CLAUDINE HARRIS (1926- )
PAPERS, 1903-2003
3.5 linear feet
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ACQUISITION: |
The Claudine
Harris papers (donor no. 654)
were donated by Claudine Harris in 1999 and subsequent years. |
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ACCESS: |
The papers are open
for research. |
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COPYRIGHT: |
Copyright held by the donor has been transferred to the University of Iowa, with the exception of the personal writings, for which the donor retains copyright during her lifetime. |
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PHOTOGRAPHS: |
In Box 9. |
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PROCESSED BY: |
Stacy Ross, 2001. |
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REVISIONS: |
Janet Weaver, 2003. [HarrisClaudine.doc] |
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Biography
Claudine (Maroni) Harris was born in Paris, France, on December 10, 1926, the daughter of Valentine (Meyer-May) and Robert Maroni. She had two brothers: Yves, born August 31, 1920; and Jacques, born January 9, 1923. Her grandparents, Albert and Dona Maroni, and Paul and Yvonne Meyer-May, were all French. Claudine Harris attended a number of schools in France and the United States. Her early education was in France. She had one year of secondary school remaining when her immediate family came to the United States in 1941 during the Second World War and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Claudine Harris graduated from Cambridge High and Latin School in 1942.
Accepted at Radcliffe College, she received her B.A. degree in physics in 1946. There followed a year as Instructor in Physics at Simmons College, in Boston. She then returned to Harvard University to pursue graduate work in physics and received an M.A. in 1949. She married James Lee Harris on January 1, 1954. Jim (born January 6, 1920 in Richmond, Virginia, died September 20, 2001, in Iowa City) was the son of Janet (Sharp) and James Davis Harris. Claudine and Jim Harris began life together in Cambridge, where their two children were born: Gregory, November 21, 1954 and Nicole, June 5, 1956.
Harris began her professional career working in radiation detection instrumentation, first as a research assistant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Radioactivity Center, while she was still a student; then with Tracerlab, a Boston company, where she headed a team developing Geiger counters from 1949 until 1953. When she left Tracerlab, she sought work as a technical editor. She worked in that capacity at the MIT Lexington Laboratory until her son was born. She stayed home to raise the children until 1963, when she returned to employment outside the home. From then on, until her retirement from paid jobs in 1993, she was employed in various forms of technical writing and editing, sometimes on a part-time basis, sometimes as a freelancer, and eventually full-time for twenty-one years until her retirement.
From 1963 to 1967, she held several part time jobs in Cambridge. After completing graduate studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Jim Harris had begun a practice in architecture and urban planning in Cambridge. In 1967, he joined the faculty at the University of Iowa to develop the Graduate Program in Urban and Regional Planning, and the family moved to Iowa City.
During her first years in Iowa, Claudine Harris free-lanced for the University of Iowa Press, doing a large number of book indexes, and taking on occasional short editing jobs for faculty members. After the children left for college, she returned to full-time work as a technical writer at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC), first for the State Services for Crippled Children (SSCC), a program partly funded under Title V of the Social Security Act. She wrote grant applications for clinical research projects in areas related to child disabilities, and reports to the granting agencies, the state of Iowa and the UIHC. In 1981, she joined the Information Systems Department of the UIHC where she wrote a variety of materials documenting computer applications for hospital administration and financial management and coordinated the development of a multi-media public information display. At the time of her retirement in December 1993, she was a Senior Application Specialist (Technical Writer).
Until her children finished school and left for college, Claudine Harris devoted herself to the family and to volunteer activities, while occasionally taking on book indexing and short editing jobs for the University of Iowa Press. A major volunteer activity during that period was as editor of the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Johnson County’s monthly newsletter, the Voter. She had been a member of the LWV since 1961 when she lived in Cohasset, Massachusetts.
She served on the LWV of Johnson County board of directors and participated in a county study. Other volunteer posts were with the Cardinal Council of Girl Scouts and the Unitarian Universalist Society of Iowa City. She also participated in the consultation of Religious Communities and was a director of the Iowa City Area Science Center. In 2001, she returned to the board of the LWV.
In 1985, Claudine Harris had joined the newly-forming chapter of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill (AMI) in Johnson County, which later became the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) and, from that time, advocacy for mental illness services became the main focus of her volunteer activities. She served NAMI in numerous capacities in the county and in the state. She was president of NAMI of Johnson County from 1990 to 1992, and of NAMI Iowa from 1992 to 1996. She served as legislative chair of NAMI Iowa from 1992 to 2001. Her work with NAMI led her to participate in a number of task forces and committees concerned with making changes in the mental health services delivery system in the state of Iowa. She served in 1992 and 1993 on a Restructuring Task Force established by the state legislature to recommend improvements in the mental health care delivery system.
Beginning in 1991, she served several terms on the Iowa Mental Health Planning and Advisory Council, which reviews the state mental health plan and recommends allocations of the federal mental health block grant received by the state. She was a governor's appointee to the State-County Management Committee (SCMC) representing consumers and advocates for mental health, mental retardation and developmental disabilities. This committee reviewed county management plans for mental health and disability services and developed recommendations to the governor concerning allowable growth and related issues in regards to mental health services. She has participated in coalitions working to improve mental illness services in Iowa, to monitor the state’s managed care plan for mental health services, to eliminate stigma and discrimination, and to bring parity insurance coverage for mental illnesses to the state.
Scope and
Content Note
The Claudine Harris papers date from 1903 to the present and measure 3.5 linear feet. The papers
are arranged in six series: Biographical, Personal
Writing, Family Writing and Recipe
Books, Correspondence, Professional, and Volunteer Activities.
The Biographical
series contains information and artifacts about Claudine Harris’ childhood, education
and social life primarily dating from the 1930s-1950s. Within this series are her baby book and her
school records from grade school in France through her master’s degree from
Radcliffe College. Also included is her
application for graduate school at Radcliffe in 1947, which contains a
statement written by Harris about her educational interest in Nuclear Physics.
Much of the Personal
Writing series is
autobiographical in nature and reflects various periods of her life. A spectacular example of this is the one page
she wrote describing her reaction and the reactions of her classmates to the
bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Some of
the material in this series and the Family Writing series, originally written in
French, was translated into English by Claudine Harris.
The Family Writing and Recipe Books series is rich in information about
the Maroni family as well as the family of Claudine Harris’ husband, Jim
Harris. Writings by Claudine Harris’
parents and a collection of poetry and essays by Jim Harris’ mother, Janet S.
Harris, are included. Recollections, the memoirs of Claudine
Harris’ brother Yves Maroni, and Looking Over My Shoulder, the memoirs of
Claudine Harris’ mother Valentine Maroni, complement other biographical
information in the collection. The World
War Two experiences of Claudine Harris’
brother, Jacques Maroni, are documented in his 1940 journal. This series also contains the handwritten
recipe books of Claudine Harris’ mother and her maternal grandmother Yvonne
Meyer-May.
The Correspondence
series consists mostly of letters written during World War Two. The letters to Claudine Harris from her
mother span the period 1943 to 1946.
Correspondence between Claudine Harris and her brother Jacques Maroni
during his service in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946 is included. This series also contains letters from
Claudine Harris’ great uncle Hippolyte Dreyfus to his family in France during
his extensive travels in the Middle East and Asia from 1903 to 1925 on behalf
of Baha’I causes and during travels to the United States and North Africa. A few of the letters were written by
Hippolyte Dreyfus’ wife Laura Barney.
The Professional
series documents Claudine Harris’ employment history from 1948 to 1999,
including her job searches and freelance work.
Copies of her resumes are contained in this series. A large part of this series pertains to
Harris’ employment at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
The Volunteer
Activities series relates primarily to Harris’ involvement in the Johnson
County and Iowa chapters of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill (AMI). Included
are correspondence, newspaper articles, writings by Claudine Harris, the tenth
anniversary history (1985-1995) of AMI of Iowa and advocacy information
pertaining to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) of Johnson
County and NAMI Iowa.
Box no. Description
Box 1
Biographical
Baby book and growth charts
Concert programs- Radcliffe Choral
Society and others, 1943-1946
Dance Programs, 1936 and 1939
Datebooks, 1940-1946, 1948-1953 (2
folders)
Diploma and Degrees [one is stored in
oversized materials]
Driver’s licenses and permits- French
and international, 1949
Education
France, 1936-1941
United States, 1941-1942
Radcliffe College
France Trip: Datebook, maps, and
guidebook, 1949
German warplane silhouettes (magazine
clipping), c. 1939-1940
Immunization and childhood illness
records
Maine Summer Camp: Les Chalets
Francais, 1942-1943
Medical Information
Membership cards (non-professional)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
convocation, 1949
Naturalization information, 1948
Passport, 1949
Personal Income Summary, 1943-1953
Photographs
Photography awards, 1986-1987
Postcard of ship on which Claudine and parents traveled to United States, 1941
Professional memberships
Personal
Writing
Autobiographical writings
Journals
1941 journal entry in French with
English translation
1940s or 1950s
Box 2
Poetry
1936-1953 First Poetry Notebook
1940-1947 Sonnet Notebook
1951-1952 Poetry and sketches,
New Hampshire
Poetry (loose sheets)
Poetry (selections and
translations)
Sketches, 1945-1946
Philosophy club notes, 1946
Short stories
1950 “The Mysterious Atom”
1952 “High Hopes, Hard Work, and
Skill”
1972 “Bubbles”
1976 “Young Iowa Pediatricians…”
Miscellaneous notes (undated)
Music (undated)
Family
Writings and Recipe books
Harris, James L. (husband of Claudine
Harris)
1937 English composition
Harris, Janet S. (mother-in-law of
Claudine Harris)
Correspondence with publisher
Essays and prose
Notebook and news clippings
Poetry
Wildflower Preservation Society
records, 1920s and 1930s
Recollections, 1999
Maroni, Jacques (brother of Claudine
Harris)
Photocopied portions of World War
II journal, 1940 and translation
Maroni, Robert (father of Claudine
Harris)
Franchise, 1919
Translation of Franchise (“Frankness”) by Claudine
Harris, 1997
Maroni, Valentine (mother of Claudine
Harris)
Lire et Dessiner, 1962
Looking Over My Shoulder, 1967
Family recipe books
Meyer-May, Yvonne (maternal
grandmother of Claudine Harris)
Dinner date book, 1895-1923
Recipe Book
“Personal Recipes”
(translation of Recipe Book by Claudine
Harris)
Maroni, Valentine
Recipe book (started 1941)
Correspondence
Dreyfus, Hippolyte (great-uncle of
Claudine Harris)
1903-1914
Box 4
1919-1925
Translation of these letters by
Claudine Harris, 1997
Hippolyte
Dreyfus Sa vie son oeuvre, published by l’Assemblée
Spirituelle
Nationale des Bahá’ís de France, 1996
1936-1937 Miscellaneous
1944-1946 (3 folders)
Translation of these letters by
Claudine Harris
Box 5
1942-1944 Summer Camp Friends
1943-1945 Miscellaneous
1945 Lanzl, Elizabeth Farber (friend of
Claudine Harris)
1945, 1949 Guipet, Marie “Neon” (Maroni
family nanny in France)
1949 Maine Summer Camp (letters home)
1949 Trip to France
1994-1999 Christmas Letters
Miscellaneous, undated
Professional
Resumes, 1969-1998
1944-1947 Employment
1947-1949 Radioactivity Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1949 Job Search
1949-1953 Tracerlab, Boston
1953 Job Search
1953-1954 Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
1963 Job Search
Box 6
1964-1967 Harvard Computation Lab
1965-1967 Freelance employment
1970s Freelance editing
1972 League of Women Voters
publications (C. Harris co-wrote)
Youth Emergency Shelter brochure (C.
Harris co-wrote)
Conference Translation from French to
English, 1971
1972-1981 Job Searches
1972-1980 Selected Freelance employment
1976 Iowa Commission on the Status of
Women logo
University of Iowa Hospitals and
Clinics
1972-1993 General Employment
Records
1972-1981 State Services for
Crippled Children (SSCC)
1973 Classroom Approach to
Language Development for
Mentally Retarded
Children (2 folders)
1973 Maternal and Child
Health and Crippled Services
1974 Narrative Report and
Supplements, fiscal year 1974
1974 Job Description
1955-1975 Rheumatic Fever
Program Final Report
State Services for Crippled
Children (cont.)
July 1, 1975-June 30, 1976
Clinical Research in Mental
Retardation Narrative
Report
1936-1976 Historical
Information/news clippings
Box 7
March 1, 1977 Recipes for
Hearty Appetites
1978 State Plan
April 1, 1964- June 30,
1978 Follow Up Care of High Risk
Infants, Final Report
1978 Scoliosis
1980 Restoration of
Function to Congenitally Deformed Hands
Coronary Heart Disease
Prevention in Children
Correspondence
Drafts
Newsletters
Pamphlets
Projects (C. Harris worked
on)
Publications
Referral Guides
1981-1993 Information
Systems
1994 Retirement
Awards and Miscellaneous
Items
Correspondence
Touch Display Kiosk
brochure
Box 8 Volunteer
Activities
Alliance for the Mentally Ill (AMI)
Johnson County
Hospice Road Race, 1989-1990
Correspondence
Opinion/Editorial New
Releases
“I’m Still Here” Film
correspondence and publicity, 1997
Mental Health/Developmental
Disability Services, 2000-2002
Advocacy, 1988-2001 (2
folders)
Awards and “Thank You’s”
Correspondence
History, 1985-1995
Legislative Chair,
1999-2000
Newsletters, 1993-1995
Opinion/Editorials and News
Articles
Programs for Assertive
Community Treatment, 1998
State Committees
Talks and Presentations
Tenth Anniversary, 1995
Correspondence on
University of Iowa Benefits Policies on
Mental Illness,
1994-1996
Writings, 1992-1996
Miscellaneous, 1999-2003
Photographs