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