Illustrations: 3 paintings of working women in different situations.
Local Numbers:
Ivorydata4 31
0207910020 (Scan No.)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Reproduction restrictions due to copyright.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Caption: "How to win an Engagement". WAAC; man reading letter.
Published Mar.-Apr. 1943.
Local Numbers:
245621
Ivorydata4 1478
0307910283 (Scan No.)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Reproduction restrictions due to copyright.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
United States. Army. Women's Army Corps Search this
The Grace F. Thorpe Collection (1900-2008) includes documents, photographic prints, slides, negatives and other materials that encapsulate the breadth of Grace Thorpe's life and work as a WWII veteran, Native rights activist, and dedicated daughter, mother and family member. This includes material from her personal, military and professional life. Series 1: Early Life and Family History (1921-1940) includes materials related to the Thorpe family including photographs of Grace's parents, Jim and Iva at the Carlisle Indian School as well as letters and photographs from Grace as a young girl. Series 2: Military Career and Life in Japan (1943-1950) includes documents, photographic prints and negatives from Grace's time as a Corporal in the Women's Army Corps and her life as a wife and mother in Japan following the war. This series also includes the medals Grace received for her service in WWII. Series 3: Pearl River, New York and Business (1950-1967) contains documents and photographs from Grace's time as a mother and business woman in Pearl River, New York. Series 4: Working on Behalf of Native Americans and Activism (1968-1977) includes documents, photographic prints and negatives from Grace's work with various Native American organizations on economic and civil rights issues following her move to Arizona in 1967. Series 5: Jim Thorpe and His Legacy (1912-1984) includes documents, photographic prints and negatives regarding Jim Thorpe and the work by the Thorpe family to restore Jim's Olympic record and keep his legacy alive. Series 6: Later Years (1979-2007) includes documents, photographic prints and negatives from Grace's life in Oklahoma, her work as an environmental activist, and other activities later in her life.
Arrangement:
This collection has been arranged in six series chronologically based on how the collection was received with minor changes. The Series' include--Series 1: Early Life and Family History (1921-1940), Series 2: Military Career and Life in Japan (1943-1950), Series 3: Pearl River, New York and Business (1950-1967), Series 4: Working on Behalf of Native Americans and Activism (1968-1977), Series 5: Jim Thorpe and His Legacy (1912-1984), and Series 6: Later Years (1979-2007). There is some chronological crossover between Series 5: Jim Thorpe and His Legacy and the rest of the collection.
The physical arrangement of the materials was determined by storage needs.
Biographical / Historical:
Grace Frances Thorpe was born in Yale, Oklahoma on December 10, 1921 to parents James (Jim) Francis Thorpe (Sac and Fox (Sauk)) and Iva Margaret Miller Thorpe. Jim, already a famed athelete and olympic medalist, had met Iva as students at Carlisle Indian School and were married in 1913. Grace was the youngest of four, Gail Margaret, James and Charlotte Marie though her brother James died from polio at a young age. When Iva and Jim divorced in 1923, Iva and the girls moved to Chicago while Jim moved to California to pursue work in the movies. For school, Grace attended St. Mary's Academy, Sacred Heart, in Oklahoma and Haskell Institute in Kansas, which was where her father had attended school.
In 1943 Grace worked briefly at the Ford Motor Company before enlisting in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during WWII. After attending training and graduating from the WAAC Training Center in Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia, Thorpe attained the rank of Corporal, and served as a Recruiter for the Women's Army Corps stationed in Tucson and Camp White in Oregon before being assigned overseas to the New Guinea Campaign. From 1944-1945 Corporal Thorpe was stationed in New Guinea, Philippines and Japan. Following an Honorable Discharge in 1945, Grace remained in Japan during the occupation with her husband Lieutenant Fred W. Seely (1918-2008) whom she married in June 1946. She became employed at General MacArthur Headquarters as Chief of the Recruitment Section, Department of Army Civilians, Tokyo, Japan. Both of her children, Dagmar (1946-) and Paul Thorpe (1948-1964) were born during this time in Japan.
Grace and her children left Japan and arrived in San Francisco on April 20, 1950. They lived in Pearl River, New York from late 1950 to the mid 1960s. She first became employed as a Hostess with Welcome Wagon upon completing training in July of 1951 and later became a supervisor, business machine salesperson, and territorial account executive for the Yellow Pages with the Reuben H. Donnelly Corp. earning recognition in Distinguished Sales Performance. She completed a course in effective speaking and human relations conducted by the Dale Carnegie Institute and won a Best Speech Award. In 1967, Grace moved to Arizona where she became involved with American Indian tribes. Grace was appointed Economic Development Conference Coordinator for the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)'s 1968 and 1969 conferences. In 1969-1970, Grace joined Native American Activists at the occupation of Alcatraz Island for three months and managed their publicity. She then served as a Congressional Intern from 1974-1975 for Senator James Abourezk. Grace was later appointed Legislative Assistant with the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs and as a Task Force Program and Planning Analyst for the American Indian Policy Review Commission. During this time period she attended—The Antioch School of Law, Washington DC; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Research Fellow), Boston, Massachusetts; University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Northeastern University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma. During this time she also began working on the restoration of her father's 1912 Olympic titles as well as other projects to recognize and honor her father.
After returning to her tribal homeland in Oklahoma she became active in tribal affairs and in 1983 successfully restored her father's Olympic record. She also conducted genealogical research on the Thorpe family. Her article "The Jim Thorpe Family' was published as a two-part series in the Chronicles of Oklahoma in 1981. In later years, Grace served her tribe as a tribal judge, health commissioner, and became an environmental activist opposing nuclear waste on tribal lands. She remained active in Native American issues, a matriarch of the Thorpe family, and involved with her granddaughter, Tena Malotte, and her great-grandchildren, Aspen and Huna.
Biographical note provided by Dagmar Seely, daughter to Grace Thorpe, with additions by Rachel Menyuk, Processing Archivist.
Separated Materials:
27 nitrate negatives have been moved offsite and are being housed at the National Anthropological Archives.
Provenance:
Donated by Dr. Dagmar Seely and Tena Malotte, 2015.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited users to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not changed, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian.
Alcatraz Island (Calif.) -- History -- Indian occupation, 1969-1971. Search this
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Grace F. Thorpe Collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
The papers of jeweler and educator Ramona Solberg measure 8.3 linear feet and date from 1926 to 2007. The collection documents Solberg's career through biographical materials including interview transcripts, correspondence between Solberg and friends and colleagues including Russell and Marjorie Day and Malathi Ramswarthy, organizational and professional files, printed materials, artwork including jewelry sketches, photographs of Solberg and her work, and motion picture films containing footage of artwork and travel.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of jeweler and educator Ramona Solberg measure 8.3 linear feet and date from 1926 to 2007. The collection documents Solberg's career through biographical materials including interview transcripts, correspondence, organizational and professional files, printed materials, artwork including jewelry sketches, photographs of Solberg and her work, and motion picture films containing footage of artwork and travel.
Biographical materials contain Solberg's Women's Army Corps records, student records, awards and diplomas, material for Solberg's memorial service, a Christmas newsletter by Solberg, interview transcripts and notes, and a detailed chronology of Solberg's life events and career accomplishments.
Correspondence is between Solberg, various friends and colleagues including Russell and Marjorie Day, Malathi Ramswarthy, and others, and with her nephew's partner Sharon Dwinnell-Smith, who served as the point of contact during Solberg's hospitalization in 2004 and after her death in 2005.
A set of organizational files includes correspondence, agreements, printed and photographic materials, sales information, loan forms, and other material regarding exhibitions, workshops, and other events. Solberg's professional files include annotated calendars, workshop material, files containing personal letters and material concerning a film project on Solberg by Jack Stoops, drafts and photographs for Solberg's book Inventive Jewelry-Making, instructional material, research and notes on beads, a few exhibition files, and teaching and travel files.
Printed materials include booklets, brochures and pamphlets, clippings, announcements and catalogs for Solberg's exhibitions, flyers, and a poster. Artwork includes Solberg's childhood drawings, jewelry sketches, and a few other items. Photographic materials include photos of Solberg, travel, and works of art, in addition to approximately 40 motion picture film strips containing footage of artwork and travel.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1939-2007 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1, OV 9)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1966-2007 (0.7 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 3: Organizational Records, 1955-2007 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 4: Professional Files, circa 1955-2006 (2.0 linear feet; Boxes 2-4, OV 10)
Series 5: Printed Materials, circa 1957-2006 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 4-5)
Series 6: Artwork, 1926-circa 2000 (0.2 linear feet; Box 5, OV 11)
Series 7: Photographic Materials and Motion Picture Film, circa 1940-circa 1990s (3.0 linear feet; Boxes 5-8, FC12)
Biographical / Historical:
Ramona Solberg (1921-2005) was a jeweler and educator in Seattle, W.A.
Solberg was born in Watertown, S.D. but moved to Seattle as a baby. She enlisted in the Women's Army Corps in 1943 and served until 1950. Over the course of her service, she had the opportunity to travel around the United States, as well as abroad to Heidelberg and Stuttgart. After leaving the Army, Solberg used her GI benefits to study jewelry making and textiles in Mexico at Bellas Artes and the University of Michoacan. She received both her Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Washington in 1951 and 1953. Solberg taught high school before becoming an associate professor at Washington State College from 1956 to 1967. She returned to her alma mater, the University of Washington, in 1967 to teach until her retirement in 1983. In 1972, she published, Inventive Jewelry-Making, a book for beginners. She became a fellow at the American Craft Council in 1975 and won the Washington State Governor's award in 1987.
Solberg died in 2005.
Related Materials:
Also in the Archives of American Art is an interview of Ramona Solberg conducted on March 23, 2001 by Vicki Halper for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Solberg's apartment, Seattle, W.A.
Provenance:
The Ramona Solberg papers were donated in 2003 by Ramona Solberg and in 2008 by Ramona Solberg's estate via Larry Metcalf, executor, as part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual records in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
An officer and a lady : the World War II letters of Lt. Col. Betty Bandel, Women's Army Corps / edited by Sylvia J. Bugbee ; with an introduction by Lorry M. Fenner
Life within limits : glimpses of everyday life at Los Alamos, New Mexico, seen through the experiences of a young female soldier while on military service there, May 1944 to April 1946 / Eleanor (Jerry) Stone Roensch
