Collier Family papers, 1894-1999

Collection context

Summary

Creators:
Collier, Muriel Taylor and Collier, Francis B.
Abstract:
The Collier Family Papers include correspondence, photographs, military service records, deeds, home movies, and newspaper clippings that document members of the Collier, Taylor, and Coffin families.
Extent:
3.5 linear feet (8 boxes + 1 oversized box)
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:

Collier Family papers, MS 23, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The Collier Family Papers include correspondence, photographs, military service records, deeds, home movies, and newspaper clippings that document members of the Collier, Taylor, and Coffin families. The papers are organized into seven series: Francis B. Collier, Muriel Taylor Collier, Cherie Collier Ivey, Claire Lynne and Muriel Patricia Florey, Willis Patrick and Lillian Taylor, home movies, and photographs. The bulk of the collection is approximately 800 photographs of mostly of Frank and Muriel Collier, their children, Patricia Flory, Claire Lynn Flory, and Cherie Collier, and family, friends, and relatives. There are also a number of photographs of Muriel Collier’s first husband, Ishmael Flory, the noted civil and labor rights activist, her father, Willis Patrick Taylor, who was active in the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and her uncle, Alfred Oscar Coffin, the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in the biological sciences.

The collection also includes numerous photographs related to Frank Collier’s military service as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen during the Korean War and as an editor at the San Francisco Chronicle. The papers also include letters written by Frank Collier to his wife and mother during the Korean War, memoranda and special orders related to his military service, and a copy of his master’s thesis. The Muriel Taylor Collier series includes records related to her job as a social worker at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Palo Alto, California, class notes for a course at the University of California on the growth and development of personality, and an affidavit disavowing Communist activities.

Biographical / historical:

Francis Bernard Collier (1917-1985)

Francis Bernard Collier was born on December 25, 1917 to Charles E. Collier and Juanita Rose Huddleston Collier in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. As a young child, Collier moved to California with his parents and graduated from Calexico Union High School, attended San Mateo Junior College and eventually graduated from Stanford University with a pre-medical degree in 1942. After graduation, Collier enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was stationed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, where he met Muriel Taylor and the two we married on December 19, 1942.

During World War II, Collier served as an original member of the 99th Pursuit Air Squadron and was a pilot of B52s, B29s, and B36s. He remained in the Air Force after the war and continued his service during the Korean War, flying over 700 combat hours as a member of the 19th Bombardment Group. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force before flying-related injuries forced him to retire from the military in 1953. After the military, he returned to Stanford University where he earned a master’s degree from the School of Journalism in 1955. Shortly after graduation, Collier was hired by the San Francisco Chronicle where he worked on the editorial staff as a wire service editor over the next twenty five years until his retirement in 1980.

Muriel Taylor Collier (1910-2005)

Muriel Taylor Collier was born in 1910 in Oakland, California the daughter of Patrick Willis Taylor and Lillian C. Taylor. She was raised in a well-educated, middle-class family as her father worked for the Pullman Company as a sleeping car porter and was also active in the local branch of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, while her mother was a graduate of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. Collier graduated from Oakland High School in 1927 and attended the University of California at Berkeley earning a degree in economics in 1931. While studying at university, she met her first husband, Ishmael Flory, and the two married and had two daughters, Claire Lynne and Muriel Patricia Flory. Muriel struggled to get a job after graduation and waged a campaign against the Alameda County of Social Welfare to be hired as a social worker. She was eventually hired and worker two years as a social case worker when the family decided to move to Chicago, Illinois, where Ishmael worked as a sleeping car porter and was active in union politics and Muriel worked on a master’s degree in psychology at the University of Chicago.

In 1942, the Florys divorced and Muriel returned to California to pursue her career in social work. She joined the American Red Cross as a social worker and was stationed at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona where she met her second husband, Frank B. Collier. The Colliers had a daughter, Cherie, born shortly before the end of World War II in 1945. Following the war, Muriel began working as a social case worker with the Veterans Administration in Palo Alto, California, where she would work for the next thirty years until her retirement in 1979.

Acquisition information:
Papers donated to the African American Museum Library at Oakland by Cherie Collier Ivey on September 7, 1994.
Processing information:

Processed by Sean Heyliger, 02/28/2013.Finding aid updated by Sean Heyliger to incorporate Accession #2016-086 on October 6, 2016. Finding aid updated by Sean Heyliger to incorporate Accession #2017-013 on April 21, 2017.Finding aid updated by Sean Heyliger on April 19, 2018 to incorporate photos 079, 190-191, 214-215A, 218.

Arrangement:

Series I. Francis B. (Frank) Collier Series II. Muriel (Taylor) Collier Series III. Cherie Collier Ivey Series IV. Claire Lynne and Muriel Patricia Florey Series V. Patrick and Lillian C. Taylor Series VI. Photographs Series VII. Home Movies

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

No access restrictions. Collection is open to the public.

Materials are for use in-library only, non-circulating.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish from the Collier Family Papers must be obtained from the African American Museum & Library at Oakland.

Preferred citation:

Collier Family papers, MS 23, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.

Location of this collection:
659 14th Street
Oakland, CA 94612, US
Contact:
(510) 637-0198