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.
United States. Office of War Information Search this
Extent:
0.05 Cubic feet (1 folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Leaflets
Biographies
Date:
1944
Summary:
Propaganda moved to the air during the Second World War. Leaflets bearing Japanese characters, like the one in this collection, were airdropped by US pilots in enemy-controlled territories of the Southwest Pacific with the intention to reduce the morale of their soldiers.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of a 4 by 6.5 inch airborne propaganda leaflet issued by the United States in 1944 and dropped over the Japanese-held territories in New Guinea and the Philippines. This leaflet is written in a traditional Japanese writing system - used by the privileged class at this time - and attempted to discourage enemy soldiers. Also included in this collection is the biography of Second Lieutenant Hubert J. Frank, a Consolidated B-24 Liberator pilot with the 65th Bombing Squadron assigned to the 43rd Bombardment Group of the Fifth Air Force, who helped scattered hundreds of these leaflets.
Arrangement:
Collection is in original order.
Biographical / Historical:
Military aircrafts released leaflets, flyers, and other smaller paper items to promote agendas and persuade audiences. This distribution, usually scattered in the air over conflict zones, reached combatants and civilians. Often these materials were also dropped in conjunction with air strikes. In the Second World War, both the Allies and Axis utilized airborne leaflet propaganda as a method of psychological warfare to demoralize their enemy, undermine their authority, and induce surrender. In the Southwest Pacific theatre, the US pilots airdropped hundreds of propaganda leaflets over Japan as well as other territories controlled by the Japanese.
Related Materials:
US Army Air Force Japanese Propaganda Leaflets [Sylvan], NASM.2016.0018.
Provenance:
Jon Frank, Gift, 2016, NASM.2016.0017
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
Main Image: Map of the main cities and islands of the Northern Philippine Islands
Local numbers:
Princeton Poster# 8123
General:
Artist(s): Anon
Series:
GPD Phi. 1
Printing Info:
Printer: Crown Copyright [?]
Specimen of British War Literature
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Copyright status of items varies. 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.
Princeton University Posters Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
Digitization of the Princeton University Poster Collection was a collaboration of Google Arts and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution's Digitization Program Office. Catalog records were transcribed by digital volunteers through the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center.
Main Image: Map of the main cities and islands of the Philippines
Local numbers:
Princeton Poster# 8124
General:
Artist(s): Anon
Series:
GPD Phi. 3
Printing Info:
Printer: Crown Copyright [?]
Specimen of British War Literature
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Copyright status of items varies. 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.
Princeton University Posters Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
Digitization of the Princeton University Poster Collection was a collaboration of Google Arts and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution's Digitization Program Office. Catalog records were transcribed by digital volunteers through the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center.
International Turned Objects Show (1988 : Philadelphia, Pa.) Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Place:
England -- description and travel
France -- description and travel
Guatemala -- description and travel
Hong Kong -- description and travel
Japan -- Description and Travel
Philippines -- description and travel
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Merryll Saylan, 2006 May 20-June 5. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Merryll Saylan conducted 2006 May 20-June 5, by Glenn Adamson, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the Victoria & Albert Museum, in London, England.
Saylan speaks of her childhood in Los Angeles, California; her early musical education in piano and viola; memories of World War II; her family's political views during the Cold War; meeting her first husband at UCLA; dropping out of school to move to Virginia and Georgia in fulfillment of her husband's military service; experiencing anti-Semitism in Georgia; the challenges of her eldest son's speech problems; traveling to France, Japan, Guatemala, Hong Kong and the Philippines; her interest in Japanese culture; completing her B.A. in design at UCLA and her M.A. in studio art at California State University, Northridge; anti-Vietnam sentiment on campus; early interests in environmental design; her second husband and his friends; her interest in furniture and woodworking; differing approaches to woodworking on the east and west coasts; her views on feminism and working women; her use of color and texture in woodworking; teaching experiences; popular perception of her work; receiving a grant to go to England and her involvement with English and German woodturners; the lack of collector interest in her work; forced absences from working because of illnesses; serving on the boards of the American Association of Woodturners and The Woodturning Center; her involvement in the International Turned Objects Show, the Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Biannual Exposition, and the International Turning Exchange; her thoughts on future work. Saylan also recalls George Foy, Bob Stocksdale, Michael Cooper, Pamela Weir-Quiton, Joanne Rapp, J.B. Blunk, Marvin Lipofsky, Gail Fredell, Wendy Maruyama, Ralph Evans, Del Stubbs, Jerry Glaser, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Merryll Saylan (1936- ) is a wood artist from San Rafael, California. Glenn Adamson (1972- ) is a museum professional, in London, England.
General:
Originally recorded on 7 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 7 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 9 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Opening, Gen. MacArthur addresses Congress, 1951 --Tributes by Herbert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy --MacArthur enters West Point, 1899 -- Events of 1903, the year he graduated --Declaration of war, 1917 --Organization of the National Guard --Battlefield record in France --Back at West Point, as remembered by Earl Blaik --Sworn in as Chief-of-Staff, 1930 --Dispersing the Bonus Army, 1932 --Graduation Day address, West Point, 1933 --Retires as Chief-of-Staff, 1935 --MacArthur in the Philippines --Retirement from the Army, 1936 --Japan attacks the gunboat Panay --Recalled to duty, 1941 --First peacetime draft --Army-Navy game --Japanese Ambassador Normura --Announcement of Pearl Harbor --President Roosevelt declares war --Corregidor --"I have come through and I shall return" --America's darkest hour --MacArthur in Australia, 1944 --Carlos Romulo thanks MacArthur --The return to Corregidor --The atomic bomb --The Japanese surrender, 1945 --Aboard the Missouri, in Tokyo Bay --MacArthur appointed Supreme Commander --Occupation of Japan begins --Birthday serenade by Japanese children -- North Korea, 1950 --Named United Nations Commander-in-Chief --Inchon landing --Lord Alanbrooke's military evaluation --U.N. forces cross the 38th parallel --Criticism and concern --Wake Island meeting with President Truman -- Stalemate in Korea --Truman relieves MacArthur -- Truman's speech, April, 1951 --MacArthur's defense before Congress ("Fade away" speech) --Home to New york -- Wife, Jean Faircloth MacArthur --Son, Arthur MacArthur -- Visit with President Kennedy --Address to West Point Cadets, 1956 --"The long gray line."
Local Numbers:
FW-ASCH-LP-3064
MGM.4245
Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Imprint):
MGM 1964
General:
"Documentary compiled from Hearst Metrotone newsreels" ; narrated by Luis Van Rooten. Descriptive notes on container.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
April 1944, MacArthur in Australia.--November 1944, MacArthur returns to Philippines.--March 1945, Philippines resume self-government.--August 1945, MacArthur with G.I.'s after Japanese surrender.--September 1945, Japanese surrender ceremonies.--September 1945, Japanese sign surrender.--September 1945, Surrender ceremonies concluded.--April 1946, MacArthur addresses Allied Council.--July 1946, Philippines celebrate independence.--April 1951, MacArthur welcomed in San Francisco.--April 1951, New York hails MacArthur.--April 1951, MacArthur speaks at Waldorf.--April 1951, MacArthur addresses Congress.
Local Numbers:
FW-ASCH-LP-3066
Twentieth Century Fox.3148
Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Imprint):
Twentieth Century Fox
General:
From soundtracks of Fox Movietone News.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Eleanor Sayre, 1993 April 19-1997 January 10. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Eleanor Sayre conducted 1993 April 19-1997 January 10, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Sayre talks about her early childhood in Williamstown and Cambridge, Mass.; her family background; visits to the White House with her maternal grandfather, Woodrow Wilson; living abroad while her father was in government service in Bangkok, then Siam (now Thailand), Paris, and Switzerland, with extensive recollections of her brothers and schooling in Europe.
Attending Winsor School in Boston; her mother's death; her years at Bryn Mawr College, including her switch to art history from political science; Georgianna Goddard King as an influential teacher; an internship under Laura Dudley at the Fogg Art Museum's Print Room and the lasting effect of this experience.
Being a graduate student in fine arts at Harvard and the importance of Edward Forbes and Paul Sachs as teachers; her decision not to pursue a PhD; working with Jakob Rosenberg; helping to get young Jews out of Europe; her position as assistant for exhibitions at Yale University Art Gallery under Theodore Sizer; the trauma of her father's internment by the Japanese in the Philippines, where he was High Commissioner and his rescue; and her decision to turn down a military intelligence job in order to work with German Jewish refugees.
Her brief tenure at Lyman-Allyn Museum, Conn., under Winslow Ames; her years in the education department under Lydia "Ma" Powel at the Museum of Art of the Rhode Island School of Design with Gordon Washburn as director; and working closely with Heinrich Schwartz on prints and drawings.
The liberal tradition of her father's wealthy family; her father; being brought to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by its curator of prints, Henry Rossiter and on the charming collector and benefactor, Maxim Karolik; MFA curator of paintings, William George Constable; and George Harold Edgell, MFA director.
The collector, Philip Hofer, who by putting his Goya proofs on loan at the MFA, led to Sayre's life-long study of the artist; her research on Goya in Spain; raising of a large sum from Boston businesses to purchase Hofer's prints for the MFA, and the MFA's eminence by the 1960s in Goya's graphic work; the disgusting repression of dissent in Franco-era Spain; Goya's passionate self-assertion, which is what principally attracted Sayre to his work, and his conceptual process and method of work.
Earlier years at the MFA, Boston, including the accessibility of the print department's study rooms; Edwin J. Hipkiss, curator of American decorative arts; the Christmas poetry and prints exhibitions designed as profound learning experiences for a broad public; and being chosen as successor to Rossiter; and further comments on Maxim Karolik.
W.G. Russell Allen and other collectors who gave their collections to the MFA; her efforts to effectively present art to the broad public; her methods of appealing to the public coalescing at the MFA in 1989 with the "Goya and the Spirit of the Enlightenment" exhibition; and an exhibition of the work of Beatrix Potter.
Spain under the dictator, Francisco Franco; her first study in Spain of Goya's drawings and her urging the Prado Museum to conserve its drawings; the Prado's director, F. Sanchez-Canton; her research on prostitution at the Ministry of Justice; being decorated for her recommending the preservation of Goya's art and the marvelous private collections of Goya in Spain; and her obsession with interpreting the meaning of Goya's work.
The MFA, Boston, under the directorship of Perry Rathbone, who wanted many more people involved than had his predecessor, George Harold Edgell, who ran it like a Boston Brahmin Club; Rathbone's accomplishments; his downfall and that of his assistant (and curator of European decorative arts and sculpture) Hanns Swarzenski in bringing a so-called Raphael into this country by irregular means, which led to Rathbone and Swarzenski's firing by George Seybolt, the trustee president; Rathbone's reluctance to hire women curators and Sayre's finally becoming curator of prints and drawings in 1967; her philosophy as curator; on Hanns and Brigitte Swarzenski as dear friends; her exchange of positions with the curator of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, where she put their valuable but neglected print collection in order.
The exhibition and catalog, "Rembrandt: Experimental Etcher," (1969) in collaboration with the Pierpont Morgan Library; general views on exhibitions; co-authoring the exhibition catalog "Goya and the Spiris of Enlightenment" (1989); her contributions to Goya research; her current research and writing on Goya's Capaprichos print series; and her satisfaction in having spent her career in art museums.
Biographical / Historical:
Eleanor A. Sayre (1916-2001) was a curator and art historian from Boston, Mass.
General:
Originally recorded on 8 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 15 digital wav files. Duration is 11 hrs., 21 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
