Helen C. Bragdon papers
Scope and Contents
The Helen Bragdon Papers include letters to her family in Larchmont (NY) providing a detailed account of the day-to-day routine of a WAAC detachment, with particular emphasis on social activities. She wrote regularly from her basic training in Florida through her stateside service in Texas and Georgia, and her overseas tours of duty in Australia, New Guinea, Netherlands East Indies, and the Philippines. The letters are supplemented by several photographs and a small selection of newsletters from Fort Bliss and overseas. Additional material includes correspondence, clippings, photographs, and programs related to her theater activities, circa 1930s-90s.
Dates of Materials
- 1937-1993
Creator
- Bragdon, Helen C. (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for use without restriction beyond the standard terms and conditions of Smith College Special Collections.
Conditions Governing Use
The Sophia Smith Collection owns copyright to the unpublished works by the creator of this collection. Copyright to materials created by others may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. Permission must be obtained to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use." It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.
Biographical / Historical
Helen "Casey" Cushman Bragdon was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She studied drama at Smith College and graduated in 1933. She was an actor in summer stock in Wisconsin, coached drama, and joined the Actor's Workshop in New York City. In 1943, Bragdon joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACS). She was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, and was in the first contingent of WAACS sent to the Southwest Pacific in 1944. Returning to New York after the war, Helen Bragdon continued her work in summer stock, wrote plays ("Almost Crazy," l955) and lyrics, and contributed in various ways to musicals off and on Broadway. In the late l960s, she moved with her mother from Connecticut to North Carolina, where she was active in summer theater for a number of years. She died in Arden, North Carolina, 6 January 1998.
Extent
0.667 linear feet (2 containers)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Actress; Playwright; Women's Army Corps, World War II. The Helen Bragdon Papers include letters to her family from her basic training in Florida, her stateside service in Texas and Georgia, and overseas tours of duty in Australia, New Guinea, Netherlands East Indies, and the Philippines. Additional materials include correspondence, clippings, photographs, and programs related to her theater activities.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The collection was donated by Doris Cook in 1988-2005.
- Actresses
- Blue, Lee Abbott
- Bragdon, Helen C.
- Newsletters
- Programs
- Travelers' writings
- United States -- Armed Forces -- Women -- Personal narratives
- United States. Army. Women's Army Corps--Personal narratives
- War
- Women and the military -- United States
- Women in the theater
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American
- clippings
- correspondence
- photographs
Source
- Cook, Doris E. (Person)
- Title
- Finding aid to the Helen C. Bragdon papers
- Status
- Minimum Finding Aid (Completed)
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Amy Hague
- Date
- 2005
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Revision Statements
- 07/26/2017: This resource was modified by the ArchivesSpace Preprocessor developed by the Harvard Library (https://github.com/harvard-library/archivesspace-preprocessor)
- 2017-07-26T17:48:13-04:00: This record was migrated from InMagic DB Textworks to ArchivesSpace.
- 2018-10-25: Updated to conform to DACS
Repository Details
Part of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History Repository
