Description
The Geraldine McGrady Jones Collection is a small 20th century family collection that documents ordinary family life in Los
Gatos, California. This collection consists of typed and handwritten creative writing works by Geraldine McGrady Jones; family
photographs; a collection of digitized photographs; an informal oral history interview with the two surviving daughters, Geraldine
(Gerry) Peters and Betty Ermert; a San Jose Normal School diploma; Dibble General Hospital Honors Certificate; a three-ring
handwritten notebook, and a scrapbook of family photographs with an accompanying "Down Memory Lane" manuscript. The bulk dates
are 1900-1930.
Background
Geraldine McGrady Jones (1892-1952) was born in San Francisco and five years later moved with her family to Los Gatos. She
attended the San Jose Normal School where she graduated in 1914, after which she worked as a school teacher at the Wright's
Station School in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was there that she met her husband William 'Billy' Jones who worked as an engineer
for the Southern Pacific railroad. The couple lived in converted boxcars for the first several years of their marriage and
eventually settled in Los Gatos where they raised their four children Betty, Geraldine, Robert and Neal. Geraldine Jones recorded
vignettes of her family life in the form of short stories and poems, several of theses poems honor her sons' sacrifices and
commitment in World War II; both were killed in the war. Following World War II, Geraldine Jones worked as an aide in the
San Jose Hospital and the Dibble Hospital in Menlo Park.
Extent
1 Box
(1 linear foot)
Restrictions
Copyright has been assigned to the San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission
to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Special Collections & Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include
or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader. Copyright restrictions also apply
to digital reproductions of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Availability
The collection is open for research.