Summary Information
Abstract
This collection documents the career of Vera Connolly, journalist, editor, and
fiction author, through her drafts, notes, and correspondence. Connolly's articles,
published in popular magazines such as
Good Housekeeping,
Colliers,
and
Woman's
Day,
ranged in topic from financial advice for married women to juvenile
delinquency, prison reform, sweatshops, and poor living conditions on Indian
reservations.
At a Glance
| Bib ID: | 4078648 View CLIO record |
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| Creator(s): | Connolly, Vera L., 1888-1964. |
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| Title: | Vera L. Connolly
Papers
1907-1960
[Bulk dates: 1916-1956].
|
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| Physical description: | 12 linear feet ( 27 document boxes, one oversize
box)
|
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| Language(s): | In English
|
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| Access: |
This collection has no rstrictions.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least
twenty-four (24) hours in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and
Manuscript Library reading room.
More information » |
|---|
Arrangement
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in four series.
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Description
Scope and Content
The bulk of the collection relates to Connolly's work as a contract and freelance
writer and contains correspondence with editors and agents, extensive research
notes, and many drafts of her published and unpublished work. It also includes
clippings and scrapbooks of published articles, reviews and reactions to her work,
and a small amount of biographical information
Series I: Correspondence, 1917-1960.
Most of the letters that make up this series are between Connolly and the
agents and editors of magazines. Connolly presents concepts for unwritten
articles, receives feedback and suggestions on drafts, and negotiates the
direction of the articles. There are also some responses from readers.
Subseries I.1 Alphabetical, 1928-1955
This subseries is arranged by personal or institution name and includes
correspondence with W.F. Bigelow, editor of
Good
Housekeeping,
and publishers at McGraw Hill and Dodd, Mead,
and Co., among others.
Subseries I.2: Chronological, 1917-1960
This small subseries contains a file of correspondence related to fiction
submissions and several separate runs of general correspondence with
editors, agents, and occasionally readers and friends.
Series II: Nonfiction, 1916-1956
Most of Connolly's nonfiction files contain a combination of research notes
and drafts of magazine articles. Lists of article concepts and notes from
interviews are also present, and some files, such as those relating to the
American Indian series, contain extensive correspondence. Clippings of the
finished article are sometimes available, but most drafts are undated and
few include information on where the article was eventually published. A
partial list of articles is included in her resume (see Series IV), but
Connolly's published articles can be most easily found by searching magazine
indexes, particularly those for
Good Housekeeping,
The Christian Science Monitor,
Colliers,
Redbook,
Reader's Digest,
The Delineator,
The Saturday Evening Post,
and
Woman's Day.
Subseries II.1: Titled Drafts and Research Notes, 1929-1956
Titled drafts of published and unpublished works have been arranged
alphabetically. Many files also contain associated research notes.
Subseries II.2: Untitled Drafts and Research Notes, 1916-1954
Files containing untitled drafts or research notes only have been
arranged by subject, though these may relate to one or more of the
titled drafts.
Series II.3: Article Clippings, 1917-1954
Scrapbooks and clippings of published articles can be found in this
subseries. They are organized alphabetically by publication title.
Series III: Fiction, 1907-1952
This series is composed primarily of drafts and occasional printed copies of
Connolly's short stories, poems, radio and television concepts, and her
novel
Judy Grant: Editor.
Like her nonfiction
articles, few of Connolly's fiction drafts are dated, although most were
probably written before 1920. Files occasionally contain research notes,
correspondence with publishers and editors, or clippings of published works
and their associated illustrations.
Subseries III.1: Titled Drafts, 1912-1952
This subseries contains drafts and notes of titled works, arranged
alphabetically.
Subseries III.2: Untitled Drafts and Notes, 1907-circa
1952
Story concepts, notes, and untitled drafts can be found in this
subseries.
Series IV: General, 1910-1952
This small series contains a variety of materials, including articles about
Connolly, resumes and biographical articles, contracts, and lecture notes
from events held by the Association of Students of Dr. Hendrik J. deLange.
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Using the Collection
Offsite
Access Restrictions
This collection has no rstrictions.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least
twenty-four (24) hours in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and
Manuscript Library reading room.
More information and link to off-site request form
Restrictions on Use
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material
from the collection must be requested from the Curator of Manuscripts, Rare Book and
Manuscript Library (RBML). The RBML approves permission to publish that which it
physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the
patron.
Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the Librarian for
Rare Books and Manuscripts.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Vera L. Connolly Papers; Box and
Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Finding aid in repository; folder level control.
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About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries. Rare Book and
Manuscript Library; machine readable finding aid created by Columbia University
Libraries Digital Library Program Division
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Carolyn Smith.
Finding aid written by Carolyn Smith in April, 2008.
Machine readable finding aid generated from MARC-AMC source via XSLT
conversion December 2, 2008
Finding aid written in English.
2009/01/15
xml document instange created by Patrick Lawlor
2009/05/27
xml document instange created by Catherine N. Carson
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Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
Additional Creators
Genre/Form
Subjects
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History / Biographical Note
Biographical Note
Vera Leona Connolly was a journalist and editor for many of
America's popular magazines, particularly woman's journals such as
Good Housekeeping,
The Woman's Home Companion,
and
Woman's Day,
from the 1920s through the 1950s.
Describing herself as a "crusading journalist--a stirrer-upper," Connolly wrote
articles that publicized and criticized social problems in the United States,
including juvenile delinquency, lax adoption regulations, ineffective narcotics law,
sweatshops, and the poor living conditions on Indian reservations. She encouraged
her readers get involved by writing to government officials and volunteering time,
and some of her articles sparked investigations and court cases that lead to
significant changes. Connolly also wrote extensively about marriage and family
throughout her career, but supported the rights of unmarried women and unwed mothers
as well.
Connolly was born in 1888 at a military post in Benicia,
California. Her father, an Army captain, traveled widely throughout Europe and
Southeast Asia and often brought his wife and two children, Vera and Donald, with
him. For several years he was stationed on the Round Valley Reservation in
California, and Connolly later said that the poverty and malnourishment she
witnessed there led to her decision to help disadvantaged groups.
The family eventually settled in Angel Island, San
Francisco, where Connolly began writing stories and worked on her high school's
newspaper. She went on to study English at the University of California for two
years, but left after her father died of a bullet wound sustained in battle. Finding
herself financially responsible for her handicapped mother, the 18-year-old Connolly
moved to New York City to work as a reporter for the New York Sun. By 1913 she was
Associate Editor of
Delineator Magazine
, and from
1917 to 1918 she ran a department at the
Christian
Herald
called "Adventures in Neighboring," which featured upbeat articles
about community improvement in rural areas. Connolly became Associate Editor of
World Outlook
in 1919 and worked for several
months at
McCalls.
In 1920, with enough editing experience to know what the
magazines were looking for, Connolly began writing articles on contract. Over the
next two decades she would publish hundreds of pieces in popular magazines,
particularly
Good Housekeeping.
During the 1920's and
early 1930s, Connelly focused on family and juvenile courts, youth crime waves, and
prison conditions. She visited over 200 jails to see prison life in person. Connolly
also visited sweatshops and wrote "Paid in Sweat" to expose the working conditions
in the clothing industry.
In 1928, William Bigelow, editor of
Good Housekeeping,
sent Connolly on a year-long investigation of Indian
reservations in the Western states. She returned to write four articles that accused
the Indian Bureau of severe neglect, particularly at government boarding schools.
The series, which relied heavily on Connolly's observations and the words of the
Indians themselves, elicited hundreds of responses from shocked readers, as well as
letters of denial and protest from Commissioner of Indian Affairs Charles Burke. The
protests led to a Senate investigation and the appointment of a million dollars to
feed Indian children, and may also have forced Burke's resignation. Connolly's third
article, "The End of the Road," was entered into the Congressional Record. She
considered the series one of her greatest accomplishments.
Connolly continued to write articles on social problems
throughout the 1930s and 1940s. She attacked narcotics laws in "The Dope Menace" and
warned potential adoptive parents in "Bargain Counter Babies." In 1933, her article
"the Light in the Mountains" on rural mountain schools resulted in the Perpetual
Vera Connolly Scholarship. She was especially interested in juvenile delinquency and
discipline, and "Get the Children Out of the Jails," published in
Woman's Home Companion
in 1945, led to legislation
restricting the jailing of children in several states. A later article, "No Straps,
No Paddles," was reprinted by the U.S. Department of State, translated into many
languages, and distributed in fifty-five countries to provide an example of how
troubled and traumatized children could be treated without physical punishment.
Connolly was also disturbed by rising divorce rates and wrote extensively about
solutions to marital problems.
During the earlier years of her career, Connolly also
published short stories and serials in fiction magazines such as
Black Cat
and
The
Cavalier
. Her work ranged from animal adventure stories to mysteries, but
many of her pieces were similar in theme to her articles. Her cautionary tale "The
Incident" was based on interviews with two teenage runaways, and stories such as
"The Spell on the Rice" focused on women trapped in unhappy marriages. She also
experimented with poetry, musicals, and radio scripts, submitted movie concepts to
film studios, and published a young adult novel entitled
Judy
Grant, Editor.
Fiction remained a secondary interest, however, and
Connolly eventually dropped most other projects to focus on journalism.
In 1937 Connolly became one of the founders and the
Associate Editor of
Woman's Day,
where she was
responsible for the column "Just Between Neighbors" and a tear-out section for
children called "Children's Day." Two years later, she was asked to found and edit a
woman's page for
The Christian Science Monitor.
She
moved to Boston and created "Today's Woman," an eight-column page that covered the
achievements of woman around the world and delved into issues especially important
to women.
Connolly returned to New York and to contract writing in
1942, and wrote for
Collier's
and
Women's Home Companion.
She also published in
Nation's Business,
This Week,
and the
Saturday
Evening Post,
and served again as Associate Editor of
The Delineator
from 1945 to 1950. Her articles continued
to have a powerful impact; "The Man who Refused to Die," published in
Redbook
in 1952, told the story of veteran Sam
Harrison's determination to have a job despite having lost all but two fingers. The
article was celebrated by disabled veterans, some of whom formed "Sam Harrison
Clubs" to help others in similar situations. CBS made the story into a half-hour
radio drama, and the U.S. Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped
reprinted and distributed the article to hospitals and rehabilitation centers.
By the mid-1950s, woman's magazines had begun to turn away
crusading pieces in favor of entertainment articles, and Connolly found it
increasingly difficult to publish her work. She stopped publishing in 1955. Connolly
died in New York in 1964.
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