Overview of the Collection
Access
Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Scope and Content
Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Overview of the Collection
Title: Helen Winifred Pflueger Papers
Dates (inclusive): 1874-1984
Bulk dates: 1911-1979
Collection Number: mssPflueger papers
Creator:
Pflueger, Helen Winifred, 1898-1979.
Extent: 1,326 items in 11 boxes + 3
rolled items
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection contains the papers of seamstress and unpublished novelist Helen Winifred Pflueger (1898-1979) of Sierra Madre,
California.
The collection contains Pflueger's writings, including
two copies of her manuscript "New Paradise Lost," diaries (dating from 1911-1979), correspondence, and ephemera.
Language: English.
Access
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services
Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to
quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such
activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is
one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Helen Winifred Pflueger Papers, The Huntington Library,
San Marino, California.
Provenance
Gift of the Estate of Helen Pflueger via Betty Deming, August 20, 1980.
Biographical Note
Helen Winifred Pflueger (1898-1979), a resident of Sierra Madre, California, was
born in Holman, Wisconsin, in 1898, and was deaf from the time of her childhood. She
attended the Minneapolis Academy of Music, Drama, and Expression. In 1930, after her
father’s death, she and her mother moved to the Los Angeles area. Helen supported
herself as a seamstress during the depression. She wrote a novel called “New
Paradise Lost,” which was never published. She died in 1979.
Scope and Content
The manuscripts include two complete copies of Pflueger’s book “New Paradise Lost” as
well as draft pages and notes for the novel. There are also papers and essays
written by Helen in high school and later in life as well as copies of writings and
poems by Helen and others.
The diaries span the years 1911 to 1979. The diaries include daily entries with
detailed information about Helens’ daily activities: visits to friends, seamstress
work, trips taken, etc. She also talks a lot about her religious beliefs and her
struggles to be a good Christian.
The majority of correspondence is written by others to Helen but there are a few
pieces of correspondence by her (retained copies). There are several letters to and
from Rev. Gilbert P. Symons of the Forward Movement of the Episcopal Church and
others dealing with her religious beliefs and search for a church to attend. There
is also one letter by Edgar Bergen (1941, Apr. 15) in response to a letter Helen
wrote to him and “Charlie.” There are also a few letters regarding her book “New
Paradise Lost” (1940).
The ephemera includes a variety of material including account books, address books,
bank statements, biographical information, financial papers, medical papers, calling
cards, church bulletins, dress patterns, family estate papers (including a copy of
Helen’s will), greeting cards, newspaper clippings, photographs, school notebooks
and a recipe book. Some of the newspaper clippings deal with Sierra Madre,
California. There are also three rolled items: two diplomas from the Minneapolis
School of Music (1919-1920) and a painting of Helen Pflueger.
Indexing Subjects
Episcopal Church
-
Subject in Correspondence (1940-1942). Box 8 (6).
-
Subject in Church Bulletins (1930-1934). Box 10 (9).
Methodist Church (U.S.)
-
Subject in Church Bulletins (1930-1934). Box 10 (9).
Arrangement
Arranged in the following manner: 1. Manuscripts (Boxes 1-3); 2. Diaries (Boxes
4-7); 3. Correspondence (Boxes 8-9); 4. Ephemera (Boxes 10-11).
Indexing Terms
Subjects
Pflueger, Helen
Winifred, 1898-1979.
Episcopal
Church.
Methodist Church
(U.S.)
Minneapolis School of
Music.
Deaf women -- California --
Archives.
Depressions -- 1929 --
California.
Women -- California --
Archives.
Women in the Episcopal
Church.
Sierra Madre
(Calif.)
Forms/Genres
Diaries -- California -- 20th century.
Ephemera -- California.
Letters (correspondence) -- California
-- 20th century.
Manuscripts -- California -- 20th
century.
Additional Contributors
Bergen, Edgar, 1903-1978.
Symons, Gilbert Prower, b. 1879.