HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG1133.AM: Bonnie (Royal) Berry Manley, 1906-1971
Papers: 1937-1940
Fremont, Dodge County, Nebraska: Teacher; poet
Size: 0.25 cu.ft.; 1 box
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Born at Nehawka, Nebraska, on December 14, 1906, Bonnie Royal was the daughter of Charles and Celia (Harshman) Royal. She grew up near Whitney, Nebraska and attended Chadron State Teachers College, where she received her teaching degree. She taught in Dawes County rural schools for a while and then from 1937-1938 went to work for the Office of Indian Affairs as a Field Service Teacher at the Little Wound School in Kyle, South Dakota. She returned to Nebraska and worked for the Nebraska State Employment Service at Fremont. In 1940 she took a leave of absence to take graduate courses in the University of Nebraska’s Department of Social Science. According to the U.S. Census, she married Leo Berry around 1929 and was listed as divorced by 1940. She then married Harry Manley.
She served as Dawes County Superintendent of Schools from 1966 until her death in 1971. She established the Dawes County Circulating Library and Bookmobile, founded and served as secretary and treasurer of the Crawford Crazy Horse Cultural Center, and served as president of the Dawes County Unit of the Nebraska State Education Association. Bonnie (Royal) Manley died on November 24, 1971, and is buried in Saint John Cemetery, Crawford, Nebraska.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The collection consists mostly of correspondence between Manley and Addison E. Sheldon, as well as poetry drafts by Manley. The correspondence dates from 1937-1940 and relates mostly to her attempts to get various stories and poetry published. A folder relating to her time in South Dakota includes an “Economical Survey;” minutes of the Kyle and Porcupine Districts Day Schools Teachers’ organization; a few student drawings and writings; and an issue of the school’s student newsletter. The last two folders contain drafts of poems for La Ko Ta Rodeo and Fair and Other Poems, which was published in 1939. See the Library for a copy.
INVENTORY
Box 1
Folder
- Correspondence, 1937-1940
- South Dakota, including:
Economical survey of Indians in South Dakota, 1936-1937
Minutes of the Kyle and Porcupine Districts Day Schools Teachers’ organization, 1937, Oct.-Nov.
Kyle Day School student drawings and writings
Taopi Ciqala Wotanin (Little Wound News), Little Wound Day School, Kyle, SD, Nov. 1937. - La Ko Ta Rodeo and Fair and Other Poems
- Misc. poems
Subject headings:
Authors — Nebraska
Indians of North American — Education
Little Wound Day School (Kyle, South Dakota)
Manley, Bonnie (Royal) Berry, 1906-1971
Poetry
Sheldon, Addison Erwin, 1861-1943
TMM 03-15-2017
