ESTHER J. WALLS (1926- )
PAPERS, 1860s-1996 and
undated
(bulk
dates 1944-1996)
1.75 linear feet
and audiovisual material
|
ACQUISITION: |
The papers
(donor no. 393) were donated by Esther J. Walls in 1996. |
|
ACCESS: |
The papers
are open for research. |
|
ARTIFACTS: |
In |
|
AUDIOVISUAL: |
One videocassette shelved in videocassette collection (V180). |
|
COPYRIGHT: |
Copyright has been
transferred to the |
|
PHOTOGRAPHS: |
In |
|
PROCESSED BY: |
James Zachary Henshaw,
1997, and Kathryn M. Neal, 1998. [WallsEsther.doc] |
Biography
Esther Jean Walls, librarian, administrator, and
educator, was born to Eldist (E.S.) and Jewette Walls on May 1, 1926 in Mason City, Iowa. In 1944, Walls graduated from Mason City High
School, the valedictorian of her class.
She attended Mason City Junior College before transferring to the State
University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa), where she majored in romance
languages with a minor in education. She
was the first African-American female student at the State University of Iowa
to be elected to the Alpha of Iowa Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and was a member
of Phi Sigma Iota, an honorary Romance Languages fraternity. She graduated summa cum laude in 1948 with a
B.A. Although she found no teaching
positions open to her in Mason City, Walls did secure employment at the Mason
City Public Library. She went on to
attend Columbia University, where she received an M.S. in Library Science in
1951.
Walls began working for the New York Public Library in
1950 and held various professional assignments, including serving as director
of the North Manhattan Library Project and as head of the Countee
Cullen Regional Library. From 1965 to
1970, Walls worked for the non-profit international publishing organization
Franklin Book Programs, Inc. She served
as program officer, supervising and administering activities in Asia, Africa,
and Latin America. She also served as
director of Book and Library Services, assistant director for Africa, and
director of Adult New Literates Project.
Walls was elected director of the
United States Secretariat for the International Book Year 1972. In this capacity, she coordinated the
activities of the U.S. Secretariat, an agency established to promote the United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)-sponsored
year during which all member states of UNESCO focused attention on the role of
books and related materials. Her other
duties included lecturing, writing, and stimulating interest in the International
Book Year through education, promotion, and publicity.
In 1973, Walls became head of the Teachers Central
Laboratory at Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY). She served as associate director of Libraries
at the State University of New York (SUNY) in Stony Brook from 1974 until her
retirement in 1988. Walls served as
chairperson of the International Relations Committee of the American Library
Association (ALA) and as a commissioner and member of the executive board of
the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO.
She also served as vice president of the United States Committee for
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
Walls traveled extensively in Africa, Asia, and
Latin America as a consultant on books, libraries, and women’s activities and
lectured to business, professional, and educational groups. Throughout her career, she focused on issues
pertaining to youth literacy, both in the United
States, with particular focus on the urban environment, and abroad, with
particular focus on African nations. She
has publicly addressed issues relating to the African-American experience in
the United States and the role of women in society.
Scope and
Content Note
The Esther J. Walls papers date from the 1860s to 1996 and measure 1.75 linear feet, plus audiovisual
material. The papers are
arranged in five series: Biographical material, Correspondence,
Writings, Photographs, and Scrapbooks.
The bulk of this collection documents Walls’s
educational and professional activities from 1944 to 1996.
The Biographical material series (1946-1996 and undated) includes dance
cards and programs that Walls collected as a college student. Messages from her then-boyfriend and names of
bands at the dances are found within these memento booklets. Bandleaders, such as Woody Herman and Tex Benke signed some of these items. The series also includes material that
reflects Walls’s participation in International
House, a New York-based organization devoted to promoting peace, an open
exchange of ideas, and international understanding. Additional material in this series includes
journal and newsletter articles in which Walls was featured, transcripts of two
interviews with Walls, and a videotaped interview with Walls.
The Correspondence series (1949-1991 and undated) contains greeting
cards, correspondence, invitations, and programs. Walls received some of the greeting cards
from acquaintances who were affiliated with the United Nations. The correspondence includes letters received
by Walls in connection with her student life and with her professional
career. Of particular note are two
letters written to Walls by Des Moines attorney S. Joe Brown in 1949. In one letter, Brown, a State University of
Iowa alumnus who was the first African American man to be elected to the Alpha
of Iowa chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, congratulates Walls on becoming the first
African-American woman to attain the honor.
The correspondence relating to the Franklin Book Programs consists of
letters and schedules associated with Walls’s trips,
primarily to Africa, to promote literacy.
The series also includes correspondence, arranged chronologically, from
authors such as Chinua Achebe
and Phyllis A. Whitney, bandleader Lawrence Welk, and
television broadcaster Hugh Downs.
Invitations to and programs from various events held both in the United
States and in various African countries are also included in this series.
Featured in the Writings series (1944-1980 and undated) are essays written by Walls
when she was a student, her published articles, professional reports, and
speeches. The student essays include
biographies of two African-American women whom Walls knew while growing up in
Mason City. Elderly at the time that
Walls wrote the essays during the 1940s, each woman had direct ties to
slavery. In a course paper dating from
the same period, Walls describes having been a young African-American woman
reared in a predominantly white city.
Topics examined in the professional reports include public libraries,
youth literacy, vocational education, African literacy and libraries, book
procurement, and African-American history.
In her speeches, Walls addressed such subjects as the role of
African-American women in society and in librarianship.
The Photographs series (1860s-1994) include photographs and color
photocopies of photographs. They feature
members of Walls’s family, including a color
photocopied image of ancestors who were homesteaders in Kansas that dates
approximately from the 1860s. Walls’s grandparents and parents are also featured in
photocopies of photographs that date from approximately the 1890s and early
1900s. The series also consists of images of Walls as
a college student, as a librarian, and as a promoter of literacy around the
world. Included among these photographs
are images of Walls and the other women who integrated Currier Hall at the
State University of Iowa in 1946 and images of Walls with nationally and
internationally known authors, photographers, and performing artists.
The Scrapbooks series (1971-1972) includes two volumes documenting the
International Book Year 1972, during which Walls served as director of the U.S.
Secretariat. Pamphlets, flyers, and
articles describe the efforts to promote International Book Year, particularly Walls’s participation.
Related
Collections
Virginia Harper papers.
Virginia Harper was one of
the women who integrated Currier Hall
dormitory with Esther Walls at the
State University of Iowa (now the
University
of Iowa).
Box no. Description
Box 1
Biographical material
Awards, appointments, and resumes, 1958-1996 (scattered) and
undated
Certificates, 1974, 1982 [shelved in
map case: drawer 10]
Dance cards and programs,
1946-1948
International House, 1949-1951
Interviews
Transcript of dissertation research interview with Esther
J. Walls conducted by Miriam Braverman, and related
correspondence, August-September 1972
“Speaking Volumes,” radio program transcript, undated
Videotaped interview with Esther J.
Walls, October 1986 (VHS, 23 mins.) [shelved in videocassette collection: V180]
Journal and newsletter articles
1957-1965
1970-1972
1974-1993
Newspaper clippings, 1951-1991 and undated
Correspondence
Cards, 1960-1969 (3 folders)
Franklin Book Programs
Trip 1, December 1965-August 1966
Trip 2, August 1966
Trip 3, April-May 1967
Trips 4, 6, and 8, May 1968-1970
General
1949 (includes letters from attorney S. Joe Brown)
1950-1959
1960-1969
Box 2
1970-1974
1975-1979
1980-1988
Prominent figures, 1955-1991 (scattered) and undated
Mordvinoff, Nicolas, autographed
program, 1955
Whitney., Phyllis A., 1958
Erlich, Lillian (Mrs. John), 1963
Miller, Michael M., 1972
Welk, Lawrence, 1972
Jeffries, Susan, 1974
Downs, Hugh, 1984
Prominent figures, 1955-1991 (scattered)
and undated
Hamilton, Antonia W., 1991
Ives, Burl, autographed program, undated
Achebe, Chinua,
undated
Panteleone, Helenka,
undated
Invitations and programs
1959-1965
1966-1978 and undated
Writings
Student essays, 1944?-1946
“Stella Penny,” 1944?
“She Climbed the Hills [Carrie N. Reeler],”
1945
“My Racial
Inheritance and Its Effect on My Personality,” 1946
Publications
1963
1971-1972
1973
1980
Reports
1956?-1958
1964-1968 and undated
1970
1971-1972
Box 3
Speeches
1959 and circa 1959
1963, 1969
Undated
Photographs
Family life, 1860s-1994
Student life, 1946-1951
Professional life, 1963-1973
Includes photographs of:
Achebe, Chinua
Bennett, Tony
De Carava, Roy
Ginsburg, Allen
Jones, Leroi (Amiri Baraka)
Kelley, William
Killens, John
Lomax, Louis
Milford, Nancy
Box 4
Oversize:
Scrapbooks
International Book Year 1972 (no. 1), 1971-1972
Box 5
Oversize:
Scrapbooks
International Book Year 1972
(no. 2)