Lucile Marie Hoerr Charles Papers, 1929-1987, 2005

(Manuscript Collection #105)

Title:	Lucile Marie Hoerr Charles Papers
Creator:	Charles, Lucile Marie Hoerr
Repository:	ECU Manuscript Collection
Languages:	English
Abstract:	Papers (1929-1987), including correspondence, articles, playscripts, and telegrams regarding the "Land of Plenty" radio broadcast series; writings on theatre in Moscow, etc.
Extent:	0.87 Cubic feet, 200 items , correspondence, articles, playscripts, course outlines and rolls, books, clippings, photographs, and miscellaneous materials.

Accessions Information

January 13, 1970, 4 items; Correspondence (1938-1939) and news notes.

January 20, 1970, 60 items; Correspondence (1935-1937), including letters from Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair, Sherwood Anderson, and Langston Hughes.

February 18, 1970, 15 items; Reports, minutes, recommendations.

October 14, 1971, 100 items; Correspondence (1929-1944), plays, radio scripts, clippings, miscellaneous.

June 30, 1972, 5 items; Books and articles.

May 30, 1980, 18 items; Playscripts, class rolls, programs, and miscellaneous materials. Gift of Dr. Ralph Hardee Rives, Greenville, N.C., and Mrs. Mildred H. Lysle, Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

January 7, 2004, (Unprocessed Addition 1); Collection (1983-1985) of correspondence, programs of Peninsula Women' s Chorus, and printed materials, including Women Beyond the Wire: The True Wartime Story of Women Imprisoned by the Japanese (From the creator of Tenko on BBC-TV), by Lavinia Warner & John Sandilands ISBN #0 600 20802 8 Feltham, England: Hamlyn Publishing Group, Ltd., 1982 Lavinia Warner & John Sandilands [2d reprint, 1983] 298 p. Donor: Dr. Ralph Hardee Rives.

July 7, 2006, (unprocessed addition 2), 1 item, 0.001 cubic feet; Biography (2005) of Lucile Marie Hoerr Charles, b. 1902 d. 1965, by Ralph Hardee Rives for publication in Chronicles of Pitt County, Volume Two; Photocopy typescript. Donor: Ralph Hardee Rives.

Access Restrictions

No restrictions

Copyright Notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.

Preferred Citation

Lucile Marie Hoerr Charles Papers (#105), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

Acquisition Information

• Gift of Dr. Ralph Hardee Rives, Greenville, N.C., and Mrs. Mildred H. Lysle

Processing Information

• Processed by J. Layne, February 1988

• Encoded by Apex Data Services

Dr. Lucile Charles was born in Chicago and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1930. During the 1930s she was coordinator of a radio drama series for the Columbia Broadcasting System. Between 1946 and 1953 Dr. Charles taught and was director of Dramatic Arts at East Carolina College. From 1953 until 1955 she studied at the Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland, as a Fulbright Fellow, after which she returned to ECU where she taught until her death on March 7, 1965.

The collection contains a number of letters (May-June 1929) from Dr. Charles, her mother, and brother, in diary form, from various places in England and France. Much of the correspondence (1935-1940) concerns her activity as coordinator of a radio drama series with CBS Radio. Included are letters, telegrams, and post cards to and from several noted playwrights, dramatists, and novelists concerning the radio dramatic series "The Land of Plenty" for which Miss Charles was coordinator. The "Land of Plenty" was a series of cultural and educational broadcasts with dramatic presentations on food, education, public health, and housing. Correspondence concerning the dramatic series includes letters from Sherwood Anderson, Leopold Atlas, Albert Bein, Stuart Chase, Evans Clark, Paul De Kruif, Martin Flavin, Willard E. Hawkins, James Langston Hughes, Alfred Kreymborg, John Howard Lawson, Sinclair Lewis, Albert Maltz, Leopold T.Osmon, Elmer L. Rice, Lynn Riggs, Upton Sinclair, and I. Keith Tyler. Numerous letters applauding the segment "Supply and Demand" by Irwin Shaw are also included. The radio series was terminated on May 13, 1938, by William Paley, president of CBS, despite favorable reaction from the public press.

The collection contains various writings of Dr. Charles's, including an article on the theatre in Moscow (1935-1936); a report containing suggestions for the establishment of a Drama Department at New College, Columbia University; an article "Drama Among Primitives and in our Schools" ; and an account of Dr. Charles's battle with Gullain-Barre disease (1961).

Various materials from East Carolina College include a copy of the pageant commemorating the first fifty years of East Carolina College; a mock-up from the News and Observer on the "Little Normal School that Grew Up" (1958); minutes from an English Department meeting (1963); course outline and class notes; student examinations from an acting and interpretation course (1961); photographs from two East Carolina productions, "Alice in Wonderland" (1950) and "Our Town" (1951); and a history of dramatics at East Carolina College (1946-1953).

Miscellaneous items include materials from the Teachers College Summer Session in Theatre at Yale University (1940); programs from European theatres; play and radio scripts; information on the Chinese theatre and the Chinese actor Mei-Lan-Fang (1930); and assorted newspaper and magazine clippings.

Books and publications include two compilations from the WPA Federal Theatre Project ( English Miracle, Morality, and Mystery Plays and Plays for Marionette Theatre) and Dr. Charles's book, The Story of Baby Sphinx and other Fables.

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Reading Room's card catalog. This system is no longer maintained, but it is left in place to help on-site researchers locate particular topics in the collection.

Geographic Entries :

• North Carolina, Greenville
• New York, New York

Autograph Entries :

• Anderson, Sherwood (10) 1936-1937
• Atlas, Leopold [L.] (3) 1936-1937
• Bein, Albert 1935
• Chase, Stuart 1937
• Clark, Evans 1938
• De Kruif, Paul 1937
• Flavin, Martin (6) 1935-1937
• Hawkins, Willard E. 1935
• Hughes, [James] Langston (4) 1936-1937
• Kreymborg, Alfred (3) 1935-1937, undated
• Lawson, John Howard (3) 1936
• Lewis, [Harry] Sinclair 1937
• Maltz, Albert (10) 1935-1937
• Morgan, Robert [Burren] 1971
• Osmon, Leo[pold] T. 1938
• Rice, Elmer L. (2) 1936-1937
• Riggs, Lynn (4) 1936-1937
• Sinclair, U[pton] 1935
• Tyler, I. Keith 1939

Subject Entries :

• BOOKS AND AUTHORS--Charles, Lucile Marie Hoerr
• BOOKS AND AUTHORS--Hawkins, Willard
• COMMUNICATIONS--Radio--1935-1939
• EDUCATION--COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES--Columbia University--New College
• EDUCATION--COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES--East Carolina University--1940s-1960s
• HEALTH AND MEDICINE--Diseases--Guillain-Barre
• THEATRE AND DRAMATICS--China--1930
• THEATRE AND DRAMATICS--Columbia University
• THEATRE AND DRAMATICS--East Carolina University
• THEATRE AND DRAMATICS--Educational Psychology
• THEATRE AND DRAMATICS--Radio Drama
• THEATRE AND DRAMATICS--Yale University--1940
• U.S.--DEPARTMENTS, COMMISSIONS, AGENCIES--Works Progress Administration--1930s

Date Entries :

• 1930-1939
• 1940-1949

Images below are listed alphabetically by subject. This list reflects only those portions of the collection for which negatives have been prepared.

EDUCATION--COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES--East Carolina University
Description: Teachers Playhouse
Location: 105/?
Date: 1951

THEATRE AND DRAMATICS--East Carolina University
Description: Teachers Playhouse
Location: 105/?
Date: 1951