Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Marjorie Kelly Borsum Papers,
- Dates:
- 1927 - 1966
- Creators:
- Borsum, Marjorie Kelly
- Abstract:
- Correspondence (1927-28) from Marjorie Kelly (Borsum) to family members during a year traveling in Europe and North Africa and a year living in Paris. Correspondence (1929-65) to Marjorie Kelly Borsum from one of Picasso's former mistresses, Fernande Olivier, from Mme. Asselin announcing Olivier's death, and a letter from Havelock Ellis. Also included is a photo of Olivier and an art exhibition broadside from Paris.
- Extent:
- 0.40 linear feet (1 archives box)
- Language:
- Collection materials in English
- Preferred citation:
-
Marjorie Kelly Borsum Papers, MSS 0116. Mandeville Special Collections Library, UCSD.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Marjorie Kelly Borsum Papers comprise .4 cubic feet (1 archives box) and are arranged in two series. CORRESPONDENCE represents two bundles of letters and cards: the first, numerous cards and letters from Borsum to various family members during her two years abroad in Europe and North Africa (1927-29), including her mother, Mrs. Robert J. (Eliza Witty) Kelly; her sister, Emily; her brothers, Robert Dewey, Stanley, and Carroll. Kelly Borsum recounts the day-to-day trials and pleasures of life abroad, and details both locales and individuals visited.
The second bundle is comprised of 30 letters (1929-65 and undated) from Fernande Olivier to Borsum over the course of their friendship, which lasted nearly 40 years. Olivier talks of life with Picasso, mentions mutual friends, along with famous names such as Alice B. Toklas (who also took French lessons from Olivier), and laments economic hardships and life during WWII.
Included in CORRESPONDENCE is one letter from Borsum to Olivier. Two additional letters can be found in the collection, as well: one from Mme. Asselin, a friend of Olivier's, informing Borsum of Olivier's death in 1966, and one from Havelock Ellis in response to Borsum's inquiry regarding a possible connection between the color red and "inversion."
MISCELLANEOUS consists of two items: a small photo of Fernande Olivier and a broadside announcing an art exhibition at the Moderne Académie in Paris.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Marjorie Kelly was born in November 1904 in a part of San Diego County just east of Carlsbad known then as Rancho Agua Hedionda. She attended San Diego High School, graduating in 1921, and received her bachelor of arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and her master of arts degree from the University of Southern California.
Between 1927 and 1929, Marjorie Kelly traveled in Europe and North Africa with Kate Frost, the two finally settling in Paris for the winter (1928-29) as tenants in the home of Mlle. Guillemin. During the Paris winter, Kelly took French lessons two or three times per week from Fernande Olivier, who had met Picasso in 1903, lived with him for many years, and whose friends and neighbors still called her "Mme. Picasso."
Kelly eventually married Adolph "Red" Borsum, a career navy dentist, and together they lived in, among other locales, American Samoa and Japan. During her life, Marjorie Kelly Borsum became an arts professor at San Diego State College and was a member of the Asian Arts Committee of the San Diego Fine Arts Society. She died in Solana Beach in May 1978.
- Acquisition information:
- Not Available
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Photographic prints -- 20th Century
About this collection guide
- Date Prepared:
- Copyright 2005
- Date Encoded:
- Machine-readable finding aid derived from database output. Date of source: 2005
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
- Preferred citation:
-
Marjorie Kelly Borsum Papers, MSS 0116. Mandeville Special Collections Library, UCSD.
- Location of this collection:
-
9500 Gilman Drive, Dept. 0175La Jolla, CA 92093-0175, US
- Contact:
- (858) 534-2533