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Finding Aid to the Herman-Green Postcard Collection 695
695
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Title: Herman-Green Postcard Collection.
Collection number: 695
Repository:
Honnold/Mudd Library Special Collections
800 North Dartmouth Ave
Claremont, CA 91711
Physical Description:
9 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1889-1969.
Date (bulk): 1906-1969.
Abstract: Black-and-white and tinted postcards dating from
1906 to 1969 (bulk 1920 to 1939). The bulk of the collection is arranged
geographically. The materials for Europe are particularly extensive, in particular
for England, France, Italy, and Spain; there are also postcards for North Africa and
the Middle East. The number of postcards for the United States is small, and relates
primarily to national parks. A relatively small number of postcards is organized by
person (primarily artists) or subject. Other materials include prints, engraved and
photographic plates removed from printed books (often cut down to 4" x 6"), business
cards, guidebooks, information on various hotels and restaurants, and wrappers from
postcard sets.
Creator:
Green, Frances M.,
1900-1974
Creator:
Herman, Ruth
Radford, Mrs., 1896-1976
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Donor and date of acquisition unknown (see Historical note).
Processed by Matthew Dimopoulos and Claudia Sandoval for Archival Studies 311,
Claremont Graduate University, Spring 2010. Revised and encoded by Michael P.
Palmer, February 2011.
Collection open for research.
All requests for permission to reproduce or to publish must be submitted in writing
to Special Collections.
[Identification of item], Herman-Green Postcard Collection, 695. Special Collections,
Honnold Mudd Library, Claremont University Consortium.
The origins of this collection cannot be determined with absolute certainty. However,
approximately 150 postcards in the collection were posted, and all but a handful of
these can be traced to two families.
The earliest postcards, of English localities and posted in 1906-1910, were addressed
to Stella Radford, of Algoma, Wisconsin, and her niece, Ruth M. Radford (born 1896),
of Mansfield, Louisiana, from C. Robinson. In 1926, Ruth Radford married Winfield
Fabian Herman, MD, who was born in Seattle in 1901, and after receiving a BA from
the University of Washington had earned his medical degree from Louisiana State
University in New Orleans. The couple appears to have lived at first in Tacoma,
Washington; Ruth took an extended trip to France and Britain without her husband in
1928. The couple moved to Glendale, California, in 1947, where Dr. Herman served on
the staff of Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Verdugo Hills Hospital, and Glendale
Memorial Hospital (where he became chief of staff in 1960). He entered private
practice in 1968, and retired in 1983. Ruth died in 1976, and Dr. Herman in 1998. As
the couple had no children they engaged in extensive philanthopy, including donating
substantial sums for scholarships to Pomona College and the University of Southern
California.
A number of postcards are addressed to Stella (Mrs. James N.) Sherman, who in
1929-1931 resided at 426 South Central Ave., Glendale, and later at 341 West
Broadway, Glendale. While it is tempting to posit that she was formerly Stella
Radford (who appears to have been living in Portland, Oregon, in 1928), and thus
Ruth (Radford) Herman's aunt, none of the postcards addressed to her was written by
Ruth.
The second family to which the majority of posted postcards can be traced to Dr.
Nathaniel Green, his wife, Mary R., and their daughter Frances M. The Green family
appears to have moved from Ashville, North Carolina, to Glendale in 1913, settling
by 1920 at 1120 E. Windsor Road. Postcards addressed to Frances indicate she
continued to reside at the Windsor Road address throughout the 1930s; between 1955
and 1969 she lived at 1314 N. Central Avenue, Glendale. (She is probably the Frances
M. Green, born May 3, 1900, who according to the Social Security Death Index died in
Glendale on January 15, 1974.) Frances Green was acquainted with Stella Sherman as
early as 1929; between 1957 and 1967, Frances also addressed a number of postcards
to Ruth (Radford) Herman.
It is not known how the Herman family postcards became merged with the postcards
addressed to Stella Sherman and Frances Green, although it is possible that both
Mrs. Sherman and Miss Green, dying before Ruth (Radford) Herman, left their
collections to her. It is most probably through the Hermans' connection with Pomona
College that these postcards found their way into the collections of Honnold/Mudd
Library.
It should be noted that the collection has almost certainly suffered some disturbance
since it came to Honnold/Mudd Library, as it now contains a postcard addressed to E.
Wilson Lyon while a student at St. John's College, Oxford.
The collection consists of black-and-white and tinted postcards dating from 1906 to
1969 (bulk from 1920 to 1939), together with a number of photographs, prints,
clippings, and ephemera, dating from the same period, with a single item dating from
1885. The bulk of the postcards is arranged geographically by region, then by
country, and within each country alphabetically by locality. Most countries also
include a number of postcards filed under "folk costumes and customs". The materials
for Europe are extensive, in particular for England, France, Italy, and Spain; the
number of postcards for North Africa and the Middle East is considerably smaller.
The number of postcards for the United States is quite small, and relates primarily
to national parks in the western states. A relatively small number of postcards is
organized by person (primarily artists) or subject. Other materials include prints,
engraved and photographic plates removed from printed books (often cut down to 4" x
6"), business cards, guidebooks, information on various hotels and restaurants, and
wrappers from postcard sets.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Herman, Winfield Fabian,
1901-1998, MD
Africa--Description and travel--Pictorial
works
California--Description and travel--Pictorial
works
Canada--Description and travel--Pictorial
works
Europe--Description and travel--Pictorial
works
Middle East--Description and travel--Pictorial
works
Photographic postcards
Postcards
United States--Description and travel--Pictorial
works