Papers of Barbara Gould Nylander, 1893-2005

The collection contains correspondence, diaries, schoolwork, travel itineraries and souvenirs, financial records, scrapbooks, etc., documenting the lives of Barbara Gould Nylander; her husband, Donald Nylander; her children, Russell, Robert, Richard, and Karen; her mother, Flora Hazel Gould; and her aunt, Edith Rebecca Ervin. Materials arrived at the library unfoldered and in no discernable order. Folder titles and arrangement were established by the archivist.

Series I, BIOGRAPHICAL AND PERSONAL, 1912-2005 (#1.1-20.4, 64F+B.1-64F+B.6, PD.1-PD.2, PD.6+, Mem.1), includes Nylander's diaries, schoolwork, travel itineraries and souvenirs, scrapbooks, etc. Diaries contain detailed accounts of her daily activities, including cooking, sewing, church and social activities, and traveling, but do not provide insight into Nylander's thoughts or feeling about events or people. Between 1969 and 1977, Nylander underwent multiple rounds of electroshock therapy, each of which is noted in her diaries. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Nylander and her husband, Donald, traveled extensively. Files relating to their travels include itineraries, notes, tickets and programs from sightseeing excursions, etc. Their travels are also noted in Nylander's diaries. Files are arranged with biographical materials first, followed by an alphabetical arrangement of files.

Series II, CORRESPONDENCE, 1916-2004 (#20.5-46.3, PD.3-PD.5), contains letters written to Barbara Gould and Donald Nylander by friends and family, as well as a small number of drafts and carbon copies of letters sent by the Nylanders. Letters contain news about family and friends; accounts of daily activities, such as shopping, cooking, housekeeping, and errands; child rearing; trips taken; etc. Barbara Nylander and many of her friends were amateur photographers and letters frequently include accounts of taking and developing photographs. Many letters, particularly those from the 1970s and later, include accounts of aging and age-related ailments, including cancer, arthritis, loss of balance, and dementia. Letters from Nylander's mother, Flora Hazel Gould, date mainly from Nylander's time as a student at Mount Holyoke College (1930-1935) and document her efforts to help Nylander cope with her homesickness and stress over her course work. Gould's letters from 1936 include those written while Nylander was teaching at the Morning Face School in Richmond, Massachusetts, and detail her concern for Nylander's mental state as well as her support and encouragement for Nylander to quit the position for the sake of her health. Letters from Nylander's children are largely from their time in college in the 1960s and contain accounts of their social activities, their opinions on the food and dorm life, and their academic interests. Letters from the children also document the family's shared interest in the folk music movement, particularly in Joan Baez's early career. Elaine Neefus Poole was a childhood friend of Nylander who moved to Oakville, Ontario, Canada, following her marriage to Gordon Poole. Her letters contain reflections on the differences between life in the United States and Canada, particularly following World War II. Poole's letters also document her attempts to have children and the process of adopting two children. Most of her letters contain detailed accounts of the children's development and her disappointment in their academic performances and life choices. Files are arranged alphabetically.

Series III, FAMILY PAPERS, 1893-2005 (#46.4-63.6, FD.1, PD.7), includes diaries, correspondence, scrapbooks, schoolwork, etc., of Nylander's aunt, Edith Rebecca Ervin; grandfather, Richard Ervin; mother, Flora Hazel Gould; and children, Karen, Richard, Robert, and Russell Nylander. Edith Rebecca Ervin's diaries and letters document her work and her friendships with several blind women, including her experiences living and working in settlement houses that cared for blind women. Her notebooks and scrapbooks document her love of reading through lists and reviews of books she read and quotations she collected. Flora Hazel Gould's letters from Barbara Gould Nylander document Nylander's time at Mount Holyoke College, including descriptions of dorm life, dining hall food and rituals, classmates, and courses. Letters also document Nylander's homesickness and frequent illnesses brought on by her stress over her course work and desire to be academically successful. In 1936, Nylander taught at the Morning Face School in Richmond, Massachusetts, and her letters document her deteriorating health brought on by the stress of teaching and her disappointment over her inability to be an effective teacher. Letters from Barbara Gould and Donald Nylander to their children contain family and local news; discussions of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, folk music scene; and news on historic preservation efforts in the Boston area, particularly work done by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA) and the founding of Iron Work Farm in Acton. Folders are arranged alphabetically.

Most of the photographs in this collection are or will be cataloged in VIA, Harvard University's Visual Information Access database. Others, referred to as "uncataloged" photographs, are not of sufficient research interest to warrant cataloging and are simply treated as part of the documents they accompany; they are marked on the back with an asterisk in square brackets [*].