Nef, Elinor Castle, 1894 or 1895-1953

Elinor Henry Castle Nef was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 28, 1894 to Henry Northrup Castle (1892-1895) and Mabel Wing Castle (1864-1950). Her grandfather, Samuel Northrup Castle (1808-1894), co-founded the influential firm Castle and Cooke. Her father was the youngest of nine children and a well-regarded political leader and editor of the Honolulu Pacific Commercial Advertiser and the Hawaiian Gazette. From 1889 to 1890, Henry was married to a German woman, Frida Steckner, with whom he had a daughter, Dorothy. Frida died in 1890, and Henry married Mabel Wing in 1892. Henry and Dorothy tragically perished in the January 1895 Elbe disaster, and Henry never met his second daughter, Elinor.

Following Henry's death, Mabel Wing Castle moved with her daughter from Hawaii to Europe, returning after 1911 to the United States for Elinor to attend school in Connecticut (Wykeham Rise School for Girls) and Massachusetts. During her early years at school and then at college, she was a prolific writer, corresponding frequently with her mother, friends and relatives back in Hawaii. In 1913, Elinor came to live in Chicago with her aunt, Helen Castle (1860-1929), and uncle, philosopher George Herbert Mead (1863-1931). In 1918, she was awarded the degree of Associate in Philosophy from the University of Chicago and afterwards took up French teaching. By this time her literary talents had already been recognized by people such as Conyers Read, Robert Morss Lovett, and Robert Herrick, all of whom are represented in letters in this collection.

In September 1921, she announced her engagement to John U. Nef, Jr. (1899-1988) who also lived as a member of the Mead household. George Herbert Mead was John's guardian, following the death of his parents in 1915. Elinor and John were married in November of the same year, and immediately left for France where John was to continue his studies. The young couple lived in Europe for five years, and remained devoted Francophiles for the rest of their lives.

In 1927, John was appointed to the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago, and became Professor of Economic History at the University in 1936. From then until her death Chicago was Elinor's home. While her husband was active in the University, especially as the chairman of the Committee on Social Thought from 1945 onwards, Elinor spent much of her time helping him and acting as hostess for their many distinguished guests. She was active in many fields: clubs, play-reading groups, and other organizations including both the University Renaissance Society and the Arts Club of Chicago.

Throughout her life, Elinor was an avid correspondent and writer. The short fiction and diaries of her youth developed in adulthood into autobiographical sketches, detailed recordings of conversations, and discursive essays. Above all, Elinor was an observer. She routinely recorded and reflected upon her conversations, correspondence, and personal reactions to world events and American culture in the twentieth century.

In 1938, she began seriously to compile and edit her letters, notes, and essays, envisioning a multi-volume work titled Letters and Notes. For the next fifteen years, she worked with multiple editors including her husband, Walter Ritchie, Edward Shils, Bruce Phemister, and Philipp Fehl in this endeavor. Ever curious and committed to improvement, Elinor continually revisited, reworked, and expanded upon her writings. She published only a few essays during her lifetime, including "Los Angeles Diary," for the book Essays in Honor of Conyers Read (University of Chicago Press, 1953). The remainder of her work, including one volume of her magnum opus, Letters and Notes, was published posthumously by John U. Nef, Jr. (Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1953). Selections from this work were later published by John in 1957 under the title In Search of the American Tradition (New York: University Publishers) to critical acclaim. Towards the end of both of their lives, Elinor also worked with her mother to record Mabel Wing Castle's memories. The result was an autobiographical booklet, My Mother's Reminiscences, privately printed by John in 1954.

Though her published work was relatively small, her unpublished output was enormous and the extent of her social influence cannot be quantified. The Nefs cultivated a wide circle of artistic and intellectual friends in the United States and abroad, many of whom remain important figures of the twentieth century. To name only a few: Nadia Boulanger, the French musician; pianist Artur Schnabel; Marc Chagall, the French painter whom Elinor addressed as Maitre; Professor William E. Dodd, who was the U. S. Ambassador to Germany for the years 1933-1937; the American historical writer Constance McLaughlin Green; Jacques Maritain, the noted Roman Catholic philosopher and Ambassador of France to the Holy See; the philosopher George Herbert Mead; the painter and art teacher Laura van Pappelendam who lived with Elinor's family for a time, and to whom Elinor wrote some of her most intimate letters, particularly during her trips abroad; the distinguished scholar and one-time president of the American Historical Association, Conyers Read; Arnold Schoenberg; Virginia Woolf, whom Elinor admired greatly; and also a host of persons associated with the University of Chicago, many of whose papers are in the University Archives. Correspondence with these individuals is found in Series II.

Elinor Castle Nef died of cancer on February 8, 1953. She is buried alongside her mother in Honolulu, Hawaii at Kawaiaha'o Church.

From the guide to the Nef, Elinor Castle. Papers, 1891-1966, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)