MABEL ESTHER ALLAN PAPERS

de Grummond Children's Literature Collection
The University of Southern Mississippi

	Creator:	Mabel Esther Allan
	Title:	Mabel Esther Allan Papers
	Dates:	1915-1998
	Dates:	[bulk 1931-1993]
	Quantity:	4.80 cubic feet (19 boxes)
	Identification:	DG0015

Biographical Note

Mabel Esther Allan was born in Wallasey, Cheshire, England, on February 11, 1915, to James Pemberton Allan, a merchant, and his wife, Priscilla Hagon Allan. Educated at disappointing dame schools, Miss Allan took no interest in her lessons but enjoyed only reading in the library and composing short stories and novels. From the age of eight, she intended to become an author. After completing her education in 1932, Miss Allan taught folk dancing classes for the English Folk Dance and Song Society while submitting stories and novels for publication. She failed to publish any adult pieces, but found unexpected success at selling short stories for children. She sold her first book for publication, Grim Glen Castle, in 1939, but it was not published because of the outbreak of war. During World War II, Miss Allan served as a farm worker in the Women's Land Army, a teacher in a preparatory school, and a nursery warden for the children of factory workers.

Miss Allan submitted Grim Glen Castle to another publisher in the spring of 1945. It was published in 1948 as The Glen Castle Mystery. Deciding to commit herself to writing for children, she wrote her second published novel, The Adventurous Summer, in the autumn of 1945. Over the subsequent twenty-five years, Miss Allan produced an abundant number of novels. She wrote adventures, mysteries, and romances for older girls, all following conventional attitudes and subject matters. The only exception to her conformity appeared in her school stories, which embraced progressive educational tenets like coeducation, student self-discipline, and schoolchildren's participation in running their schools. Miss Allan also sold about 330 short stories between 1936 and 1957. She first traveled abroad in 1948, beginning a practice that contributed heavily to her writing by providing new settings and experiences to use in her novels. In addition to various Continental locales, Miss Allan had a special fondness for New York, Paris, and the Celtic areas of the British Isles.

During the decade of the 1960s, Miss Allan became established as a top-selling children's writer. She especially became known for her series of Drina books. Written under the pseudonym of Jean Estoril, the eleven volumes follow a young dancer from her schooling to her becoming an internationally famous ballerina. Miss Allan also published under the pseudonyms of Priscilla Hagon, Anne Pilgrim, and Kathleen M. Pearcey. Her writing changed in the 1970s with a new focus on religious disbelief, familial dysfunction, sexual feelings in young people, and the women's suffrage movement in the early twentieth century. During the 1980s, Miss Allan had a series of fiction and non-fiction works privately printed. She composed an informal autobiography in two volumes, while other books recounted her travel experiences and published some of her early poetry and school stories. Miss Allan published over 170 books for children and young adults over her literary career. She died in 1998.

Sources:
Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults, ed. Laurie Collier and Joyce Nakamura (Detriot: Gale Research, 1993), 1:70-73.
To Be An Author: A Short Autobiography by Mabel Esther Allan (Privately printed, 1982).

Scope and Content Note

The Mabel Esther Allan Papers contain manuscripts, typescripts, galleys, correspondence, photographs, programs, certificates, broadsides, publications, and catalogs created and accumulated by Mabel Esther Allan between 1915 and 1998. Miss Allan's papers were created from her composition of twelve published books; five privately printed volumes of short stories, poems, and autobiography; and eight unpublished novels, short stories, and essays. The material is organized into three series: literary works, correspondence, and personal papers.

The papers in the literary works series are organized into four subseries: published works, privately printed works, unpublished works, and other literary material. In each of the first three subseries, the papers are arranged alphabetically by title and the material for each composition is arranged chronologically in order of creation when known. Mabel Allan frequently composed new typescripts on the reverse of typescript pages of books that already had been published; consequently, some typescripts bear fragments of the typescripts of earlier works. Miss Allan also provided several notes explaining the origins of certain works for the benefit of the de Grummond Collection staff. Because she wrote on adhesive labels, these notes have been photocopied and filed with the appropriate pieces.

Mabel Esther Allan's correspondence details facets of the writing, editing, and publication of around 130 books and innumerable articles and short stories. She organized her correspondence primarily by title, but sometimes sorted letters by correspondent. Her organization has been retained, but the files have been arranged chronologically by date of publication. Files created for particular correspondents have been interspersed at suitable sites in the chronology. Letters frequently refer to more than one title, so users interested in a certain book should consult both the file specific to the title as well as other files of similar date. Letters are arranged chronologically within each file with undated letters placed at the rear of the file. Prominent among the correspondents are Miss Allan's literary agents, Innes Rose and Vanessa Holt, at John Farquharson, Ltd. Miss Allan received letters in English, French, German, and Japanese.

The personal papers series is organized into seven subseries: autobiographical material, Gaelic interest, folk dancing, wartime and postwar service, Phyllis Eileen Williams, photographs, and correspondence with the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection. Materials that Miss Allan accumulated from her association with the English Folk Dance and Song Society are unseparated and arranged chronologically, except for photographs. The prints, which span the years 1934-1939, are mostly undated and impossible to arrange chronologically. Materials from Miss Allan's wartime service and postwar agricultural work, as well as her correspondence concerning Phyllis Eileen Williams, an orphan, are all arranged chronologically. Miss Allan organized some of her photographs by subject or locale. These bundles have been retained while the remaining prints have been divided between candid photographs and portraits. All photographs are arranged roughly chronologically within their divisions. Finally, the pieces of correspondence with the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection were selected and photocopied from the correspondence file of the de Grummond Collection because they provide information on Miss Allan's literary views and habits. They are arranged chronologically.

Restrictions

Restrictions on Use

Noncirculating; available for research.

Copyright Restrictions

The collection is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code). Reproductions can be made only if they are to be used for "private study, scholarship, or research." It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials, other than that noted above.

Related Material

For an illustration from Romansgrove (1975), see the Gail Owens Papers (DG0756); for the dust jacket for Dancing to Danger (1967), see the Susanne Suba Papers (DG0954)

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item and cite the series), Mabel Esther Allan Papers, de Grummond Children's Literature Collection, University of Southern Mississippi Libraries.

Provenance

These papers were donated to the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection of the University of Southern Mississippi Libraries by Mabel Esther Allan between 1966 and 1998.

Processing Information

Processed by Hans Rasmussen, November 2001. Encoded into EAD Version 1.0 by Danielle L. Bishop. This finding aid is the product of a grant funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Container Listing

Contact:
The de Grummond Children's Literature Collection
The University of Southern Mississippi
118 College Drive, #5148
Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001
(601) 266-4349
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