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Novelist, Mildred Jordan: Home

Connecting the Past with the Present

 

Mildred Jordan Papers, MS-008, 1901-1982

(15.00 Boxes)



By Sidney G. Dreese

 

Biographical/Historical Note

Mildred Arline Jordan was born in Chicago on March 18, 1901, and passed away in Reading, Pennsylvania on October 23, 1982. She was the daughter of Charles and Adelaide Jordan. While attending summer school at Northwestern University she met Jeremiah Lee Bausher, and they married in 1923. She was a graduate of Wellsley College, and he, Dartmouth College.

 

She had a passion for writing and her first novel, One Red Rose Forever, was published in 1941. Most of her works were novels, one of which became a play, Apple in the Attic. In addition she also wrote for children including The Shoo-fly Pie. Her final book, her only non-fiction work, was The Distelfink Country of the Pennsylvania Dutch. 

 

 

Scope and Content

This collection mainly consists of the author's literary manuscripts, and letters from family, friends, publishers, and it includes fan mail. There are also scrapbooks of collected materials concerning her works.

 

Arrangement

Materials are organized into five series: [1] Biographical, [2] Published and Unpublished Works, [3] Correspondence, and [4] Related Materials. Series 1 primarily relates to her life at Wellesey College and Reading, PA. Series 2 contains various versions of manuscripts through the writing stage. Series 3 is mostly letters received from fans, family, friends, and publishers, and there are several carbon copies of letters that the author had sent. Series 4 contains scrapbooks with materials that Mildred Jordan had collected related to her works and other materials related to her life.

 

Box and Folder Inventory

 

Box 1

Series 1: Biographical Series, 1920s-1980s

Folder 1: Wellesley College, 1920s-1970s

Folder 2: Bookends, 1987
Friends of the Reading-Berks Public Libraries: "Saluting Mildred Jordan"

 

Series 2: Published and Unpublished Works Series, 1940s-1970s

Sub-Series 1: Novels Sub-Series, 1940s-1970s

Folder 3: One Red Rose Forever, research notes and materials, 1930s-1941

Folder 4: One Red Rose Forever, front matter and duplicate proof, 1930s-1941

Folder 5: One Red Rose Forever, early manuscript, partial, chapters 1-7, 1940

Folder 6: One Red Rose Forever, chapter 10, edited, 1941

Folder 7: One Red Rose Forever (A), manuscript, pages 1-301, 1941

Folder 8: One Red Rose Forever (B), manuscript, pages 302-612, 1941

Folder 9: One Red Rose Forever, promotional materials from publisher, Knopf, 1941

Folder 10: Sheet music, One Red Rose Forever, 1941

Folder 11: One Red Rose Forever, related materials, 1940-1941

Folder 12: Apple in the Attic, manuscript, 1942

Folder 13: Apple in the Attic, revised manuscript, 1942

Folder 14: Apple in the Attic, author's proofs, 1942

Folder 15: Apple in the Attic, promotional materials for the book, 1942

Folder 16: Apple in the Attic, playscript, 1960s

Folder 17: Apple in the Attic, playscript, 1960s

Folder 18: Apple in the Attic, playscript, 1960s

Folder 19: Apple in the Attic, playscript, 1960s

Folder 20: Apple in the Attic, revised playscript, 1960s

Folder 21: Apple in the Attic, promotional materials for the play, 1960s

Folder 22: Apple in the Attic, revised playscript for Totem Pole Playhouse, May, 1962

Folder 23: Apple in the Attic, revised playscript, after production at the Totem Pole Playhouse, September, 1962

Folder 24: Apple in the Attic, photographs from the production of the play at the Allenberry Playhouse, Boiling Springs, PA, 1960s

Folder 25: Apple in the Attic, related materials, 1960s

 

Box 2

Folder 26: Asylum for the Queen, synopsis of the novel, 1940s

Folder 27: Asylum for the Queen, revision notes, 1940s

Folder 28: Asylum for the Queen, revision suggestions by Harold Strauss, 1940s

Folder 29: Asylum for the Queen, page fragments, 1940s

Folder 30: Asylum for the Queen, original manuscript (partial) typescript, 1940s

Folder 31: Asylum for the Queen, revised manuscript, a (partial), 1940s

Folder 32: Asylum for the Queen, revised manuscript, b (partial), 1940s

Folder 33: Asylum for the Queen, revised manuscript, (partial), 1940s

Folder 34: Asylum for the Queen, revised manuscript, (partial), 1940s

Folder 35: Asylum for the Queen, revised copy, chapters 1-24, 1940s

Folder 36: Asylum for the Queen, revised copy, chapters 25-the end, 1940s

Folder 37: Asylum for the Queen, related materials, 1940s

 

Box 3

Folder 38: Miracle in Brittany, manuscript copy, Pat I: "The Star", 1940s

Folder 39: Miracle in Brittany, manuscript copy, Pat II: "The Storm", 1940s

Folder 40: Miracle in Brittany, manuscript copy, Pat III: "The Stranger", 1940s

Folder 41: Miracle in Brittany, galley proofs, 1940s

Folder 42: Miracle in Brittany, book cover, 1950

Folder 43: Echo of the Flute, research materials, 1950s

Folder 44: Echo of the Flute, notes and outline, 1950s

Folder 45: Echo of the Flute, original manuscript, part I, 1950s

Folder 46: Echo of the Flute, original manuscript, part II (partial), chapters 8-18, 1950s

Folder 47: Echo of the Flute, original manuscript, part III, 1950s

Folder 48: Proud to be Amish, manuscript, 1960s

Folder 49: Proud to be Amish, original manuscript, 1960s

Folder 50: Proud to be Amish, working manuscript, 1960s

Folder 51: Proud to be Amish, glossary revisions, 1960s

 

Part 2