Papers of Hazel Hitson Weidman, 1896-2014

This collection documents the personal life of medical anthropologist Hazel Hitson Weidman. The papers include correspondence, photographs, biographical material, family genealogies, and World War II memorabilia. Weidman joined the WAVES in 1943, and subsequently served at several Naval Air bases around the country. Included in the collection are love letters received by Weidman during World War II, which offer glimpses into the lives of Navy and Army pilots during the war and the difficulties of maintaining long-distance romances during wartime. Also found within the collection is correspondence between Weidman and several of the people she met in Burma while conducting anthropological field work in 1957, and when she returned in 2006. Weidman's correspondence reveals the connections she had with her many friends. She kept in particular contact with friends from her Maine retirement communities, Piper Shores in Scarborough and The Highlands in Topsham. The collection also includes correspondence, family histories, and other material related to William Harold Weidman. Additional material received in 2013 (accession number 2013-M224) was added to the collection in March 2014. These materials are housed in #21.9-21.10. Additional material received in 2014 (accession number 2014-M183) was added to the collection in June 2015. These documents describe a trip taken by Weidman to Washington, DC, with other World War II veterans from Florida. This material is housed in #1.4 and E.1. All other files remain in the same order. Folders are listed in intellectual, not numerical, order. Original folder headings were maintained; titles in brackets were created by the archivist.

Series I, BIOGRAPHICAL AND PERSONAL, 1917-2014, n.d. (#1.1-5.10, 22FB.1), includes address books, articles, curricula vitae, college papers, sketch books, financial and real estate records, genealogies, and high school yearbooks. Weidman's anthropology papers from Northwestern University give details into her upbringing and her early adulthood, explaining her feelings toward her parents, relationships with other people, and her attitude towards religion (#1.6). Sketch books include portraits of the Powers family, with whom she boarded while attending Northwestern University (#5.7). In 1974 Weidman and a group of friends spent a week camping in Baxter State Park, Millinocket, Maine; one friend presented Weidman with a scrapbook commemorating the trip as a birthday gift (#22FB.1). In 1987 she started her own business, called Socks Aloft, which sold decorative wind-socks for the home or office (#5.8). In 1989 Weidman moved to Camden, Maine, eventually becoming president of the Hobbs-Fish Pond Association, which was founded in the late 1970's to monitor the health of the two ponds (#4.5-4.6). In 2000 she began taking photography lessons, including darkroom developing of black and white film, in order to process her many rolls of film taken in Burma during her trip in 1957 (#4.4). Material related to Piper Shores retirement community is included (#4.8-5.2). Many members of Hazel Weidman's extended family sent her copies of their genealogical research (#3.2-3.5). Also included are letters between Weidman's father Frederick "Tex" Hitson and his brother Earl while both were serving in World War I (#4.1). More Hitson family correspondence can be found in Series III. Additional material received as electronic files will be reformatted at some future date for inclusion in this series. This series is arranged alphabetically.

Series II, WAVES (WOMEN ACCEPTED FOR VOLUNTEER EMERGENCY SERVICE), 1943-2007, n.d. (#6.1-7.1, 23OB.1m-23OB.6m), includes printed material, song books, poems, newsletters, sketches, memorabilia and applications related to Hazel Weidman's military service during World War II. In 1943 she joined the WAVES on her 20th birthday, and consequently trained at the boot camp on the campus of Hunter College, New York. Weidman served at several air stations as a link trainer instructor around the country, and ended her naval career at the Livermore Naval Air Station in 1946 (#6.6). Printed material includes a New York Telephone Company booklet from 1943, distributed to women training at the U.S. Naval Training School at Hunter College, which described how to get around New York City and how to make telephone calls (#6.5), and a "Going Back to Civilian Life" pamphlet published by the War and Navy departments that explained to newly discharged veterans about mustering-out pay, when to wear their uniforms and ribbons as civilians, re-employment rights for veterans, and the G.I. Bill (#6.6). Newsletters published by the various Naval Air Bases where Weidman served include personnel news, official Navy bulletins, and general reports on WAVES activities (#6.3, 6.7, 6.10-6.11). Pieces of Weidman's second class petty office uniform are also included. As a link trainer instructor, she was considered a specialist, and her patches reflect this (#23OB.1m-23OB.6). This series is arranged alphabetically.

Series III, CORRESPONDENCE, 1918, 1941-2013, n.d. (#7.2-20.6, 21.9-21.10), Series III, Correspondence, 1918, 1941-2013, n.d. (#7.2-20.6, 21.9-21.10), includes letters with family, friends, and former colleagues. Letters from Estell Griesemer Hitson, Weidman's mother, are full of news of other family members and commentary on what Weidman had written to her (#13.1-13.2). Letters from Weidman's siblings, Chloe "Rusty" Hitson, Anita Hitson Clark, Fred "Bud," and John Hitson all contain family news, health issues, trips, and daily life (#7.9-7.10, 8.8, 13.5-13.7, 14.1). Letters between Hazel and Bill Weidman include notes written while he was in the hospital after his stroke in 1961 (#19.4). Weidman's daughter-in-law Theresa Withee, who runs marathons barefoot, competed in the 2013 Boston Marathon; when the explosions occurred she was a half mile from the finish line. Their correspondence contains an interview given by Theresa and Charles Weidman to the Bangor Daily News (#19.2). Hazel Weidman made connections with the people she met throughout her life, accordingly her correspondence reflects this: included are residents of the Burmese village featured in her dissertation, faculty and staff from the colleges and universities where she taught, neighbors from Florida and Maine, and many family members. Contents of the letters include news of family and mutual friends, current events, health issues, trips, and many other aspects of daily life.

This series includes a number of Weidman's beaus and male friends from World War II. Letters from Warner Britton are mostly from when he was an Army Air Force pilot in the South Pacific during World War II; Britton writes about how he feels about Hazel, about where he is stationed, and describes the missions he has flown on. A letter from Weidman to Britton describes her activities on base. He broke off their relationship quite abruptly in June of 1945 (#8.4). She sent a letter to Veterans Affairs after the war, asking about Britton's whereabouts to return personal items to him. Letters from Bill Matthews are from after World War II, while he was still serving as a U.S. Navy pilot. Matthews writes about their relationship and engagement, his activities as a Navy pilot, and later his studies at the University of Michigan; Weidman broke off their engagement in late 1946 (#14.8-15.1).

Former colleagues often wrote to Weidman about their projects and careers. Hazel Weidman mentored Dr. Paul Farmer, a co-founder of Partners in Health, while he was studying medical anthropology; later the two became friends and their correspondence describes Farmer's work in Haiti and Rwanda (#9.9). While acting as project coordinator for the Wet Pets and Other Watery Tales fundraiser project for the Camden-Rockport Animal Rescue League (CRAL), Weidman corresponded with authors regarding their entries, biographical notes, and the book's progress (#19.6-20.1). In 2006, in order to re-visit the village of Boneshegon featured in her dissertation, she traveled back to Burma / Myanmar with the intention of publishing a "then and now" memoir. This project proved to be impossible, however, due to the political climate in the region. Letters include descriptions of her trip, project updates to friends and family, and correspondence with possible publishers (#8.2-8.3). Some of Weidman's friends from Burma include Wai Phyo Myint, a social policy consultant for Vriens & Partners, Myanmar (#15.8); Ma Thanegi, contributing editor for the Myanmar Times (#18.4); Margaret Aung-Thwin, former Fulbright Scholar at the International School in Rangoon, and professor of Burmese at Cornell University (#7.7); and Sein Tu, former professor of psychology at Rangoon University and the University of Mandalay (#18.5). There is some overlap with other Hitson family correspondence in Series I. This series is arranged alphabetically.

Series IV, WILLIAM HAROLD WEIDMAN, 1904-2009, n.d. (#20.7-21.8, FD.1), includes correspondence, financial records, family genealogies, and other material of Bill Weidman. In 1904, William "Bill" Harold Weidman was born Harold William Weidman; his name was changed after the death of his mother. Letters to Bill's sister, Cora Weidman Terry, written while he was at Brown and McGill Universities, describe his struggle to get through college and medical school with very little money (#21.6). Also included is genealogical information about the Weidman family, which appears to have been gathered together by Hazel Weidman from different family members, for the benefit of her children. This series is arranged alphabetically.

Series V, PHOTOGRAPHS, 1896-2014, n.d. (#PD.1-PD.35, E.1), includes photographs of Hazel Weidman, members of the Hitson and the Weidman families, and friends removed from throughout the collection. Included are images from her service as a link trainer instructor in the WAVES, the Naval Air Stations and cities where she served: Alameda, California; Atlanta, Georgia; Livermore, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; Quonset Point, Rhode Island, and the pilots whom she trained. This series is arranged in the order of the series above.

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 [*].