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Rosalie Regen Papers
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Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore 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
Rosalie Stork Regen (1909-1993) was a Quaker author and playwright who joined the Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting in 1941. She was the daughter of Charles Wharton Stork and Elisabeth "Lisl" von Pausinger Stork. Rosalie went to Germantown Friends School and Radcliffe College, graduating with honors in English Literature in 1931. She then went to New York City where she worked in publishing before meeting and marrying Curt Regen, who worked for an insurance firm. They had three children, Richard, Barbara and Deborah Regen. Two grandchildren, Peter Regen and Jeffrey Regen, graduated from Swarthmore College in 1989 and 1991, respectively.
The Regens settled in New Jersey and were active members of the Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting. Rosalie was active in Ministry and Oversight, Peace & Service and the Religious Education committees at Plainfield and served as chair of the New York Yearly Meeting Religious Education Committee. Curt was a member of the Board of The McCutchen, the Yearly Meeting Friends Home.
Rosalie wrote many stories, poems and plays for her own children and for Quaker children around the world. She was greatly involved with the First-day School at Plainfield MM and her plays were often put on by the children there and at Yearly Meeting at Silver Bay.
A collection of one-act plays entitled Peaceful Heroes was published by Friends General Conference in 1962. Other publications include Forever in Joy, a book of poetry published in 1974; I was a Problem Daughter, You were a Problem Mother, an autobiographical novel published in 1988; Peaceful Heroes II published in 1988; and The Joy of Death, written after the death of Curt Regen.
Curt and Rosalie were also active in visitation and traveled to minister to Friends all over the world. They took extensive slides, which were often shown at Silver Bay.
Rosalie also kept journals and a prodigious correspondence. Her interests, as documented in this collection of papers, photographs and slides, are divided among family, writing and active involvement with the affairs of the Society of Friends.
The collection includes journals kept continuously from 1936 to the time of her death in 1993. She also maintained a prodigious correspondence with family and friends. Includes drafts of her writings, some of which were published: "Peaceful Heroes," a collection of plays, in 1962, and "Forever in Joy," a book of poetry, in 1974.
The collection is divided into four series:
- Historical and Genealogical Materials
- Journals
- Correspondence
- Writings
Arrangement generally alphabetical and chronological within each series. Correspondence is arranged according to the order established by Rosalie Regen.
Accession information:
Donors: Children of Rosalie Regen: Richard Wharton Regen, Barbara Regen Claffie, Deborah Fisher Regen, 1993; Accession number: 93.15
The collection was given by the children of Rosalie Regen after her death in 1993. She had signed the gift form for the collection in November 1992.
Received unprocessed but partially sorted into boxes by Richard Regen.
The following materials, originally part of the collection, have been removed and catalogued separately:
- Removed to FHL Cassette Recordings collection: a tape of Curt and Richard Regen's memories, 1987 (#60), a radio interview with Curt and Rosalie Regen about being Quakers and the Alternative to Violence Program, 1980 (#61), the Memorial Service held for Curt Regen at Plainfield Monthly Meeting, 1989 (#62), and the Memorial Service held for Rosalie Regen at Medford Leas, NJ, 1993 (#63).
- Removed to RG5 Rosalie Regan Papers Oversize: Germantown Friends School and Radcliffe College diplomas and Cum Laude certificate.
- Removed to PA 53: Rosalie and Curt Regen Slide Collection
- Removed to PA 58: Regen Family Photographs
- Cooley, Rossa_B. School Acres an Adventure in Rural Education.
- Creasey, Maurice A. Sacraments A Quaker Approach. London: FHSC reprint, 1960.
- Curtis, Anna L. Brother Sam.
- Garner, Dorothy K. Reminiscences of Powell House Beginnings.
- Otto, Heinrich. Werden Und Wesen Des Quakertums und seine entwicklung in Deutschland.
- Penn, William. Some Fruits of Solitude. Introduction by Edmund Gosse. London: Archibald Constable & Co Ltd., 1907.
- Steere, Douglas V. On Speaking Out of the Silence.
- Stork, C.W. The Vineyard and the Sea.
- Vipont, Elfrida. A Lily Among Thorns: Some Passages in the Life of Margaret Fell of Swarthmoor Hall. London:
- Miscellaneous
- Transforming the Universe: A Study of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Rabindranath Tagore, Anonymous, 1972, removed to PG7 file on Tagore.
- Oil portrait of Rosalie Regen added to picture closet.
- Watercolor of Bad Pyrmont Meeting House, Germany added to Oversize Meeting Houses, Foreign.
- Miscellaneous postcards of Meeting Houses added to General Meeting House File.
Subject
- Publisher
- Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finding Aid Author
- RKO
- Finding Aid Date
- 1994
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
-
Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce items in this collection beyond the bounds of Fair Use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder or their heirs/assigns. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-RUU/1.0/.
Collection Inventory
From Germantown Friends School and Radcliffe, including diplomas and Cum Laude certificate.
bound
Also contains entries for 1978, May-June
The organization, by both individual and date span, follows that established by Rosalie Regen. Some of the overlapping date spans were conflated and correspondence with an individual was pulled from the general files if Rosalie had elsewhere designated a separate file for that individual.
Rosalie went back through the correspondence with her parents in the course of writing her autobiography, often summarizing the contents at the top of the letter or adding a date, if that was missing.
Rosalie pulled out "Mother's crucial letter to Curt on scene in kitchen and Curt's answer" when she organized her letters. These two letters are housed in this folder.
Folder includes telegram from Mother announcing his death.
folder 1
folder 2
Includes letters described by the following note written by Richard after Rosalie's death: "letters from Rosalie Regen to her son Richard Wharton Regen at Westtown Friends School 1953-57. Rosalie asked to have them all back. Found in her desk at the time of her death 3/1993."
folder 1
folder 2
Some of these letters are in German.
Some of the letters from the later years are from Maria Weindl, who was taking care of Lili in her old age. Some of the letters are in German.
Contains correspondence to Maria Weindl, who took care of Lili in her old age, and about Lili after her death, which occurred in 1980. Some of these letters are in German.
These letters are in German.
Peter Regen was Swarthmore College class of 1989.
Jeffrey Regen was Swarthmore College class of 1991.
Jeffrey was traveling on a Watson fellowship. Contains related materials and correspondence from others.
These letters were the basis for Rosalie's "Around the World with Granny and Granddad" stories.
Lyrinda married Neal Snyderman in 1975.
Lisbeth, who was Rosalie's goddaughter, married Vin Saya in 1976 and had two sons, Aengus and Leif. They divorced in the 1980s.
Cathy married Julian in 1979 and had a daughter Tasha in 1989.
These categories were created by Rosalie when she organized her correspondence.
With a note in Rosalie's hand, "keep these letters of congratulation for 50th golden wedding".
Includes "Papa [Richard Regen] about marriage"
Organized by Rosalie by last name of sender.
Letters in German.
folder 1
folder 2
Includes correspondence from his mother and reprint of his obituary.
Note attached by Richard Regen states, "Prisoner and disturbed young man born in Germany of German mother and GI WWII father. Lived in and around Rosalie Regen's home in early 1960s.". See clippings file for more information.
Unsorted Recent. This is how Rosalie had identified these letters. They are now loosely chronologically sorted.
Includes letter signed by Jimmy Carter.
This series is subdivided into Coursework, Stories, Poems, Essays, Plays, Articles and Miscellaneous Writings, which includes early material and scrapbooks assembled by Rosalie Regen. Material is arranged in rough chronological order within each subseries. Some dates are approximate. Some correspondence with publishers is attached; the bulk of Rosalie's correspondence relating to her writing is in Series 3.
Includes 4 folders of one complete draft and one folder with additional materials, including a key to the characters.
Came with a note from Rosalie's son Richard Regen: "Rosalie Regen's last writing. First 3 chapters of Quaker Adventures in Europe in 1968-69, written Dec 92 - Feb 93. Based on her diaries and memoirs of the period."
Outline of the collection and two stories.
Includes photocopy of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", handwritten by Robert Frost in the autograph book of Rosalie Regen, age 15 in 1925.
Includes illustrations by Hedwig Rappolt
Attached note by Richard Regen reads, "One of Rosalie's earliest plays given at NYYM. Written at YM and given by young people on the final evening to the whole assembled yearly meeting".
Submitted for publication in 1988. Attached note by Richard Regen reads, "play based on Rosalie's efforts to rehabilitate Karl Kluber, 23 year old who was born in Germany of a German mother and GI father."
Includes source material.
Original photographs removed to PA 58