Fuller, Elizabeth Belser. Elizabeth Belser Fuller papers, 1926-1998.
Title:
Elizabeth Belser Fuller papers, 1926-1998.
Consisting chiefly of scrapbook, photographs, and letters documenting Fuller's association with Town Theatre, ca. 1926-1952, as leading actress, designer of theatre bills and scenery, costume and make-up artist, business manager, and member of the board of directors. A small file of miscellaneous correspondence holds four congratulatory letters, 1927-1931, from Columbia, S.C., school superintendent A.C. Flora (1885-1971) and two lengthy, informative ones from friend and colleague Frank Durham (1913-1971), a USC English professor, who on 4 July 1958 wrote her while on a lectureship in South Australia., "People here are hospitable - to the point of exhaustion. I think they like individual Americans, but their feeling toward the U.S. is a mixed one - envy & contempt - envy of our wealth & power & contempt for our soft & easier living, which they tell themselves they wouldn't like (because they can't have it)." Additional items reflect her work with the University of South Carolina's Palmetto Players, 1931-1932 and her academic career at USC, including her membership in Phi Beta Kappa (Alpha Chapter) and the Delta Delta Delta sorority; samples of her art work include an original oversized watercolor rendered for Town Theatre's 1946 production "Elizabeth, the Queen," depicting actress Ruth Hope in the title role, wearing a costume designed by E.B. Fuller. Verso: copy of ribbon, "First Premium - South Carolina State Fair... 1948." Also including illustrated notecards demonstrating her work as a botanical artist; and matted pen-and-ink drawing, "Smythe house, Pelzer, S.C." 1970, depicting home constructed ca. 1890 for Ellison Adger Smyth, (1847-1942), an executive of the Pelzer Manufacturing Company (Pendleton, S.C.). Fuller completed this drawing for a publication produced for Anderson County's Tricentennial celebration. The collection documents E.B. Fuller's involvement with the Richland County Department of Public Welfare during the period of 1941-1942, and includes a comment on discrimination against women in the workplace. In a handwritten letter of 1 Dec. 1941 addressed to "Mrs. Moreton and Mrs. Belser," both departmental workers on study leave in Chicago, Charlotte Stevenson (1902-1983) of the office of the Richland County Department of Public Welfare reported, "Ruth Barber and I are taking the N.C. Exams.... I am second in the State on the old Employment Office exam I tried, but judging by the others who hold those ratings, I'll never get an offer. Miss Bradley resigned after her marriage, and Mr. Dean gets her place. He doesn't have the qualifications, but he does wear pants. Really, I don't see why Negroes howl so about discrimination, and women say nothing." Another file pertains to the Children's Bureau of South Carolina, 1942-1962, and reveals that Mrs. Fuller's association with this organization, first as a field worker and later as a member of its board of directors. A few items, 1942-1988, also reflect her interest in the Mental Hygiene Society of Richland County as it evolved into the Mental Health Association in Mid-Carolina.
ArchivalResource:
72 items.
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/39398033 View
View in SNAC
