Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Margaret Powel-Smith diaries
Abstract
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Margaret Powel-Smith diaries
- Date
- 1942-1956 (inclusive)
- Creator
- Powel-Smith, Margaret
- Extent
- 0.24 Cubic Feet
- Subjects
- Britain -- Emigration and immigration
- Babysitting
- Connecticut
- Cooks.
- Diaries.
- Religion
- Virginia.
- Women household employees
- Women -- United States -- Social conditions.
- World War, 1939-1945.
- Women and the military.
- Carter family
- Largay family
- Powel-Smith, Margaret
- Arrangement
- Collection is arranged by format. The Wade Hall Collection of American Letters has been processed into discrete collections based on provenance.
- Preferred Citation
- 2009ms132.0241: [identification of item], Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Margaret Powel-Smith diaries, 1942-1956, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
- Repository
- University of Kentucky
Collection Overview
- Biography / History
- Margaret Powel-Smith was born in London on July 20, 1894, and was a domestic worker in Connecticut and Virginia in the 1950s.
- American Letters collector Wade Hall (1934-2015) was a native of Union Springs, Alabama. Starting in 1962, he lived in Louisville, where he taught English and chaired the English and Humanities/Arts programs at Kentucky Southern College and Bellarmine University. He also taught at the University of Illinois and the University of Florida. He held degrees from Troy State University (B.S.), the University of Alabama (M.A.), and the University of Illinois (Ph.D.). He served for two years in the U.S. Army in the mid-fifties. Dr. Hall was the author of books, monographs, articles, plays, and reviews relating to Kentucky, Alabama, and Southern history and literature. His most recent books include A Visit with Harlan Hubbard; High Upon a Hill: A History of Bellarmine College; A Song in Native Pastures: Randy Atcher's Life in Country Music; and Waters of Life from Conecuh Ridge.
- Scope and Content
- The Margaret Powel-Smith diaries (dated 1942-1956; 0.24 cubic feet; 5 folders) comprises five diaries that document the life of Margaret Powel-Smith as a volunteer with the British army during World War II and as a domestic worker for the Largay and Carter families in Connecticut and Virginia in the mid-1950s. Two diaries document Powel-Smith's experiences working as a volunteer with the British army during World War II, detailing duties, friends made, the experiences that led her to finding other work, encounters with difficult supervisors, and dealing with family. Included in the first of these two diaries are photographs of Powel-Smith's service and military IDs. The entries in the other three diaries describe Powel-Smith's impressions of American culture and history, dissatisfaction being employed by the Largay family, being treated as a babysitter for the Largay's children, and aspirations of finding employment that allowed her to utilize her cooking talents. She details tantrums thrown by the children, meals had and made, trips taken, and in the summer of 1955 she describes experiencing Hurricane Connie. Powel-Smith also writes about leaving the Largay family and searching for a new position, finding work with the Carter family as a cook, moving to Virginia, the new house she lived in, and cooking holiday meals for the Carter family. The diaries represent an English domestic servant's views on American life, religion, holidays, and her disillusionment with domestic work. Included in one diary are short articles submitted to magazines about her experiences as an English woman working for an American family.
- The Margaret Powel-Smith diaries collection is part of the Wade Hall Collection of American letters, which includes correspondence and diaries from all over North America covering the time period of the Civil to Korean Wars. The materials were collected by Wade Hall and document everyday men and women.
Restrictions on Access and Use
- Conditions Governing Access
- Collection is open to researchers by appointment.
- Use Restrictions
- The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
Contents of the Collection
UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center is open Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm. Appointments are encouraged but not required. Schedule an appointment here.
Researchers must have an SCRC Researcher Account to request materials. View account set-up and use instructions here.
Questions? Contact SCRC via our Contact Form.
Table of Contents
You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.
If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.
UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center is open Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm. Appointments are encouraged but not required. Schedule an appointment here.
Researchers must have an SCRC Researcher Account to request materials. View account set-up and use instructions here.
Questions? Contact SCRC via our Contact Form.
Requests
No items have been requested.
You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.
If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.
