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Finding Aid for the Genay Family Correspondence D19xx.999
D19xx.999
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Title: Genay Family Correspondence.
Collection number: D19xx.999
Contributing Institution:
Denison Library Special Collections and
Archives
Scripps College
1090 Columbia Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711
Language of Materials: Unless otherwise noted the
materials are written in French, with a very
small amount of materials in English.
Physical Description:
1 box
Date (inclusive): 1917-1935.
Abstract: Correspondence, photographs, greetings, and
published ephemera, 1917-1935, primarily illustrating the World War I Era narrative
of the French Genay family and their involvement with the charitable organization,
Fatherless Children of France [Fraternite Franco-Americaine].
creator:
Genay
family
Collection is available for research.
For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact Ella Strong Denison
Library staff.
Genay Family Correspondence, Collection D19xx.999, Ella Strong Denison Library,
Scripps College, Claremont, California.
Method and date of acquisition unknown.
Processed by Hilary E. Gordon for Archival Studies 311, Claremont Graduate
University, Spring 2010; revised by Michael P. Palmer, MLIS, April 2011.
The Genay Family Correspondence is composed almost entirely of the correspondence of
Madame L. Genay, widow of Captain Eugene Genay, and her elder daughter, Camille
(1901-circa 1925), with an American friend, Miss Mildred Veitch (later Mrs. R. K.
West). The family, which included a younger daughter, Marie Louise, resided in
Versailles, and maintained a country home in the village of Saint-Sauveur. Captain
Genay was killed in April 1915, fighting for the Allies in Belgium. Miss Veitch
acted as a benefactor to the family through an organization with which all of the
women were involved, the Fatherless Children of France [Fraternite
Franco-Americaine]. Because of Madame Genay’s work as a teacher and the family’s
involvement in charitable war efforts, the women were connected to the events around
them and are able to provide unique insights into life in wartime France, women’s
war roles, American aid to foreign families, and many others. The bulk of the
material focuses on the war years.
The materials that constitute the Genay Family Correspondence describe and illustrate
the family’s involvement in events surrounding World War I and the subsequent years.
The collection consists primarily of correspondence between Camille Genay and
Mildred Veitch, with a few letters from Madame L. Genay, Camille's mother. These
letters, postcards, and greeting cards contain descriptions of the local war efforts
and conditions in France as well as the personal narrative of the Genay family. The
postcards themselves depict contemporary war events and scenes. Photographs
originally included with the correspondence depict both the Genay family and the
French landscape during the war years. The remaining published item in the
collection relates to the Genay women’s involvement with the organization Fatherless
Children of France [Fraternite Franco-Americaine]. This wartime charitable
organization matched French orphans with support systems and benefactors in the
United States and worked to publicize the role of cooperation between the Allied
Nations.
The Genay Family Collection is arranged into four series:
- Series 1: Correspondence
- Series 2: Postcards and Greeting Cards
- Series 3: Published Materials
- Series 4: Photographs
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Fatherless Children of France
(Organization).
Veitch, Mildred
Correspondence
Photographs
World War, 1914-1918--France