Faye Calvert Abrell papers, 1922-1999, bulk
1946-1947
A Guide to her Papers at the Indiana University Archives
Finding aid prepared by Rachel E. Hancock
Summary Information
Repository
Indiana University Archives
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library E460
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-1127
Email: archives@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives
Creator
Abrell, Faye Calvert,
1909-2003
TitleFaye Calvert Abrell papers, 1922-1999, bulk
1946-1947
Collection No.
C592
Extent
1.6 cubic feet (3 boxes)
Language
Materials are in English; some postcards in German.
Abstract
Faye Calvert Abrell attended Indiana
University and graduated with both a BS in Education in 1936 and a MS in Education
in 1941. Following her time at Indiana University, Abrell spent 1946-1947 teaching
in the Dependents School Service in war-torn Frankfurt, Germany and was involved in
the Allied Forces mission of effecting a permanent peace. The majority of the
collection reflects Abrell’s year spent teaching abroad and includes correspondence,
photographs, scrapbooks she made and souvenirs she collected while in Germany.
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research. Advance notice required.
Biographical Note
Faye Calvert Abrell was born on February 20, 1909 in Freedom, Owen County, Indiana to Foster and Amy V.
Abrell. Faye attended Indiana University and graduated with a BS in Education in
1936 and a MS in Education in 1941. Following her time at IU, Abrell sought employment with the U.S.
Army as a War Department civilian employee in the U.S. Forces European Theater. As a
result, she spent 1946-1947
teaching in the Dependents School Service, established in 1946, in war-torn Frankfurt, Germany, and was involved in the Allied
Forces mission of effecting a permanent peace.
At the Dependents School, Abrell spent the year in the American occupied zone of
Germany teaching American children who had moved overseas with their military
families. During her periods of leave from teaching, Abrell travelled around Europe
and during this time, visited Adolf Hitler’s home (also known
as “The Eagle’s Nest) and attended some of the Nuremburg Trials.
The photographs taken by Abrell document the resiliency of the German people to
continue forward and rebuild after World War II. Abrell photographed numerous views
of the bombed buildings and countryside she witnessed during her year abroad. Abrell
described the apartment building she lived in during her time in Frankfurt as “half
bombed away,” and the city of Frankfurt itself over 65% destroyed. In one of the
journals within this collection, Abrell comments that she later returned in 1967 just to see the city of Frankfurt rebuilt.
During her later years in life Abrell settled in the Bloomington area and was heavily
involved in the community up until her death on March 8,
2003 at age 94.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into four series: Biographical, Correspondence,
Photographs, and Souvenirs.
Scope and Content Note
The Abrell papers are organized into four series: Biographical, Correspondence,
Photographs, and Souvenirs.
The Biographical series (1922-1999)
contains documents related to Abrell’s work as a War Department civilian employee,
journals she kept while in Germany, a biography of one of her friends, and
certificates related to Abrell’s academic and community involvement accomplishments.
The files are arranged alphabetically by folder titles.
The Correspondence series (1944-1953) contains letters, postcards, cards, and telegrams that were
exchanged during Abrell’s year spent in Frankfurt, Germany. The bulk of the letters
are between Abrell and her mother. The files are arranged by letters sent to
Faye C. Abrell and letters from Faye C. Abrell to friends
and family. The letters are further arranged within folders chronologically.
The Photographs series (1946-1947)
contains photographs taken by Abrell during 1946-1947 and begin with photographs taken on the boat
trip to Europe and ending with photographs from the boat trip back to America.
Abrell also created several scrapbooks of her photographs, tickets, and souvenirs
collected while teaching and travelling in Europe. Within the largest scrapbook
Abrell kept, she pressed a flower she claims she took from a bouquet on Hitler’s
table and a piece of broken marble from his mantelpiece. Nearly every photograph has
been labeled with details of the location, date, and names of individuals as
described by Abrell. The photographs are arranged alphabetically by locations as
labeled by Abrell.
The Souvenirs series (1944-1990)
contains blank postcards, pamphlets from the Nuremburg Trials, a
German-English/English-German Dictionary, restaurant menus, play billets, maps of
Germany, and other miscellaneous pamphlets and articles collected during Abrell’s
year in Frankfurt, Germany. The files are arranged alphabetically by locations as
labeled by Abrell.
-
Indexing Terms
-
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
IUCAT, the IU Libraries'
online catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by
searching the catalog using these terms.
-
-
Related Material
Related photographs may be available in the
University Archives
Photographs Database
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
Accension 2008/084
Usage RestrictionsThe donor(s) of this collection have not transferred their copyrights for the materials to the Trustees of Indiana University.
For more information, please contact the Indiana University Archives staff.
The Indiana University Archives respects the intellectual property rights of others and does not claim any copyrights for
non-university records, materials in the public domain, or materials for which we do not hold a Deed of Gift. Responsibility
for the determination of the copyright status of these materials rests with those persons wishing to reuse the materials.
Researchers are responsible for securing permission from copyright owners and any other rights holders for any reuse of these
materials that extends beyond fair use or other statutory limitations.
Digital reproductions of archival materials from the Indiana University Archives are made available for noncommercial educational
and research purposes only. If you are the copyright holder for any of the digitized materials and have questions about its
inclusion on our site, please contact the Indiana University Archivist.
Preferred Citation
[Item], Faye Calvert Abrell papers, Collection C592, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.
Provenance
Transferred in October 2008.
Processing InformationProcessed by Rachel E. Hancock.
Completed in 2015.
Container List
Series:
Box 1
Biographical, 1922-1999
Awards and degrees, July 1922-March 1999
“Biography of Eva Young Wiles”, March 25, 1971
Clippings, 1990-1994
Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, “From Another Member in Frankfurt,”
Faye Abrell, Summer 1947
Journals,
“Memories of 1946-47 in Germany and ideas for speeches when I
returned”, 1946-1947
“Things I must remember and a list of pictures taken”,
1946-1947
Germany Trip, September 1946-August 1947
Work Documents, March 1946-June 1947
Series:
Box 1
Correspondence, 1944-1953
Incoming,
Amy Abrell (her mother), September 1946-August 1947
Faye Calvert Abrell, September 1946-August 1947
Friends, July 1946-December1946
Friends, January 1947-July 1947
Friends (after Germany), 1946-March 1957
H.E. Binford, Superintendent School City of Bloomington, IN,
March
1947-July 1947
Glen & Bernice (after Germany), June 1949-July
1949
Hannah, Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, November 25,
1946-December 9, 1946
Helen Hummel, November 1946-July 1947
Dick & Virginia Meyering (after Germany), December 1947-
February 1953
Elizabeth Moore, December 1946-June 1947
Ed Richardson, September 16, 1944-April 11, 1945
Donald A. Rogers, Attorney-at-Law, Bloomington, IN, September 28,
1946-November 7, 1946
Cathy (after Germany), January 3,
1950-February 23, 1951
Mary Bell (after Germany), December 1950-June 1953
Box 2
Outgoing,
Amy Abrell (her Mother),
August
1946-December 1946
January
1947-August 1947
Series:
Box 3
Photographs and scrapbooks, 1946-1947
Austria-Vienna, 1946-1947
Bombed downtown Frankfurt, 1947
Bombed Old City, Baptist Church, Goethe house ruins, Shiller
Statue (Frankfurt), 1946-1947
Brussels, 1946-1947
Casino: Party for Major Bell, April
1947
Dachau Concentration Camp, 1946-1947
Denmark, Sweden, Norway, 1947
France, 1946-1947
Frankfurt-Hammon St. (our apt.), 1946-1947
Frankfurt-McNarney Clay Ceremony, 1946-1947
Frankfurt-Palm Gardens German Schools, April 1947
Frankfurt School Trips, 1946-1947
Frankfurt Zoo, 1946-1947
Germany-Bad Homburg, 1946-1947
Germany-Bad Nauheim (from/close to Frankfurt), 1946-1947
Germany-Berchtesgaden, 1946-1947
Germany-Berlin, Summer 1947
Germany-Garmish Meeting, April
1947
Germany-Heidlburg, 1946-1947
Germany-Munich, 1946-1947
Germany-Visit to Stutigart to see Gertrude Strickmayer, 1946-1947
Germany-Wiesbaden, 1946-1947
Hitler’s Yacht, Hitler’s home, etc., 1946-1947
Italy and Rome, 1946
London, 1947
Luxembourg, 1946-1947
Mad King’s Castle (near Oberammergau), 1946-1947
Marbourg, France to Switzerland, January 1947-July
1947
Military Compound Frankfurt, 1946-1947
“My class 3rd-4th (2 weeks), soon only 4th, 1946-1947
Northern Germany, 1946-1947
Nuremburg, 1946-1947
Obermmergau-Passion Play, Mad King’s Castle, 1947
On board the George Washington, 1946
Prague, 1947
Rhine River (blown up bridge), 1946-1947
Rome, 1946-1947
Saalburg-Fort dates to 100 AD, school trip, 1946-1947
Salzburg to Germany, 1946-1947
Scrapbooks,
1947 and following years after Germany, 1947
Austria, 1946-1947
Bad Homburg, Frankfurt, Amy Rutz (Mary in Passion Play),
1946-1947
Dachau and Frankfurt, 1946-1947
Frankfurt, Germany, 1946-1947
Frankfurt, Germany, My Class, 1946-1947
Frankfurt, Germany-Pictures I took, 1946-1947
Frankfurt Ruins “Pictures I took, (65% of Frankfurt
destroyed), 1946-1947
Leaving Germany, August
1947
London, 1946-1947
Italy, 1946-1947
Paris, France (Notre Dame), 1946-1947
Souvenirs, 1946-1947
School Trips, 1946-1947
Vance: Ship home, 1947
Series:
Box 3
Souvenirs, 1944-1990
General, 1946-1947
Autographs on deck of cards from on board the George Washington,
September
26, 1946-October 6, 1946
Clippings, July 1946-February 1981
Clippings and Souvenirs, 1944-1990
German-English English-German Dictionary, 1946-1947
Goethe Museum, 1946-1947
Holland, 1946-1947
Ireland, 1946-1947
Maps of Germany and Frankfurt, June
1959
“Mission Accomplished: Third United States Army Occupation of
Germany, May
9, 1945-February 15, 1947
Nuremburg Trials (Trial pamphlet and photos), 1946-1947
Photographs, August 1946-1947
Postcards of Bavarian Zugspitz Cable Car, mountains, etc.,
1946-1947
Postcards of Frankfurt, 1946-1947
Scotland, 1946-1947
Tickets and Leaves, 1946-1947
“To be framed”, 1946-1947
The U.S.A.T. George Washington autographs & photograph, to
Frankfurt, Germany, 1946-1947