Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1679

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

1 linear feet (3 boxes)

Language Note:

Majority of collection is in English, but academic papers contain Latin and correspondence contains some French, German, and Italian

Preferred Citation:

Kibre family papers, 1923-1986, Ms. Coll. 1679, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1923-1985 (inclusive)

Creator:

Kibre, Adele, Kibre, Pearl, 1903-, and Bosworth, Cecile Kibre, 1897-1997

Form:

Appointment books, Correspondence, Drafts (documents), and Financial records

Abstract:

The Kibre family papers consist of 1 cubic foot of family correspondence and professional and academic papers created by sisters Adele Kibre, Pearl Kibre, and Cecile Kibre Bosworth from 1923 to 1986. Adele Kibre worked for the OSS in Stockholm during World War II. Adele and Pearl Kibre were both medieval historians, and Pearl taught medieval history at Hunter College and the City University of New York. Cecile Kibre Bosworth produced and directed the series of Congress on the Air radio programs in 1945-1946.

Cecile Kibre Bosworth (1896-1997), Adele Kibre (1898-1997), and Pearl Kibre (1900-1985) were sisters born in Philadelphia and raised in Los Angeles in the early 20th Century. Cecile Kibre Bosworth attended UCLA and then worked as a film researcher. She was married to actor, producer, and co-founder of Paramount Studios Hobart Bosworth from1920 until his death in 1943. She was an activist and philanthropist in California, living much of her life in the Antelope Valley. Cecile Kibre Bosworth was the producer and director of the radio program Congress on the Air in 1945-1946.

Adele Kibre (1898-1997) attended the University of California, Berkeley and received her Ph.D from the University of Chicago in Latin Language and Literature. After completing her doctorate, she lived in Europe doing research and photographing materials in European libraries for other scholars. During World War II, she worked for the Office of Strategic Services running the Ango-American Microfilm Unit in Stockholm gathering and photographing books, newspapers, and scholarly materials for the United States and Great Britain, spending time in Rome, Lisbon, Spain, and Washington, DC.

Pearl Kibre (1900 -1985) received her BA in 1924 and MA in 1925 from the University of California, Berkeley and received her Ph.D. in medieval history and the history of science from Columbia University in 1936. She began teaching at Hunter College in New York in 1937. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1950 for her work on medieval science and universities. She took frequent research trips, especially to Paris and Rome. She was elected a fellow of the Medieval Academy of America in 1964 and received that association's Haskins Medal. She retired from Hunter College and the City University Graduate Center in 1971, but continued to do research, write, and advise graduate students.

The Kibre family papers consist of family correspondence and academic and professional papers of sisters Adele Kibre, Pearl Kibre, and Cecile Kibre Bosworth dating from 1923 to 1986.

Adele Kibre's correspondence from 1923 to 1940 contains family news, including several letters from Hollywood actor and Paramount Studios co-founder Hobart Bosworth, the husband of sister Cecile, and a report from Adele of Pearl Kibre's experiences with the Medieval Academy of America in 1948. Adele Kibre's professional papers from 1940 to 1946 relate to her work with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) as the head of the Ango-American Microfilm Unit in Stockholm. Her academic papers document her work on Latin texts.

Pearl Kibre's papers consist mainly of fragments of academic research notes and papers created during her career as a medieval historian and professor at Hunter College and City University Graduate Center, including research for books on medieval scientific history.

The bulk of Cecile Kibre Bosworth's papers consist of letters she received from Pearl Kibre from 1963 to 1984 discussing family news, with some details of Pearl's career as a medieval historian. The collection also includes a folder of notepads containing Cecile's drafts of responses to the letters she received from 1968 to 1973. Cecile Kibre Bosworth's professional papers contain documentation, including several photographs, of the "Congress on the Air" radio program in 1945-46 for which she was the producer and director.