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COLLECTION Identifier: MC 451

Papers of Janet Mabie, 1912-1960

Overview

Photographs, clippings, drafts of biography about Amelia Earhart collected by Janet Mabie, journalist and writer.

Dates

  • Creation: 1912-1960

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Janet Mabie is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.

Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

Extent

.63 linear feet ((1+1/2 file boxes) plus 3 photograph folders)

The bulk of this collection consists of Janet Mabie's notes and newspaper clippings pertaining to Amelia Earhart, the manuscript of "Lady in the High Winds," parts of "A Different Drummer" and correspondence about the biography. Clippings have been photocopied and the originals discarded. Mabie made three copies of each chapter of "Lady in the High Winds" for editing. One copy of each chapter has been retained, as well as any other copies with editorial notes. The rest have been discarded.

The collection also includes Earhart family photographs, many with notes in blue ink on the reverse in Amy Otis Earhart's hand; Amy Otis Earhart probably gave these photographs to Janet Mabie.

BIOGRAPHY

Janet Mabie was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1893. She began her career as a journalist in 1915 with the Bridgeport Post-Telegram. Mabie was a featured special writer for the Christian Science Monitor in Boston (1919-1928), then a staff writer until 1934. Her assignments for the Monitor included interviews with the Prince of Wales, Admiral Byrd, Charles Lindbergh, and the grandchildren of President Herbert Hoover. Mabie was author or coauthor of a number of books, including Heaven on Earth (1951), her childhood reminiscences of Northfield, Mass. and the evangelist D. L. Moody; and Fifty Years with the Golden Rule (1950), department store giant J.C. Penney's autobiography. After her marriage, she continued to be known professionally as Janet Mabie.

In 1928, Mabie met Amelia Earhart. She collaborated with Earhart on a number of writing projects until Earhart's disappearance in 1937. Mabie also collaborated with George Palmer Putnam, Earhart's husband, on a biography of Earhart entitled Soaring Wings. Their collaboration ended in controversy and Mabie began work on a biography of her own; Earhart's mother, Amy Otis Earhart, gave her encouragement and material. (See Amy Otis Earhart papers, MC 398, #112.) The original manuscript, "Lady in the High Winds," was rejected by Mabie's publisher, E.P. Dutton & Co., in 1945, and she began making major revisions. By 1959 she had retitled the revised manuscript "A Different Drummer." Health problems and working with J.C. Penney on View From the Ninth Decade (1960) postponed further work on the book indefinitely; it was never published. Mabie died in 1961.

Physical Location

Collection stored off site: researchers must request access 36 hours before use.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession numbers: 92-M150, 97-M79, 97-M154

These papers were given to the Schlesinger Library by Janet Mabie's son, Kenneth E. Clapp, in August 1992, and June and November 1997.

SEPARATION RECORD

The following items have been removed from the collection and discarded, August 1998:

  1. "Love Me Fast" by Margaret N. Taylor

CONTAINER LIST

  1. Box 1: 1-3, 7-24
  2. Box 2: 25-29

Processing Information

Processed: May 1998

By: Ellen Dyer

Title
Mabie, Janet. Papers of Janet Mabie, 1912-1960: A Finding Aid
Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
sch00711

Repository Details

Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository

The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.

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