Taylor, Irene S. (1902-1989), Papers, 1891-1986 (C1220)
1.4 linear feet
INTRODUCTION
The papers of Irene S. Taylor, a journalist from St. Joseph, Missouri, who worked for several news organizations in Paris, France, in the 1930s, consist of correspondence, photographs, and articles, and records from her service in the U.S. Army in the 1940s and 1950s.
DONOR INFORMATION
The Irene S. Taylor Papers were donated to the University of Missouri by Taylor on 16 April 1985 (Accession No. 4627). Additions to the papers were made on 11 June 1985 (Accession No. 4641), 11 June 1986 (Accession No. 4718), 20 April 1987 (Accession No. 4771), 26 February 1988 (Accession No. 4833), and 25 May 1988 (Accession No. 4848). The papers are part of the National Women and Media Collection.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Irene Tilka Silverstein was born on 28 May 1902 to William and Bella Stone Silverstein in St. Joseph, Missouri. She received her Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri in 1924 and then moved to East St. Louis, Illinois, where she wrote a weekly column for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and edited Expansion, the monthly publication of the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce.
In 1927 Silverstein married Edmond L. Taylor of St. Louis. They had a son, William, in 1928 and a daughter, Caroline, in 1930. Caroline died in 1940.
The Taylors moved to Paris, France, in 1929 where Irene wrote a column for the Post-Dispatch about St. Louisans abroad and Ed headed the Chicago Tribune’s bureau. In addition Irene worked as a stringer for the Paris bureaus of the Chicago Tribune, New York Herald-Tribune, New York Daily News, and United Press and as Eric Severeid’s assistant at CBS. She covered the Windsor wedding in 1938, fashion shows, news from the Spanish Civil War, and the evacuation of Americans from France in 1939 and 1940.
In 1936 the Taylors divorced but remained on good terms. Ed went on to become a member of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Planning Board and served that organization in India during World War II. He wrote a number of books on the Cold War including, Strategy of Terror and spent the remainder of his life in France.
Taylor returned to the United States on the last ship out of France before the Germans took Paris and worked in New York as Woman’s Editor for United Press Radio and as an assistant to Adelaide Hawley for CBS Radio.
She joined the Women’s Army Corps in 1943 and worked as a public information specialist during the war. In 1948 she trained for counter intelligence work and was sent to Austria to screen refugees and edit intelligence reports. In 1952 Taylor returned to the United States and wrote and edited a history of the OSS.
She returned to Europe in 1955 to again screen refugees in Austria. She retired from the Army in 1956 with the rank of major but continued to work as an intelligence analyst for the Army in Italy until 1960.
Taylor moved to Washington, D.C., and got a job editing BUSANDA NEWS, the organ of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, U.S. Navy, from 1962 to 1967, in addition to being assistant editor of Aging, a publication of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
She retired to Columbia, Missouri, in 1967 in order to earn her Master’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri. She did not complete the program but continued enrolling in courses that were of interest to her. An avid supporter of Missouri athletics, Taylor was the first woman to join the Quarterback Club and attended countless football and basketball games, both at home and on the road. She also volunteered at Truman Veterans Hospital, editing their publication, the Vet Gazette, for nearly 10 years.
Taylor died on 2 September 1989.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The Irene S. Taylor Papers consist of correspondence, photographs, articles, and records from her service in the U.S. Army in the 1940s and 1950s. The papers are arranged into four series:
The Articles series consists mainly of stories she wrote for various news organizations during the 1930s and 1940s, such as the wedding of the Duke of Windsor, Leni Riefenstahl’s rift with Joseph Goebbels in 1937, Paris fashion shows in 1940, and the evacuation of Americans from France at the beginning of World War II.
Taylor got an exclusive when a German U-Boat threatened to torpedo the ship on which Taylor and her children were returning to America in 1940. Taylor managed to acquire a copy of the messages sent between the captains of the two boats while passengers were boarding the life rafts.
This series also contains stories and newsletters she worked on for the Army in the 1940s and copies of Aging and the Vet Gazette, both of which she served as editor. Photographs taken in conjunction with some of these stories are scattered throughout this series including some of Britain’s royal family.
The Correspondence series contains letters written to Taylor from her many acquaintances and relatives. A friend of hers once noted that Taylor collected people like others collected stamps. Nowhere is this more evident than in her correspondence. She befriended Charles Lindbergh and fellow pioneer aviator, Bud Gurney, in the 1920s and went barnstorming with both of them. She remained close friends with Gurney and an aeronautical engineer, Ray Higgenbotham, who worked for Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Company. Their correspondence would be of interest to anyone studying aviation in the 1920s.
Correspondence after World War II consists mainly of letters from Taylor’s son, ex-daughter-in-law, and their children as well as former colleagues from her days in France. These colleagues include her ex-husband, Edmond Taylor, and Paddy King, who covered the war from Vichy, France, and later worked at the CIA.
Taylor also corresponded frequently with historians Ariel and Will Durant while they were working on The Story of Civilization. Many references to the work are made in these letters.
The Photographs series spans eight decades and mostly contains pictures of Taylor’s family and friends. Of special interest are pictures of Charles Lindbergh and Bud Gurney, one autographed by Gurney, and an autographed picture of Leni Riefenstahl.
The Subject Files series includes biographical materials, poems and writings by Mary Paxton Keeley, Taylor’s military records, publicity clippings, and a photograph and booklet from the 50th Reunion of the University of Missouri’s class of 1924. This series also contains ration cards from France in 1940 and travel permits and identification papers Taylor used in 1939 and 1940.
FOLDER LIST
| f. 1 | Windsors, 1937-1938 |
| f. 2 | Marie Ducret, 1938 |
| f. 3 | Duels, 1938 |
| f. 4 | Duchess of Kent, 1939 |
| f. 5 | 1930s |
| f. 6 | 1940 |
| f. 7 | 1943-1945 |
| f. 8 | 1940s |
| f. 9 | 1960s |
| f. 10 | Vet Gazette, 1971-1981 |
| f. 11 | Vet Gazette, 1982; n.d. |
| f. 12 | 1920s |
| f. 13 | 1932-1938 June |
| f. 14 | 1938 July-1939 June |
| f. 15 | 1939 July-December |
| f. 16 | 1940-1941 |
| f. 17 | 1942-1947 May |
| f. 18 | 1947 July-1949 |
| f. 19 | 1950-1953 |
| f. 20 | 1954-1956 |
| f. 21 | 1957 |
| f. 22 | 1958-1959 |
| f. 23 | 1960-1961 |
| f. 24 | 1962-1963 |
| f. 25 | 1964 |
| f. 26 | 1965 |
| f. 27 | 1966 January-June |
| f. 28 | 1966 July-1967 March |
| f. 29 | 1967 April-August |
| f. 30 | 1967 September-December |
| f. 31 | 1968 January-July |
| f. 32 | 1968 August-1969 February |
| f. 33 | 1969 March-October |
| f. 34 | 1969 November-December |
| f. 35 | 1970 January-August |
| f. 36 | 1970 September-December |
| f. 37 | 1971 |
| f. 38 | 1972 January-August |
| f. 39 | 1972 September-December |
| f. 40 | 1973 January-June |
| f. 41 | 1973 July-December |
| f. 42 | 1974 |
| f. 43 | 1975 January-July |
| f. 44 | 1975 August-1976 March |
| f. 45 | 1976 April-October |
| f. 46 | 1976 November-1977 May |
| f. 47 | 1977 June-October |
| f. 48 | 1977 November-1978 |
| f. 49 | 1979 |
| f. 50 | 1980 |
| f. 51 | 1981-1982 |
| f. 52 | 1983-1986 |
| f. 53 | n.d. |
| f. 54 | n.d. |
| f. 55 | Fragments, n.d. |
| f. 56 | 1900s-1910s |
| f. 57 | 1920s |
| f. 58 | 1930s |
| f. 59 | 1940s |
| f. 60 | 1950s |
| f. 61 | 1960s |
| f. 62 | 1970s |
| f. 63 | 1980s |
| f. 64 | Awards and Certificates |
| f. 65 | Biographical and Personal |
| f. 66 | Mary Paxton Keeley Writings |
| f. 67 | Military Service |
| f. 68 | Miscellaneous |
| f. 69 | Miscellaneous |
| f. 70 | Publicity Clippings |
| f. 71 | Travel Permits |
| f. 72 | University of Missouri |
INDEX TERMS
These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.
- Aeronautics, 1920s
- Aging
- Airplanes, 1920s
- Breckinridge (Troop Transport)
- Bullfights, 1958
- Cookery
- Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Corporation
- Czechoslovakia-History-1938-1945
- Dance cards, 1890s
- Drug abuse
- Dueling
- Durant, Ariel (1898-1981)
- Durant, William James (1885-1981)
- Eisenhower, Dwight D. (1890-1969)
- Europa (Passenger Liner)
- Fashion shows-France
- Gurney, Harlan ( -1982)
- Harry S Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital, Columbia, Missouri
- Higgenbotham, Ray
- Houses-Missouri, St. Joseph
- Keeley, Mary Paxton (1886-1986)
- Kent, Duchess of (1906-1968)
- Kent, Duke of (1902-1942)
- King, Herbert G. (1908-1981)
- Leech, Charles A.
- Lindbergh, Charles A. (1902-1974)
- Lynch, Francis J. (1896-1951)
- Lynching-Missouri, Columbia
- Mandalay (Passenger Liner)
- Martin, Frank L. (1881-1941)
- Miller, Webb (1892-1940)
- Missouri, Columbia
- Missouri, St. Joseph-Houses
- Missouri, St. Joseph-Urban renewal
- National Women and Media Collection
- Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973)
- Pope Paul VI (1897-1978)
- Prohibition-Missouri, Columbia
- Queen Alexandra (1844-1925)
- Queen Mary (Passenger Liner)
- Reuben James (Destroyer)
- Riefenstahl, Leni (1902- )
- Riefenstahl, Leni (1902- )
- Rippstein, Edwin
- Robinson, Bill (1878-1949)
- Saturnia (Troop Transport)
- Schooling, Bess ( -1977)
- Schooling, Herbert W. (1912-1987)
- Scovern, George
- Silverstein, Bella Stone (1861-1934)
- Silverstein, Harris W. (1904- )
- Silverstein, William (1861-1926)
- Simpson, Wallis Warfield (1896-1986)
- Spain-History-1936-1939, Civil War-Atrocities
- Stone family
- Stone, Samuel
- Taylor, Caroline Newman
- Taylor, Edmond L. (1908- )
- Taylor, Gail
- Taylor, Irene S. (1902-1989)
- Taylor, Rufus L. (1910- )
- University of Missouri, Class of 1924
- University of Missouri, Class of 1924, 50th Reunion
- University of Missouri, Columns
- University of Missouri, Homecoming Parade, 1970s
- University of Missouri, Quarterback Club
- University of Missouri, School of Journalism--25th Anniversary
- University of Missouri--Basketball
- University of Missouri--Football
- Urban renewal-Missouri, St. Joseph
- Vet Gazette
- Washington (Passenger Liner)
- White, Pearl (1889-1938)
- Williams, Walter (1864-1935)
- Windsor, Edward, Duke of (1894-1972)
- Windsor, Edward, Duke of (1894-1972)
- Women journalists
- Women, 1940
- Women's Guide to Columbia, 1975
- World War, 1914-1918-Espionage
- World War, 1914-1918-Poetry
- World War, 1914-1918-Red Cross
- World War, 1914-1918-Reminiscences
- World War, 1914-1918-Soldiers
- World War, 1939-1945-Attitudes toward, 1939
- World War, 1939-1945-Concentration camps
- World War, 1939-1945-Cooks
- World War, 1939-1945-Destroyers
- World War, 1939-1945-Evacuationof civilians
- World War, 1939-1945-France, Paris
- World War, 1939-1945-France, Vichy
- World War, 1939-1945-Germany-Occupation of
- World War, 1939-1945-Great Britain
- World War, 1939-1945-Identification cards
- World War, 1939-1945-Massachusetts, Fort Devens
- World War, 1939-1945-Naval operations-Submarine
- World War, 1939-1945-New York Port of Embarkation
- World War, 1939-1945-Ration cards
- World War, 1939-1945-Recreation
- World War, 1939-1945-Transportation
- World War, 1939-1945-Women
- World War, 1939-1945-Women's Army Corps
- Yorkshire (Passenger Liner)