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Finding Aid of the Mary Alice Jaqua Papers D439
D439  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Immediate Source of Acquisition note
  • Processing Information note
  • Biography
  • Scope and Contents note
  • Arrangement note

  • Title: Mary Alice Jaqua Papers
    Collection number: D439
    Contributing Institution: Ella Strong Denison Library
    1090 Columbia Ave
    Claremont, 91711
    (909) 607-3941
    denison@scrippscollege.edu
    Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English
    Physical Description: 0.83 Linear feet (2 document boxes)
    Date (inclusive): 1940-1970
    Abstract: Correspondence, photographs, and other materials, relating to Mary Alice Jaqua (1913-1987), daughter of Ernest J. Jaqua, first president of Scripps College. The materials document in particular her career, 1941-1946, first as secretary to the director of the American Red Cross-Harvard Field Hospital Unit in Salisbury, England, then as civilian secretary in the office of the Commander in Chief, European Theater of Operations (successively Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews, and Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers) in London, Algiers, and Caserta, Italy, and from 1945 as secretary to Jock Dunning, Executive Vice President of Whitney Industries in New York City.
    creator: Jaqua, Mary Alice, 1913-1987

    Access

    Collection open for research.

    Publication Rights

    All requests for permission to reproduce or to publish must be submitted in writing to Ella Strong Denison Library.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Mary Alice Jaqua Papers. Ella Strong Denison Library, Scripps College, Claremont, California.

    Immediate Source of Acquisition note

    Gift of Ernest Jaqua, 2002.

    Processing Information note

    Collection processed by Mario Pamplona for Archival Studies 311, Claremont Graduate University, Spring 2010. Reprocessed by Michael P. Palmer, MLIS, April 2011.

    Biography

    Mary Alice Jaqua was born in Grinnell, Iowa, on July 24, 1913, the daughter of Ernest J. Jaqua (1882-1972) and his wife Gwendolyn Evans (1885-1971). She moved with her family to Claremont, California, in 1926, when her father accepted the position of professor of education and dean of the faculty at Pomona College; he was appointed first president of Scripps College ikn 1926. She received her BA from Scripps in 1934, and in 1935-1936 undertook graduate work in English Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1937-1938 she was a secretary in the office of the President of George Washington University, Washington, DC, and from 1938 to 1941 secretary and research assistant in the Medical and Psychiatric Research Project at Harvard University. In 1941 Jaqua went to England as secretary to Dr. John E. Gordon, Director of the American Red Cross-Harvard Hospital Unit in Salisbury. In 1942 she became a civilian employee of the US military, serving successively as confidential secretary to Lt. Cdr. Harry C. Butcher, Naval Aide to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commanding General, European Theater of Operations (August 1942), and secretary to Maj. Gen. Russell P. Hartle, Deputy Commander, European Theater of Operations (November 1942). When Eisenhower was given supreme command of the Allied forces and moved to Africa, Jaqua remained in London as secretary to his successors, Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews (February 1943) and Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers (May 1943), while continuing to handle Eisenhower's London business. In January 1944 she followed Devers, who had been appointed Commanding General, North African Field of Operations, and Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater, to Algiers and in July to Caserta, Italy. The following month she joined the staff of the Historical Section, Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (Lt. Gen. Ira C. Eaker, Commander), in Caserta, Italy. She returned to the United States in August 1945, and after several months in Minneapolis, moved to New York City, where she served as secretary to Jock Dunning, Executive Vice President, Whitney Industries, until March 1946.
    Jaqua returned to California, settling in Los Angeles, and in 1951 received an MS in Psychiatric Social Work from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). From 1956 to 1962, she taught social case work at UCLA, and worked with a private psychiatrist and at the Los Angeles Day Mental Hospital. She then became a counselor with the Edgewood Family Counseling Agency in Covina. In 1969, she was appointed staff consultant for residential affairs at Scripps College, a position she held currently with her counseling job.
    Jaqua married Murray Kahne, a teacher, sometime between 1951 and 1953. Nothing is known of him, although he may be the man of this name who was born November 1, 1915, and died in Ridgewood, New York, on October 2, 2009. She returned to Claremont in 1968, moving to a retirement home in Montclair in 1986, and died on February 12, 1987.

    Scope and Contents note

    The collection consists primarily of correspondence, together with photographs and other materials, relating to Mary Alice Jaqua (1913-1987), daughter of Ernest J. Jaqua, first president of Scripps College, during the period 1941-1946. The materials document in particular her life in wartime England, from July 1941 to the summer of 1942 as secretary to the Director of the American Red Cross-Harvard Field Hospital Unit in Salisbury, England; from August 1942 as civilian secretary in the office of the Commander in Chief, European Theater of Operations (successively Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews, and Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers) in London, Algiers, and Caserta, Italy; and from 1945 as secretary to Jock Dunning, Executive Vice President of Whitney Industries in New York City. The materials provide details of the hardships faced by the British, both in the countryside and in London, during the War, including the difficulty of obtaining basic goods and services; the relations between the Americans and the British, both before and after the United States entered the War; and the social life and wide and varied circle of friends, both civilian and military, of a single woman working for high-ranking American military officers in London, North Africa, and Southern Italy. With a single exception the materials relating to General Eisenhower are represented by photocopies, the family having retained the originals.

    Arrangement note

    The collection is arranged into 4 series:
    • Series 1: Correspondence
    • Series 2: Personal
    • Series 3: Photographs
    • Series 4: Scrapbook Pages and Newspaper Clippings

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    American Red Cross-Harvard Field Hospital Unit.
    Eisenhower, Dwight D., (Dwight David), 1890-1969
    Jaqua, Ernest L., 1926-2003
    Whitney, John Hay, 1904-1982
    Correspondence
    Photographs
    World War, 1939-1945--England
    World War, 1939-1945--Italy
    World War, 1939-1945--Mediterranean Region