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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

Title
Faye 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.

Related Material

Related photographs may be available in the University Archives Photographs Database

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information
Accension 2008/084
Usage Restrictions
The 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 Information
Processed 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 

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