Finding aid for the Nora Waln Literary Papers
General International Standard for Archival Description
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081-1399 U.S.A.
Text converted and initial EAD tagging provided by FHL Staff 2007
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Nora Waln Literary Papers1939-1964
Nora Waln
Biographical History for: Nora Waln Literary Papers1939-1964
Nora Waln was a 20th century Quaker author and journalist who wrote about Nazi Germany and China. Born in Grampion, Pennsylvania, in 1895, she was the daughter of Thomas Lincoln and Lillian Quest Waln. She entered Swarthmore College with the Class of 1919 but left during her second year when war broke out. In 1920 she sailed for China to live with the Lins, a family with Waln connections in Hopei Province. She met her future husband, English foreign service officer George Edward Osland-Hill in the Far East. They were married in 1922 in the Cathedral of the Church of England in Shanghai. Nora and Ted had one child, Marie. Eventually she had to leave China, and in June of 1934 went to Germany with her husband who had retired and wanted to study music. Nora Waln’s best known books include House of Exile and Reaching for the Stars. The former was drawn from her life in Germany, and latter the account of her stay in a Chinese household. She contributed articles to the Saturday Evening Post, the Atlantic Monthly, and other magazines. She was also the European administrator of the Kappa Kappa Gamma Fund for War Mothers and Children. Nora travelled widely, maintained residences in England and Philadelphia, and spent the final years of her life at Rincon de la Victoria, near Malaga in southern Spain.
The collection includes many incomplete manuscripts, at least some of which were returned to her family by the publisher after her death. A portion of this material was never published, and some represents earlier drafts of published works. Series 1 includes correspondence with Edward A. Weeks Jr., her publisher at the Atlantic Monthly, in the late 1930s and the early 1940s. The papers have been maintained in the folder groups with which they were associated, resulting in mixed content, with newspaper clipping, manuscripts, and other materials together as received. Organized into series: 1. Correspondence; 2. Literary Manuscripts; 3. Miscellaneous.
Quaker authors
lcnaf
Waln, Nora
Weeks, Edward, 1898-1989
series
Series 1. Correspondence
Editorial Correspondence
Creation of Editorial Correspondence
Time of Creation of Editorial Correspondence
Nora’s correspondence primarily with Edward (Ted) Weeks, Editor at the Atlantic Monthly in Boston, 1939-1964. Includes a letter about writing a monthly letter for the Atlantic Monthly from the Western Pacific and a letter about the success of The House of Exile, which was about a young Quaker with a Chinese family, a letter on his anticipation for Children of Light, and a letter asking for a possible book to Nora in Japan.
Miscellaneous Correspondence
Creation of Miscellaneous Correspondence
Time of Creation of Miscellaneous Correspondence
Correspondence in England during the War. Includes letters from Hector MacQuarrie, 1940, about editing her book, and a letter to Meg, 1941; also includes copied poems and a photograph.
Bob Waln to Geoffrey Greer
Creation of Bob Waln to Geoffrey Greer
Time of Creation of Bob Waln to Geoffrey Greer
Letter from Robert L.Waln to Geoffrey Greer acknowledging receipt of photographs. Also includes European photos of author and unannotated postcards from Scotland, Spain, and London
Ser.2 Literary Manuscripts
Book typescript and related materials
Creation of Book typescript and related materials
Time of Creation of Book typescript and related materials
1958 Spanish newspaper, several articles on the Germans, WWII, the great blitz, and bird watching, Chapters 1, 2, and 3 from book, letter to and from Ami Stewart in 1957
Several Book Typescripts and related material
Creation of Several Book Typescripts and related material
Time of Creation of Several Book Typescripts and related material
Parts of Invisible Leopold’s Series, In England Now, and multiple copies of Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of Songs in the Night, along with a letter to Ami Stewart in 1957
Book manuscript and related materials
Creation of Book manuscript and related materials
Time of Creation of Book manuscript and related materials
Unfinished chapters from book chapter outlines for Andalucia and Horses in Spain, newspaper articles on the Cold War and Communism, and letter to Ted about Spanish Horses book rights
Excerpts From Return to the House of Exile
Chapters 1-5, 9 of unfinished sequel to House of Exile
Assorted Chapter Typescripts and Articles
Chapter 3 of Children of the Light, Parts1-3, 5 of Letters from the Western Pacific, Seth and Mary, The World is Round, and Convey to China
Book Typescript
Edited and finished versions of Book Two from book with story line about China.
Chapter 1 of Andalucia
Chapter 2 from Dust of the Earth
Chapter 2 from Heretics
Chapter 9 and 11 from Sylvia
Chapter Typescript
Chapter 4 from book about China
Chapter Typescript and related material
Chapter 4 from book (same as folder 6), along with article on Japanese art
Chapter Typescript and related materials
Article on Soviet prisons and Chapter 3 from book about a missionary Quaker
Chapter Typescripts and related materials
First Day with Rufus Jones by Nora, articles on Japan and Korea, Chapter One: The House with the Rose Red Walls about Korea, Chapter 9: Peonies were in Bloom, and Chapter 4: On a Rice Farm.
Chapters from Return to the House of Exile and letter
Chapters 1-3, 9 from Return to the House of Exile, and letter to Ted Lambert about Reaching for the Stars.
Collected manuscript ideas and materials
Poems in Spanish, pieces of paper with poem ideas, phrases, and quotes on China, ideas for books Horses in Spain and Rural Rides, and brainstorming for other books
Incomplete typescripts
Manuscripts from Atlantic Monthly returned after Nora’s death: None Ask Pity from Berlin, Surrender the Heart about China, This is Home, Sliding Door’s chapter listings, chapters 1-4 from Book 1 chapter 3 from Book 2 from Return to the House of Exile, Chapter 1 and 2 from Beyond Our Dreams about Spain, Chapter 1 and 2 from This is Home, letter from Atlantic with incomplete manuscript list, and letters from Ted about royalties and missing Nora
Ser.3 Miscellaneous
Unsorted Papers
Receipts about Robert Waln’s estate, article about Nora, A Quaker Among Nazis, and a review on Nora’s book The Approaching Storm: One Woman’s Story of Germany 1934-38, photos from Nora’s year in Germany, None Ask Pity draft, For the Progress, and several letters from Berlin, and pictures of Nora’s husband.
Clippings