King Family [RG5053.AM]

NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID

RG5053.AM:  King Family

Papers:  1896-1995

Nebraska and Iowa:  

Size:  6 boxes; ca. 6.0 cu.ft.

BACKGROUND NOTE

Mary Lucinda Taylor was born on December 7, 1878. On October 23, 1900, she married William Ernest King. They had five children: Helen Gladys, Francis Willard, Clarence Clement, Perle Arthur, and Kenneth Delbert. The Kings made their home and farmed near Arbor, Lancaster County, Nebraska. Mary and Ernest celebrated their fiftieth anniversary at the farm. Ernest died on September 4, 1954, and Mary died February 20, 1966.

Helen Gladys “Gladys” King was born March 24, 1901 in Arbor. In 1915 she entered the Teachers College High School in Lincoln, Nebraska. She began graduate study at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1919, which she in part completed through University of Iowa correspondence courses and a summer at the University of Washington at Seattle. Before graduating in 1936 she taught various elementary grades in school districts 65, 81 and 92, in Ravenna, Nebraska, as well as in Manville, Wyoming. From 1936 until her retirement in 1966 she taught elementary grades in Nebraska and Iowa. From 1936 to 1938 she taught in North Platte; 1938-1941, Randolph; 1941-1950, Oak School in Council Bluffs; 1950-1957, Hoover School in Council Bluffs; and 1957-1966 at Hartley School in Lincoln. After retiring she served the Havelock Women’s Society (W.S.C.S.) as president from 1966-1970. She also traveled extensively, engaged in various hobbies (notably quilting with the Arbor Kensington group), and was involved in religious instruction at Havelock Methodist Church in Lincoln, Nebraska. She died in Lincoln on April 14, 1996.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection consists of papers relating to the King Family. The bulk of the collection documents the life and teaching career of Gladys King, but substantial materials, including diaries and correspondence, relate to her mother, Mary Lucinda King. The collection is arranged in four series: 1) Diaries, 1919-1995; 2) Financial Records, 1925-1967; 3) Correspondence, 1896-1983, and undated; 4) School Documents; 5) Genealogy; 6) Miscellaneous; and 7) Gladys King Scrapbooks, 1956-1973.

Diaries of Gladys King and Mary Lucinda Taylor King form the bulk of the collection. Entries discuss weather, daily activities, and family life. Gladys’ diaries contain brief notes about her teaching activities, while Mary’s include short entries about her life and chores on the family farm in Arbor, Nebraska. One diary contains entries by both women; Gladys used space left over in her mother’s 1963 diary to write her own entries for the years 1967-1970.

The genealogical materials focus mainly on the Taylor Family, but include information about the King, Gates, Folsom, Batchelder, and Templeton Families. The scrapbooks of Series 7 are really combinations of diaries, scrapbooks and photograph albums, as Gladys used artifacts, photographs and postcards, and journal-style captions to create volumes that documented her experiences as a member of a 1956 “U.S. Naval Aviation Orientation Cruise,” and on her various travels.

Note:  See also the photo component [RG5053.PH] for related images.

DESCRIPTION

Series 1 – Diaries, 1919-1995

Subseries 1: H. Gladys King Diaries

Box 1

Folder

1. 1. 1919 [Photo/Memories Book]

1. 1. 1925-1926; 1932-1936; 1937-1939; 1950-1951

1. 1. 1940-1943; 1944; 1946

1. 1. 1945; 1947

1. 1. 1947 travel diary, Seattle

1. 1. 1948; 1949

1. 1. “1949, 1951, 1953, 1958, 1959, 1957” travel diary

Box 1a

Folder

8. 8. 1952-1956; 1957-1961

8. 8. 1962-1966
      
      1963, and 1967-1970 [Note: This volume contains entries by Gladys King for the years 1967-1970, and by her mother, Mary Lucinda Taylor King for 1963.]
      
      1971

Box 2

Folder

10. 10. 1972-1976; 1977-1981; 1982-1986

10. 10. 1987-1988; 1989-1993; 1994-1995

10. 10. Travel diaries, 1967-1968; 1973

10. 10. California, 1939 and 1972-1973; undated diary notes

Subseries 2: Mary Lucinda Taylor King Diaries

1. 1. 1937-1941; 1942-1945

Box 3

Folder

2. 2. 1946; 1947-1951; 1952

2. 2. 1953-1957; 1958-1962

Series 2 – Financial Records, 1925-1967

Box 4

Folder

1. 1. “Record Book,” 1925-1934
      
      “Student Account Book,” 1936-1946
      
      Financial records, 1947-1949
      
      “Household Budget and Account Book,” 1949-1959

1. 1. Articles of agreement between H. Gladys King and Cornell & Simpson for construction of a residence, Oct. 10, 1955
      
      Tax receipts, 1955-1967

Series 3 – Correspondence, 1896-1983, n.d.

1. 1. 1896-1919 [Invitations for weddings, parties, graduations, etc.]

1. 1. 1920-1929

1. 1. 1930-1939

1. 1. 1940-1949

1. 1. 1950-1959

1. 1. 1960-1983

1. 1. Undated

Series 4 – School Documents

1. 1. Teaching Contracts, 1926-1968

Box 5

Folder

1. 1. Teaching Certificates, memberships, awards, 1906-1987; undated

1. 1. Report Cards; School Transcripts, 1907-1956

1. 1. School Program Notes, 1929-1932

1. 1. Diplomas (See OB124)

Series 5 – Genealogy

1. 1. “The Taylor Genealogy” by Periander Taylor

1. 1. “Taylor Genealogy 1919-1992”

1. 1. Ernest Taylor genealogy

1. 1. “Lucinda Page Taylor. In Memoriam”

1. 1. “Florence Appauline Taylor. In Memoriam”

1. 1. Taylor and King genealogy

1. 1. “The King Family 1976,” two copies

1. 1. “The Gates Family”

1. 1. Agnes Gates McKee genealogy

1. 1. Folsom genealogy

1. 1. Batchelder, Templeton genealogy, clippings

1. 1. Map of parcels A and B, Fletcher Ave. to Oakways Blvd.

Series 6 – Miscellaneous

1. 1. Gladys King, autobiographical notes, funeral card, will notice
      
      a. Gladys King Recognition of Service at Bryan Hospital

1. 1. Miscellaneous: Clipping, receipt, biographical note on Rev. Atherton by Gladys King, etc.

1. 1. Mary Taylor Smith, poems and photos, 1933-1949

1. 1. Myrtle Blanch Taylor Bump, 1962

1. 1. Eleanor Swanson, 1963-1965, undated; clipping, 1977

1. 1. Gladys King biographical materials and documents

1. 1. Miscellaneous

Series 7 – Gladys King Scrapbooks (see oversize)

Volume

1. 1. Photo/scrapbook, “U.S. Naval Aviation Orientation Cruise,” 1956 [includes short journal-style entries by Gladys King, and some aviation teaching aids, ca. 1957]

1. 1. New Orleans, Caribbean, Latin America, 1966 [with diary at back of the scrapbook, and photographs]

1. 1. Alaska, 1967 [includes photographs]

1. 1. South America, 1968 [includes photographs]

1. 1. Northeast Canada and Iceland, 1970 [includes photographs]

1. 1. Europe, 1973 [includes photographs]

1. 1. USA, 1973

 

ADDED ENTRIES:

Aeronautics — Study and teaching

Arbor (Neb.) — History

Batchelder family

Bump, Myrtle Blanch Taylor

Davey (Neb.) — History

Diaries

Education — Nebraska

Farm life — Nebraska — Lancaster County

Farm wives — Nebraska

Folsom family

Gates family

King, H. Gladys (Helen Gladys), 1901-1996

King, Mary Lucinda (Mary Lucinda Taylor), 1878-1966

King family

McKee, Agnes Gates

Nebraska Air Age Education Clinic

Swanson, Eleanor

Taylor family

Teachers — Nebraska

Templeton family

United States. Navy

 

SS/kfk   04-09-1998

Revised KFK   05-29-2004

Encoded TMM   05-12-2010