

Grover. NY, 1943 11/20. Refers to Morton's V-mail note in which he said they were backing up the British 8th Army (copy attached). Reports what Americans are asking and hopes for good outcomes from meeting of the Big Four

Freligh. [1943] 11/26. Has seen a lot of action

Freligh. [1943] 12/3. In a New Zealand hospital recuperating from malaria and jaundice

Grover: NY, 1944 3/15. Jack Belden, one of their correspondents was wounded at Salerno and wrote a piece for LIFE about what it's like to be in a hospital just back of the front. Had dinner with head of Red Cross in Italy and N. Africa. Mentions someone who is also with the American Field Service who became a Quaker when the war came along, but couldn't get CO status. Possibility of a National Service Act not great

Grover: NY, 1944 4/26. Wilkie is out of the race; if the invasion is a catastrophe, Roosevelt will surely lose, but he will also lose if it's a huge success and Germany collapses, "but if we get across the Channel and have lots of hard fighting ahead, he may win"

Freligh: Washington, D.C. [1944 12/?] Working for the B.C.C.

An addition to the papers of Allen Grover is correspondence, reports and clippings, 1940-1948, primarily from Josiah Marvel to Allen Grover at Time-Life Magazine. These include:

1940: situation in France: food shortages; work of the American Red Cross; fate of British on Cote d'Azure; feeding program of the American Friends Service Committee; condition of 40,000 young Belgian men

1942: copy of letter from Bayard Dodge in Beirut (Lebanon) to the Quaker Emergency Service re situation in Middle East

1944: Report on medical conditions in France

1946: copy of a letter re Josiah Marvel's activities

1948: clipping with biographical information on Josiah Marvel