Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Miller (Elsa Shelton) Collection
OCH.ESMC  
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
Collection Overview
 
Table of contents What's This?
Description
Elsa Shelton Miller was born in 1916, and lived in China and Japan until the early 1950s. She worked as a stenographer for a variety of employers, including the U.S. forces in Peiping after World War II, and Time Life International in Tokyo. The collection contains documents from Miller's life in Asia, including identification and citizenship documents, a travel visa, Chinese Yuan from the late 1940s, postcards with pictures of Shanghai, and documents regarding Miller's attempts to gain a visa to the United States in 1950.
Background
Elsa Shelton Miller was born Elsa Fischer in 1916. She married Jim Shelton, a bar owner in Shanghai, at around the age of 17, but the marriage was short lived. She worked as a stenographer for a variety of employers, including the United States Armed Forces in Peiping, China, and Time Life International in Tokyo. Her brother-in-law, Bob Miller, also worked for Time Life as a reporter, and in 1950 he tried to help her obtain a visa to the United States. As the waiting list for U.S. immigration was prohibitively long, they tried appealing to various contacts, including Senator William F. Knowland, but were unsuccessful. Ultimately, they decided to marry in order to get Elsa a visa. While the marriage was only for convenience and therefore did not last long, it did get Elsa into the United States where she eventually became an American citizen. She passed away in June of 1998.
Extent
0.21 linear feet
Restrictions
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge. Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Availability
The collection is open for research use.