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Robert H. McNeill family papers, 1839-2008

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Bertha C. McNeill, 1906-1979 (continued)
BOX 36 Howard University Women's Club, 1952-1956, 1975
BOX 36 Identification and membership cards, 1926, 1940-1978
BOX 36 Integration, District of Columbia, 1948-1959
BOX 36 Johnson, Charles S., 1929-1939
BOX 36 M Street High School, Washington, D.C., 1914-1916, 1976
BOX 36 Meditation group, 1969-1979
BOX 37 Meditation group, 1969-1979
(2 folders)
BOX 37 Miscellany, 1929-1978
(2 folders)
BOX 37 National Association of College Women (later renamed National Association of University Women)
BOX 37 College Alumnae Club, Washington, D.C., 1922-1979
(2 folders)
BOX 37 General, 1928-1976
(2 folders)
BOX 37 Journal of the National Association of College Women, 1926-1947, 1971
BOX 38 Journal of the National Association of College Women, 1926-1947, 1971
(2 folders)
BOX 38 Negro History Bulletin, 1970-1971
BOX 38 Notebooks, 1912-1917, 1929, undated
BOX 38 Notes, undated
BOX 38 Older people, 1970-1972
BOX 38 Passports and vaccinations, 1946-1964
BOX 38 Postcards and art reproductions, 1943-1953, undated
BOX 39 Postcards and art reproductions, 1943-1953, undated
BOX 39 Printed matter
BOX 39 Clippings, 1938-1974
(2 folders)
BOX 39 Miscellaneous, 1909, 1936-1976, undated
(3 folders)
BOX 39 Programs, 1933-1941, undated
BOX 40 Ration book, 1940s
BOX 40 Religious activities
BOX 40 General, 1939, 1947, 1961-1972, undated
(2 folders)
BOX 40 Lincoln Temple United Church of Christ, Washington, D.C.
BOX 40 General, 1948-1979, undated
(4 folders)
BOX 40 Women's Fellowship, 1961-1964
BOX 40 Printed matter, 1954-1961, undated
BOX 40 Washington Fellowship House, Washington, D.C., 1945-1963
BOX 41 Washington Fellowship House, Washington, D.C., 1945-1963
(3 folders)
BOX 41 Women's Fellowship, Middle Atlantic Conference of Congregation Christian Churches
BOX 41 General, 1954-1967
(6 folders)
BOX 42 Timely Topics (newsletter), 1953-1962
(2 folders)
BOX 42 Shaw, Esther Popel, 1934, 1946, 1958, undated
BOX 42 Teaching and test materials, 1924, 1938-1944, 1953, undated
(4 folders)
BOX 42 Theater, 1931, 1961, undated
BOX 42 Travel, 1927, 1935-1937, 1946-1949
(4 folders)
BOX 43 Travel, 1950, 1962-1964, undated
(6 folders)
BOX 43 United States Congress, 1966-1969, undated
BOX 43 Women, 1930, 1938, 1948, 1968-1974, undated
BOX 44 Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
BOX 44 Committee on Special Branch Problems, 1955-1956
(2 folders)
BOX 44 General, 1931-1953
(14 folders)
BOX 45 General, 1954-1956
(16 folders)
BOX 45 General, 1957, Jan.-Apr.
(2 folders)
BOX 46 General, 1957, May-Dec.
(4 folders)
BOX 46 General, 1958-1959
(13 folders)
BOX 46 General, 1950s
BOX 47 General, 1960-1975, undated
(11 folders)
BOX 47 Interracial Committee, 1933-1937, undated
(3 folders)
BOX 48 Notes, 1955, undated
BOX 48 United Nations, seminars, 1962-1964, undated
(2 folders)
BOX 48-73 Mary A. McNeill, 1839-1959
The Mary A. McNeill series documents her family life, her teaching career, her engagement in civic and religious activities, her high school and college years, and her interest in family history and genealogy. This series is comprised chiefly of correspondence, journals, and a subject file. The correspondence consists mostly of incoming letters from family members. The bulk of the family letters are from Mary’s husband, William C. McNeill, prior to their marriage in 1910. His letters pertain to their courtship and highlight his activities as a medical doctor and his duties at the Howard University College of Medicine. Also present are letters from her son Robert describing his experiences in photography school in New York City and his military service during World War II. Topics treated are details about his training (including drawings he made depicting the layout, barracks, and obstacle course at Fort McClellan, Alabama), descriptions of the Desert Training Center in California where he was stationed prior to his deployment to the Pacific Theater, and a few references to Officer Candidate School. Robert applied to the school in 1943 but was not accepted until January 1945. Also present are letters from her son, William Jr., and his wife, Lucille. The majority of William Jr.'s letters convey news about his family, his work as a civil engineer in Liberia during the 1950s, and the living conditions there. Letters addressed to both parents, Mary A. McNeill and William C. McNeill Sr., are filed with Mary's papers.

One of the larger groups featured in the Mary A. McNeill series are her journals from 1935 until her death in 1959. The journals chronicle her daily activities, including details about family and friends, her health, her travels, the weather, her teaching of student nurses at the Freedman's Hospital, and her service as a member of the Board of Education of the District of Columbia for African American schools. Also present in the journals are occasional notes by Mary commenting on issues such as the performance by singer Marian Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., in 1939, the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan in 1941, and the desegregation crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. The subject file also features files relating to Mary's service as a member of the Board of Education, including petitions from citizens urging her to remain on the Board past her four successive terms. She was not swayed and left the board in 1938. Files pertaining to Mary’s secondary education (Hartford Public High School, Hartford, Connecticut) and college years (Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts) are also located in the subject file. Material includes class papers, report cards, annuals, notebooks, photographs of friends, reunion files, and a scrapbook.

As a daughter and granddaughter of ministers, Mary’s religious faith is reflected throughout the series. The religious files in the subject files, however, offer the most concentrated documentation, highlighting her activities as a member of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., including her endeavors as part of its Music Committee. The notebooks, notes, and printed matter in the religious files also chronicle her spiritual interests.

The family papers in the subject file relate chiefly to three family members: Mary’s grandfather, Amos Noë Freeman; her sister, Laura Wheeler Waring; and her father, Robert F. Wheeler. Freeman was a Presbyterian minister and a conductor with the Underground Railroad. His files include correspondence, biographical material, and clippings relating to mainly his vocation as a minister. Also present are a typescript of Freeman’s letter to Lewis Tappan describing a journey on the Underground Railroad and a reproduction of an albumen photograph of abolitionist John Brown. Files pertaining to Laura Wheeler Waring include clippings, programs, clippings, and printed matter documenting primarily her work as an artist. Waring’s paintings often depicted prominent African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance. The Robert F. Wheeler files feature biographical material, clippings, and printed matter pertaining chiefly to his work as a pastor in Hartford, Connecticut.

Material types include correspondence, journals, notebooks and notes, speeches and writings, minutes of meetings, petitions, class papers, photographs, genealogical material, financial papers, biographical material, programs, report cards, music books, sheet music, poetry, recipes, scrapbooks, address books, newspaper clippings, printed matter, and other material.
Arranged alphabetically in five groups: address books, correspondence, journals, speeches and writings file, and subject file.
BOX 48 Address books, 1908, circa 1954-circa 1961, undated
(2 folders)
BOX 48 Correspondence
BOX 48 Family
BOX 48 McNeill, Bertha C. (sister-in-law), 1935-1950
BOX 48 McNeill, Lucille G. (daughter-in-law), 1944-1945, 1956-1958
(2 folders)
BOX 49 McNeill, Robert H. (son), 1930-1945, undated
(7 folders)
BOX 49 McNeill, William C., Jr. (son), 1925, 1939-1958
(2 folders)
BOX 49 McNeill, William C., Sr. (husband), 1906
BOX 49 McNeill, William C., Sr. (husband), 1907, Apr.-Sept.
(4 folders)
BOX 49 McNeill, William C., Sr. (husband), 1907, Oct.
BOX 50 McNeill, William C., Sr. (husband), 1907, Oct.
BOX 50 McNeill, William C., Sr. (husband), 1907, Nov.-Dec.
BOX 50 McNeill, William C., Sr. (husband), 1908-1913
(10 folders)
BOX 51 McNeill, William C., Sr. (husband), 1920-1934, 1945-1951, undated
(3 folders)
BOX 51 Other relatives, 1937, 1958, undated
BOX 51 Walker, Kathernine McNeill (daughter), and family, circa 1931-1957, undated
BOX 51 Waring, Laura Wheeler (sister),1923-1929, 1943-1945, undated
BOX 51 Waring, Walter E. (brother-in-law), 1928-1958
BOX 51 Wheeler, Lloyd, and Arthur Wheeler (brothers), 1902-1908, undated
BOX 51 Wheeler, Robert F., and Mary C. Wheeler (parents), 1906-1915
BOX 51 General, 1906-1958, undated
(3 folders)
BOX 51 Get well cards and letters, 1956-1959, undated
BOX 52 Journals, 1935-1938
(6 folders)
BOX 53 Journals, 1939-1940
(3 folders)
BOX 53 Journals, 1941-1942
(2 folders)
BOX 54 Journals, 1941-1942
BOX 54 Journals, 1943-1944
(3 folders)
BOX 55 Journals, 1945-1946
(3 folders)
BOX 55 Journals, 1947-1948
BOX 56 Journals, 1947-1948
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