Finding Aid for the Ruth Eleanor McKee Papers LSC.1151
Finding aid prepared by Dan Luckenbill, May 1975, additions by Manuscripts Division staff, 1985; machine-readable finding
aid created by Genie Guerard.
UCLA Library Special Collections
Online finding aid last updated 2002.
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Business Number: 310-825-4988
Fax Number: 310-206-1864
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
Note
Area, Interdisciplinary, and Ethnic Studies--Asian American StudiesHistory--United States and North American HistoryGeographical (by Place)--United StatesArts and Humanities--Literature
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Ruth Eleanor McKee papers
Creator:
McKee, Ruth Eleanor
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1151
Physical Description:
5.5 linear feet
(11 boxes and 1 oversize box)
Date (inclusive): 1905-1972
Abstract: Ruth Eleanor McKee (1903- ) spent ten years at the Library of Hawaii publishing poetry in small magazines and published her
first novel on the history of Hawaii in 1934. While working as a historian for the War Relocation Authority (WRA) she wrote
3 monographs. In 1951 she began working for the United States Department of State and was appointed United States Consul at
Tokyo in 1958. The collection consists of manuscripts, correspondence, and research materials related to Ruth E. McKee's work
as a novelist, poet, United States Foreign Service officer, and writer for the War Relocation Authority (WRA). McKee's research
for the WRA focused on Japanese American evacuation and internment during World War II.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Restrictions on Access
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
PORTIONS OF THIS COLLECTION HAVE BEEN DIGITIZED. See the Online Items Available note for the link to the digitized materials.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Margaret Ringnalda, 1975 and 1984.
Funding
This online finding aid has been funded in part by a grant from the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Ruth Eleanor McKee Papers (Collection 1151). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young
Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Processing Information
Processed by Dan Luckenbill, May 1975. Additions processed by Manuscripts Division staff, 1985.
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Biography
McKee was born in 1903 and grew up in Ventura County, California; BA, University of California, Southern Branch (later University
of California, Los Angeles), 1926; spent ten years at the Library of Hawaii, publishing poetry in small magazines; published
first novel on the history of Hawaii, 1934; wrote 5 subsequent novels; moved to Sonoma County, California, 1936; wrote 3 monographs
while working as a historian for the War Relocation Authority (WRA); began working for the United States Department of State,
1951; appointed United States Consul at Tokyo, 1958; retired to Cape Cod, 1963.
Additional Biographical Narrative
Ruth Eleanor McKee (1903-) was a poet and novelist, a historian for the War Relocation Authority (WRA) and an officer in the
U.S. Foreign Service. Her childhood was spent in Ventura County, California. She later wrote that it was this environment
of isolation which caused her to begin reading and writing at an early age. Her first writings were journals and poems. At
the age of 14 she took her father's car and a revolver and ran away to Los Angeles, seeking local color for a novel. She was
found three days later, employed as a cook.
She received a Bachelor of Arts from the Southern Branch of the University of California in 1926. That same year she had enough
money for a one-way ticket to Honolulu, and with Kathryn MacFarlane, also a writer, she began a new life in Hawaii.
She remained there for ten years, working at the Library of Hawaii. During this time she published poems in the small magazines
of the day, such as
Voices and
Lyric West. Typescripts of her poems are here in the papers, as well as copies of some of the publications. She contributed dozens of
book reviews to the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, signing herself R.E.M. In 1934 Doubleday in New York and John Lane in London published her first novel,
The Lord's Anointed. Still considered one of the best fictions to treat the history of Hawaii, it received good reviews and sold well. She published
five more novels.
In 1927 she had married a lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, Darr Alkire. She was divorced the following year and assumed custody
of her son Michael. They left Hawaii for California in early 1936 to live in the Redwoods in Sonoma County. There she wrote
her last published novels, all of them successful critically and financially. The most successful was
Christopher Strange, a novel of California from Gold Rush days through the turn of the century, including the development of Palm Springs.
She wrote three significant monographs while working as historian for the WRA. These monographs were summaries and analyses
after the fact. Research materials for this writing are in part here in the papers. She also began novels about Japanese Americans,
but these were not published. They exist here in manuscript, and are perhaps of some value in recreating the lives of those
people whom she observed and with whom she had great empathy.
Michael was killed in a plane crash in 1950. In 1951 she began working for the Department of State, ghostwriting articles,
primarily about Germany. In 1958 she was appointed United States Consul at Tokyo, for Tokyo, by President Eisenhower. She
hoped to use this experience to further her knowledge about Japan and Japanese Americans. She retired from the Foreign Service
in 1963 and moved to a house she had built in West Chatham, Massachussetts, on Cape Cod, where she lived until her death.
The papers are the gift of her literary executrix, Mrs. Margaret Ringnalda.
by Dan Luckenbill, May 1975
Scope and Content
Collection consists of manuscripts, correspondence, and research materials related to Ruth E. McKee's work as a novelist,
poet, United States Foreign Service officer, and writer for the War Relocation Authority (WRA). McKee's research for the WRA
focused on Japanese American evacuation and internment during World War II.
Organization and Arrangement
Arranged in the following series:
- Biographical and correspondence (Boxes 1-4).
- Journals and diary (Boxes 5-6).
- Poetry, prose fiction, non-fiction prose (Box 7).
- Published novels (Box 8).
- Unpublished novels (Box 9).
- Writings for War Relocation Authority (Box 10).
- Writings for U.S. Signal Corps, U.S. Dept. of State, and manuscripts by other writers (Box 11).
- Certificates and book review clippings (Oversize Box 12).
Existence and Location of Copies
- Copy of
Healdsburg Enterprise,
Date: Wednesday, November 28, 1888.
Miscellaneous American Newspapers (Collection 1661). Box 7.
- Galley proofs of Christopher Morley's
Mandarin in Manhattan. Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection (Collection 100). Box 136.
- Copies of
Lyric West.
Date: 1928[?] and 1931-33
have been removed and added to the Department's holdings.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Authors, American -- 20th century -- Archives.
Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945 -- Research.
United States. Army. Signal Corps.
United States. War Relocation Authority.
McKee, Ruth Eleanor
box 1, folder 1
Autobiography.
1946.
General Physical Description note: 6 leaves. Typescript, with holograph notes.
General note
Written in the fall of 1946 for some application for a writing fellowship.
box 1, folder 2
Photos of Ruth Eleanor McKee.
1905, 1907, 1918, 1930, 1952, 1963 and n.d.
Ruth Eleanor McKee, portrait at 18 months old, Jan. 6 1905
Ruth Eleanor McKee, portrait, 1918 [sepia toned and hand-colored]
Ruth Eleanor McKee with others at dinner party on board ship S.S. America, 1963
General Physical Description note: 9 items.
box 1, folder 3
Clippings, giving general information about Ruth Eleanor McKee.
1936, 1938 and n.d.
Runs Away to Write Novel.., [newspaper clipping], Los Angeles Examiner, date unknown
box 1, folder 4
Diplomas, etc.
See also: Oversize Box 12.
Manual Arts High School.
1920.
Teacher's credential, Southern Branch of the University of California.
1923.
Credential, State Board of Education.
1923.
Master of Arts, University of Hawaii.
1930.
Certificate from School of Librarianship, University of California at Berkeley.
1939.
box 1, folder 5
Marriage and divorce. Marriage certificate, Honolulu. Decree of divorce, Territory of Hawaii.
1927. 1928.
box 1, folder 6
Letters to Michael Alkire.
1944.
box 1, folder 6
Letters from Michael Alkire to Ruth Eleanor McKee.
1945-46 and 1950.
box 1, folder 7
Photos.
n.d.
General Physical Description note: 6 items.
box 1, folder 8
Armed services records.
1945-48, 1950 and n.d.
box 1, folder 10
Clippings.
1950.
Lt. Michael E. Alkire. District Pilot Killed...[newspaper clipping], Washington Star, 1950 August 31
box 1, folder 11
Legal items after his death.
1950.
box 1, folder 12
Letters, expressing sympathy to Ruth E. McKee.
September-October 1950 and n.d.
box 1, folder 13
Diplomatic passport. Travel documents.
1958. 1960 and 1963.
box 1, folder 15
Retirement from foreign service. Certificate and letter.
1963.
box 1, folder 16
Consular service, Japan. Ephemera, etc. collected
1958-63.
See also: Oversize Box 12.
box 1, folder 17
House at Harding Shores, West Chatham, Massachusetts. Correspondence, legal items, specifications and drawings.
September 1957-October 1963.
box 1, folder 18
Clippings concerning friends of Ruth Eleanor McKee:
Kathryn MacFarlane Thompson.
1936-38, 1946 and n.d.
Elmire Goldthwaite.
1941.
box
Miscellaneous Correspondence
box 1, folder 19
Miscellaneous correspondence.
1920, 1931, 1935, 1943, 1950-51, 1957 and 1965.
General note
Includes letter from Lily Bess Campbell.
box 1, folder 20
With agents, editors and publishers.
1928-1973.
General Physical Description note: 21 items.
box 1, folder 21
Letters from Kathryn MacFarlane Thompson.
1947 and 1958.
box 1, folder 22
Letters to Margaret Ringnalda from Kathryn MacFarlane Thompson.
1934-35 and 1940.
box 1, folder 23
Enclosures to the Ringnalda correspondence.
1942-43 and 1953.
box
Letters from Ruth Eleanor McKee to Margaret Ringnalda
box
Letters from Ruth Eleanor McKee to Eleanor Grahl
box
Letters from Margaret Ringnalda to Ruth Eleanor McKee
General note
[Addition, 1985]
box 4, folder 9
. 1931-32, 1940, 1943-45, 1947 and 1949.
General note
Most have news about C.F. McIntyre.
box
Journals
Of a diary nature, although many contain drafts of poems. All are in composition books of varying sizes.
box 5
(inclusive dates).
1913-1951
The following headings were given by the literary executrix:
Tulare, Los Angeles, Ventura.
1913-17.
Berkeley, Los Angeles.
1938-39.
Healdsburg, Washington, D.C.
1940-48.
Washington, D.C.
1948-51.
box 6
(inclusive dates).
1951-1971
General Physical Description note: 12 items of a diary nature.
box 6
(inclusive dates).
1930-1935
General Physical Description note: 4 items with general notes on readings, etc.
box
Manuscripts and Publications Materials
box 7, folder 1
Typescripts of poems.
. 1919-50.
General Physical Description note: 48 titles. 67 leaves.
General note
All of these appear to be copies, with very little correction of text. Many have holograph notes giving place of publication
or circumstances of their composition.
box 7, folder 2
Publications with poems by Ruth Eleanor McKee.
1928[?] and 1931-33.
General Physical Description note: 9 items.
General note
Note: copies of
Lyric West have been removed and added to the Department's holdings.
box 7, folder 3
Poems: Ruth Eleanor McKee, n.p.
n.d.
General Physical Description note: [19]pp.
General note
Keepsake printed by Margaret Ringnalda for the friends of Ruth Eleanor McKee.
box 7, folder 4
[Hawthorne: a study of the modifications which took place in his attitude toward sin]. No author given.
n.d.
General Physical Description note:
ca. 50 leaves. Typescript.
General note
Has note by Ruth Eleanor McKee: Research Nathaniel Hawthorne.
box
Prose Fiction - [Unpublished (?)]
box 7, folder 5
Juvenilia.
General note
One story, with note by Ruth Eleanor McKee: As far as I can recall I wrote this at about 18, maybe 19. I submitted it to The
Smart Set!
box 7, folder 6
Stories, Ruth Eleanor McKee, The Library of Hawaii, Honolulu, T.H.
General Physical Description note: 5 items.
box 7, folder 7
Stories, Healdsburg.
General Physical Description note: 4 items.
box 7, folder 8
Stories written under pseudonyms.
General Physical Description note: 6 items.
box 7, folder 9
Unfinished manuscripts.
General Physical Description note: 6 items.
box 7, folder 10
Unfinished manuscripts.
1965-67.
General Physical Description note: 1 item (2 copies).
box 7, folder 11
Publication about Library of Hawaii.
Library Journal.
1932.
box 7, folder 12
Publication about Library of Hawaii.
Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
1933.
box 7, folder 13
A word about American poetry. In
The New Americans.
1933.
box 7, folder 14
Notes for lecture [?].
n.d.
General Physical Description note: 9 leaves. Typescript.
box 7, folder 15
[Review of novel by Rose Macaulay].
n.d.
General Physical Description note: 1p. Typescript.
box 7, folder 16
Clippings of book reviews from
Honolulu Star-Bulletin written by Ruth Eleanor McKee when working at the Library of Hawaii.
. 1930-33.
See also: Oversize Box 12.
box 8, folder 1
Research notes about Hawaii. Possibly for
The Lord's Anointed or
After a Hundred Years.
box 8, folder 2
Correspondence.
1934 and n.d.
box 8, folder 3
Dust jackets from various printings.
box 8, folder 4
Clippings of reviews.
1934-35 and n.d.
box 8, folder 5
Correspondence, publishing agreement.
1935.
box 8, folder 6
Clippings of reviews.
1935.
box 8, folder 7
Carbon typescript.
1936 [?].
General Physical Description note: 208 leaves.
box 8, folder 8
Publishing agreement.
1936.
box 8, folder 10
Clippings of reviews.
1936.
box 8, folder 11
Notes, in composition book. Healdsburg.
1938 [?].
box 8, folder 13
Clippings of reviews.
1938.
box 8, folder 14
Holograph notes in composition book.
. 1941.
box 8, folder 16
Publication announcement.
1941.
box 8, folder 17
Dust jacket and photograph of dust jacket painting.
box 8, folder 18
Clippings of reviews.
1941.
box 8, folder 19
Storm Point. Dust jacket.
box 9, folder 1
Follow the birds: a story of the hop harvest.
n.d.
General Physical Description note: 128 leaves. Carbon typescript.
box 9, folder 2
Scattered notes for Japanese-American novel. In composition book.
. 1957.
box 9, folder 3
The refuge.
n.d.
General Physical Description note: 386 leaves. Typescript with some holograph corrections.
General Physical Description note: f.1 of 2: leaves 1-167.
General note
First book of projected Japanese American novel for which Ruth E. McKee kept the WRA materials and asked for Embassy duty
in Japan.
box 9, folder 4
The refuge.
n.d.
General Physical Description note: f.2 of 2: leaves 168-386.
box 9, folder 5
In the beginning.
n.d.
General Physical Description note: 3 leaves. Typescript with some holograph corrections.
General note
Possible prologue to The refuge [?]
box 9, folder 6
Portrait of an American.
n.d.
General Physical Description note: 154 leaves. Typescript with some holograph corrections.
General note
Beginning of second book in Japanese American saga.
box
Writings for the War Relocation Authority (WRA)
box 10, folder 1
Holograph notes concerning relocation centers, etc.
. 1942-46.
General Physical Description note: In 2 composition books.
box 10, folder 2
Letters from Grace Nichols Pearson.
March 1943-July 1946 and n.d.
General note
Note by Ruth Eleanor McKee: Special WRA references in letters.
box 10, folder 3
Miscellaneous correspondence having to do with WRA, Japanese-Americans, etc.
1945 and n.d.
box 10, folder 4
Press releases, etc. from Tule Lake Segregation Center. Primarily concerning removal of internees because of violence in the
center.
June-July and December 1944 and n.d.
box 10, folder 5
Department of the Interior.
1945.
General Physical Description note: Mimeographed items.
box 10, folder 6
[
History of Evacuation and WRA Program] by Ruth E. McKee.
n.d.
General Physical Description note: 246 leaves. Carbon typescript with some holograph corrections.
General note
With note by Ruth Eleanor McKee: Carbon of edited version was submitted to Interior - to Miss Sylvia Altman. This was not
censored.
box 10, folder 7
California and Her Less Favored Minorities: a Study of the Evacuation of Persons of Japanese Ancestry from the Pacific Coast, War Relocation Authority.
April 1944.
General Physical Description note: 27, iv [4] leaves. Mimeograph.
General note
Prepared by Ruth E. McKee, WRA historian.
box 10, folder 8
The Wartime Handling of Evacuee Property. United States Department of the Interior, War Relocation Authority. Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office.
1946.
General Physical Description note: 113pp. Mimeograph.
General note
Note on cover by Ruth Eleanor McKee: This is just tossed in gratis, the most exacting and tedious of my writing assignments
for WRA - I have a more entertaining one but have only one copy.
box 10, folder 9
Wartime Exile: the Exclusion of the Japanese Americans from the West Coast. Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office for United States Department of the Interior, War Relocation Authority.
1946.
General Physical Description note: 167pp.
General note
This report prepared by Ruth E. McKee.
box 10, folder 10
The Latest Word: WRA Reports Alumni Association. News Bulletin.
- no.1 (November 1945)
- no.2 (January 1946)
- no.3 (April 1946)
- no.4 (June 1946)
- no.5 (August 1946)
- no.9 (July 12, 1949)
- Also, final issue Ave Atque Vale (n.d.).
box 10, folder 11
Correspondence of Earl M. Finch with Frank Cross, WRA, concerning Japanese American servicemen.
June 1944.
box 10, folder 12
Clippings concerning Japanese Americans.
1941-42, 1945-46, 1948, 1950 and n.d.
box 10, folder 13
WRA. Miscellaneous printed materials.
. 1942-45.
box
Writings for the United States Signal Corps
box 11, folder 1
The Signal Corps' Bird of War.
n.d.
General Physical Description note: 48 leaves. Typescript with some holograph corrections. Another copy. Carbon typescript.
box 11, folder 2
Signal Corps technical information letter.
August 1945.
General Physical Description note: 40pp.
box 11, folder 3
Terrett, Dulany. [Signal Corps report].
. 1949.
General Physical Description note: 11 leaves. Mimeograph.
General note
Note by Ruth Eleanor McKee: Re-hash of Ruth McKee's material by her superior Terrett in Pentagon - great conflict and indignation
on her part.
box 11, folder 4
Research material [?] Correspondence, memoranda, etc. concerning Roberts death ray.
1939-43.
General note
Some items bear the note: copy for Miss McKee.
box 11, folder 5
Research material [?] Outlines of Signal Corps topics.
1945.
General Physical Description note:
ca. 60 leaves. Carbon typescripts.
box
Writings for the Department of State
box 11, folder 6
Publications containing articles ghostwritten by Ruth Eleanor McKee.
1951-53.
General Physical Description note: 7 items.
General note
Includes one publication with authorship not annotated by Ruth Eleanor McKee.
box 11, folder 7
Department of State publications about Japan and Germany.
1955 and 1957.
box 11, folder 8
Clipping about writing of State Department pamphlets.
1957.
box 11, folder 9
Miscellaneous printed and mimeographed items collected by Ruth Eleanor McKee during her period of writing for the Signal Corps
and State Department.
. 1943-57.
box
Manuscripts by Other Writers
box 11, folder 10
Thompson, Kathryn MacFarlane. Poems & fiction.
. 1929-47.
General Physical Description note:
ca. 60 leaves.
General note
Some were written to Ruth Eleanor McKee and are annotated by her.
box 11, folder 11
Rogers, Gene.
My Friend Anna.
n.d.
General Physical Description note: 11 leaves. Typescript.
box
Certificates and Book Review Clippings
box 12
Bachelor of Arts Degree, Southern Branch of the University of California.
1926.
box 12
Certificates from the Department of State, with appointment as Foreign Service Officer, class four; secretary in the diplomatic
service; and Consul of the United States.
20 July 1955.
General Physical Description note: 4 items.
box 12
Certificate from the Department of State, appointment as Consul of the United States of America at Tokyo, Japan, for Tokyo.
28 July 1958.
box 12
Certificates in Japanese with seal of the Embassy of the United States of America, Tokyo. Also translation of October 1 document.
8 July and 1 October 1958.
General Physical Description note: 2 items.
box 12
Clippings of book reviews by Ruth Eleanor McKee from
Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
. 1930-1933.
General Physical Description note: Pasted on oversize scrapbook pages.
General note
No dates on items.
