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Register of the Taylor (Elliott and Burta) Collection,
1922-1986
Mss254
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Title: Taylor (Elliott and Burta) Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1922-1986
Collection number: Mss254
Creator:
Burta Beers Taylor
Extent: 10 linear ft.
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of
Special Collections
Stockton, CA 95211
Shelf location: For current information on the location of
these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language: English.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Taylor (Elliott and Burta) Collection, Mss254,
Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific
Library
Taylor, Elliott J. (1904-1986)
Taylor, Burta Beers (1908-1994)
Irwin, Samuel
Near East Foundation (New York, N.Y.)
Colegio Internazionale Monte Mario (Rome, Italy)
Bryn Mawr College
University of the Pacific (Stockton, Calif.)
Albanian American Institute (Kavaje, Albania)
University of Vienna
Education -Italy -Rome
Education -Albania
Education -Austria
Albania -Description and travel
Albania -Description and travel -Views
Italy -Description and travel
Italy -Description and travel -Views
Austria -Description and travel
Austria -Description and travel -Views
Europe -Description and travel -Views
Mexico -Description and travel -Views
Central America -Description and travel
South America -Description and travel
Asia -Description and travel
China -Description and travel
Iran -Description and travel
Elliott Taylor (1904-1986) met his future wife, Burta Beers (1908-1994),
while both were students at the College of the Pacific in Stockton (Calif.).
Following graduation from the College (1928), Elliott worked as assistant to
the President at the Colegio Monte Mario in Rome (1928-29). Burta Beers
graduated in 1929, then did a year of graduate work at Bryn Mawr. The two
married in Rome (1930) and together they moved to Albania, where Elliott Taylor
was Assistant Director of the men's section and Burta Taylor helped establish
the women's school of the American Institute at Kavaje sponsored by the Near
East Foundation of New York (1929-1935). The purpose of the two schools, which
were separate in accord with Muslim practice, was to "train young people for
leadership in villages and rural districts" through education in health,
agriculture and homemaking. While living in Albania, the Taylors made films of
the Albanian countryside and people. Burta and Elliott Taylor travelled widely
during their years in Europe; both took summer courses at the University of
Vienna. After six years in Albania Elliott Taylor moved to New York City, where
he worked as a fund-raiser for the Near East Foundation (1935-1938). The
Foundation operated schools, clinics, handicraft centers, libraries and
playgrounds in Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Syria. Burta Taylor briefly took
a job in San Francisco to be nearer to her aging parents but eventually settled
with her husband in New York City. In 1938 the Taylors moved to Reedley
(Calif.), where Elliott taught, counseled and, ultimately, served as Dean of
Reedley Junior College (1938-1947).
When Robert E. Burns became President of the College of the Pacific
(1947), he hired Elliott Taylor as the school's first Dean of Admissions. The
College had no admissions officer in those days and the Registrar's Office
handled all applications. Burns created the new post for Taylor both to lighten
the Registrar's workload and to facilitate active student recruitment. In
addition to his admissions responsibilities, Burns entrusted Taylor with the
task of developing and managing a program of C.O.P. tours for academic credit
to various parts of the world. During the years that followed, Taylor traveled
widely in support of this program, zealously photographing for publicity and
recruitment purposes the lands he visited. Elliott Taylor was granted an
honorary doctorate by Illinois Wesleyan University (1963) and received the
Order of Pacific (1972) from the University of the Pacific. He retired in
1972.
The Elliott & Burta Taylor Collection contains rare film footage of
Albania (1929-1935), transcribed on videotape with a voice-over narrative done
by Burta Taylor (c1990). The slides Elliott Taylor took--representing unusual
views and seldom-visited sites in more than twenty countries--are a core
component of the Taylor Collection; but the collection consists not merely of
slides and films, for it also contains considerable correspondence and other
papers. This latter material, which consists in part of hundreds of letters
written by the Taylors to each other, family and friends, during their years
abroad, vividly describes his life in Rome (1928-29), her life at College of
the Pacific (1928-29) and in the department of social work at Bryn Mawr College
(1929-30), as well as their shared life in Albania (1929-35).