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Manuscript Collection

Collection Title: Emilie Blackmore & Marie Graham Stapp Papers

Collection Number: DG0933

Inclusive Dates: 1879-1980 [bulk 1910-1956]

Volume: 24.27 cu. ft. (75 boxes)

Provenance : Material was donated by the Stapp family in 1968.

Copyright: 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.

Biographical Sketch:

At the turn of the century when most women were expected to stay home and raise families, Emilie Blackmore Stapp chose a different path.  Stapp found her calling as a teenager when she was given the opportunity to write for her hometown newspaper.  Spanning more than half of the 20th century, her writing career endured through World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and beyond, but the written works of Emilie Blackmore Stapp are not the only legacy left by this pioneering woman.

Emilie Stapp was born in Madison, Indiana.  The exact year of Stapp's birth is in dispute.  A recent article published in The Iowa Heritage Illustrated states that she was born in 1872; the Library of Congress records her birth date as 1876; and her passport dated April 15, 1910 lists her age as 27 which would place her date of birth in 1883.   

Her father, David Wilbur Stapp, and his wife, Carrie Blackmore, moved their family consisting of Florence, Hal, Fred, Emilie and Marie to Des Moines, Iowa in 1883.  D. W. Stapp "came to Des Moines during the 80s to engage in the wholesale boot and shoe business."    

Stapp's mother died sometime near her high school graduation. "Much to my disappointment, I was forced to abandon all hope for a college training at the conclusion of my High School course. My mother's death at that time made me the home-maker for brothers, younger sister, and a father many years my mother's senior." After the marriage of sister Florence to William O. Finkbine, the Stapp home was sold, and Emilie, Marie and D. W. moved in with the couple who also resided in Des Moines. 

D. W. Stapp adored children.  His kindness toward young people probably planted the seed for Emilie that cultivated into a life-long concern for the welfare of children.  D.W. Stapp known to children as Father Stapp surrounded himself with young people walking the children of the neighborhood to and from school, and every Saturday he invited a group of his young friends to the theater. 

To help with the financial support of her family, Stapp went to work in 1904 as an associate editor with a weekly paper, The Mail and Times. In 1908, The Mail and Times' offices closed, and Stapp then joined the staff of the Des Moines Capital.  As editor of the literary page "With Books and Their Authors," Stapp's duties included "interviews, feature stories..., editorials, literary criticism, and a signed book page."

During these years, Emilie was also writing books for children.  Her first title, Bread and 'Lasses: Sketches of Child Life was published in 1902.  This was followed by The Trail of the Go-Hawks in 1908; in 1912, Uncle Peter Heathen, a novel based on Stapp's father; and The Squaw Lady in 1913 continued the saga of the Go-Hawks.

The last book in her Go-Hawk series, Little Billy Bowlegs, published in 1916 was inspired by the newspaper boys or "newsies."  These boys worked closely with Stapp, and she felt a need to help these rag-a-muffins who came from poor backgrounds.  Two of these boys were Robert Sherwood and David Miller.  Stapp and her sister Marie "adopted" Sherwood and Miller funding their college tuition.  Miller became a successful lawyer and businessman in Des Moines, and Sherwood became an attorney.  Both kept in touch with the Stapp sisters until Emilie's death.

In 1913, a young boy named Jimmie, who was terminally ill and confined to a wheelchair, wrote to Stapp.  He was a fan of The Go-Hawk series.  His letter prompted a visit from Stapp.  During her talk with Jimmie, he told Stapp, "if I could only be in somebody's tribe, but nobody would want me for an Indian."  From this meeting, the Go-Hawks' Happy Tribe movement was founded.  Stapp added a daily feature to her column just for children entitled "The Happy Tribe."  Membership in the organization was open to anyone who performed at least one act of kindness per day.  "To make the world a better place" was chosen as the group's motto.  The Tribe would eventually gain a membership of over 80,000 children and adults.  Two prominent adults of the "Go-Hawk Tribe" were James Whitcomb Riley, Big Chief of the United States, and Rudyard Kipling, Big Chief of England. 

When the United States became involved in World War I, Stapp knew her children would want to help.  The Go-Hawks had already donated pennies to help feed poor children in Des Moines.  On July 4, 1917, the governor of Iowa sent out a proclamation for the "Happy Tribe Million Penny War Fund" to help war orphans in Belgium. The governors of Texas and Alabama followed with similar proclamations.  Pennies began pouring in immediately.  Stapp was decorated by both France and Belgium for distinguished service.  Penny donations continued until 1921. Stapp's diary entry for April 2, 1921 states: "Last day of work in Des Moines -- Little brown office crowded all day with children to say good-bye -- Have gone over the top with Million Penny War Fund...closing with 4 million - 3 hundred thousand - 892 pennies.  Happy Tribe Peter now leads to Boston."

At this time, Stapp left her friends at The Capital to take the position of Children's Editor with the Houghton Mifflin Syndicate Bureau in Boston.  Accompanied by her younger sister, Marie, who worked for a rival newspaper in Des Moines, Stapp began a new life in Boston.  The "Happyland Page" targeting the six to twelve year olds contained a one-act play each month; a continuing story; simple crafts for boys to make in "Peter's Workshop"; for the girls "Polly's Cook Book"; "Nuts to Crack" featured puzzles and riddles for the reader to solve; "The Guide Post", a list of six books per week recommended by juvenile librarians; an original poem; letters to "Happy"; and art work.  The page became an instant success appearing in over thirty newspapers across the country. 

Her "Happyland Page" surely kept Stapp busy, but she still found time to co-author a series of plays entitled Happyland's Fairy Grotto Plays with Eleanor Cameron in 1922.  The Houghton Mifflin Company published these in a one volume work while the Walter H. Baker Company marketed them separately.

The Happy Tribe's philanthropic work continued in Boston.  In 1923 in cooperation with the Junior American Red Cross, the World Neighbor Club was formed.  The purpose of the club was to "establish friendly relations between children of the different countries" and "to found libraries in various countries through which the children could learn the English language."  In a thank you letter, a student from The Albanian Vocational School writes to the Go-Hawks:  "We thank you very much for the kindness you have done the Albanian children, and we thank you also very much for the books you send (sic) to us.  We will never forget our best friends of America, and we will try to repay these good deeds you are doing."

Stapp continued her work with the Syndicate until February 1925. She resigned "due to ill health and withdrew the page for I was convinced four years of that experience was enough."

After her break with Houghton Mifflin, Stapp penned her only book aimed at an adult audience in 1928, The Little Streets of Beacon Hill. The book was issued as an art project in the M. L. Olsson Art series and was illustrated with six etchings by Jeannette Stewart. 

Her poetry appeared in such renowned children's publications as Little Folks Magazine, John Martin's Book, St. Nicholas, Youth's Companion, and The Christian Science Monitor.  In 1931, she authored a series of poems appearing under the caption, "From My High Window," for The Christian Science Monitor.  Her poems and stories appeared regularly on the "Children's Page" throughout the 1930s.  Also in The Christian Science Monitor during this period, she wrote the popular serial, "Penny Wise," which was published as a book in 1935.  Another source of writing for Stapp was the Hyde Park School for Little Children in Chicago.  The school, run by a cousin, put on an annual play, and Stapp wrote a number of these plays for the students of Hyde Park.

While still in Iowa, Stapp had purchased forty acres of land two miles east of Wiggins, Mississippi.  Her brothers, Fred and Hal and their families, had been living in Mississippi for a number of years.  Fred and Hal Stapp managed the Kew Mercantile Stores for the Finkbine Lumber Company located in D'Lo and Wiggins. 

In 1921, Stapp proposed to her brother a plan to build a house and pecan farm to be known thereafter as the Friendship Farm.  In a letter written to her brother-in-law, William O. Finkbine, dated May 27, 1923, Stapp expressed her excitement upon seeing the completed house:  "I never could tell you how I felt when we drove out to the Farm when I remembered the day I rode in the red wagon out to see a small orchard of what looked like switches -- and stood...on that knoll and tried to visualize it for them as I saw it.  I remember saying, "Laugh if you must but someday there will be a pretty home here surrounded by well-kept orchards"...There was a lump in my throat as we drove in and saw everything beautifully neat -- indoors and out."

In 1934, Emilie and Marie Stapp moved into the Cape Cod cottage and made Wiggins, Mississippi their permanent home. Since leaving Houghton Mifflin, Stapp had devoted her entire time to creative writing and "as this could be done as easily in one part of the country as another," they decided to move to the warmth of southern Mississippi to be near family.

The Finkbines established their lumber business in south Mississippi around the turn of the century, and gave much support to their communities.  In 1909, Dr. Laurence Jones, who had been a fellow student with W. O. Finkbine at the University of Iowa, founded the Piney Woods School near D'Lo. W.O. and E.C. Finkbine donated 800 acres to this agricultural boarding school for African Americans.

In 1912 when most of the pine had been cut, the Finkbines did not pack up and abandon the people of Wiggins.  Instead, they encouraged farmers to plant cucumber crops.  This was the beginning of the American Pickle and Canning Company, which became the largest pickle plant in the country, earning Wiggins the title "Pickletown, USA."

Emilie and Marie carried on the benevolent tradition of the Finkbines. On December 28, 1932 while still in Boston, the sisters and their niece Dorothy Finkbine deeded twelve acres and the Finkbine Club House to the Women's Club of Wiggins in memory of William O. Finkbine.  Eight acres of this land was later leased to the city by the Women's Club for a recreational park.

Soon after their arrival, the sisters became involved in the activities of Wiggins. Emilie and Marie donated over 4,000 books to establish the first lending library in the county.  Books were free to members, and the general public paid dues of fifty cents. The sisters helped staff the library and conducted story hours for the local children.

By 1936, their "Dolls' House" was open to the public.  A collection of over 400 dolls from around the world were given to the Stapp sisters by friends, and they wanted to share them with "all adults with memories and all children with hope."

Because the Stapp sisters never had the opportunity to go to college themselves, they helped a number of young people attain the goal of a university degree.  One such person was Ethel Evans, their housekeeper's daughter.  Evans received a partial scholarship to the Piney Woods School.  The sisters paid the rest of her expenses.  Evans graduated from Piney Woods and went on to Tuskegee Institute in Alabama where she earned a degree in art.  Upon graduation, she returned to the Piney Woods School as an instructor and helped to send her eight younger siblings through the program.

Emilie & Marie Stapp also built Wiggins a new post office.  The old post office was an eyesore.  So, they had a 25 x 60 foot post office built which they rented to the city. The fixtures were of "solid oak and the boxes of the latest government design" to make up a "post office that we all can be proud of" according to then postmistress, Mrs. Baker.

As busy as the Stapps' lives were, Emilie still found time to write.  In 1939, she convinced Charles E. Howe, owner of the Winslow Press, to publish her story of Isabella the Wise Goose. Able to lay golden eggs whenever she had a mind, Isabella was a goose revived from folklore.  Isabella the Wise Goose is an imaginative tale with supporting characters such as Miss True Blue, the Happies, and Lady Daffodil who share Isabella's land of make-believe. The book was well received by critics of the day.  Favorable reviews appeared in Horn Book, The New York Times Book Review, and The Boston Herald to name a few.  But, Isabella was destined for more than simply a literary success.

On October 28, 1942, the United States Treasury Department and the Holy Cathedral Book Club of Chicago sponsored an autographed book party.  That night with such dignitaries as Carl Sandberg and Alvin C. York in attendance, a copy of Isabella the Wise Goose sold for $800.  Along with Isabella and other books, an original Lincoln letter and an autographed Kipling book sold to raise $283,000 in war bonds and stamps. Soon after, Isabella was commissioned to sell war bonds on her own.  Just as she did during the First World War, Stapp gave children and their parents a chance to help in the war effort.

Isabella's Victory Flight was launched in 1942.  She "traveled" from city to city selling war bonds and holding colorful press conferences.  Actually, the bonds were sold through a letter campaign conducted by Stapp.  These requests were sent on stationery with a reproduction of Isabella created by illustrator, Forrest Orr, listing her address as Isabella's Victory Flight Headquarters, The Dolls' House, Wiggins, Mississippi.  These friends of Stapps' made generous contributions and by word of mouth spread the news about the Victory Flight. Isabella participated in four bond drives.  Her highest sales records came in the 8th Victory Bond campaign raising a total of $710,403. From her small cottage in rural Mississippi, Emilie Stapp raised a total of $3,339,429. She published Isabella's Big Secret in 1946 telling the "adventures" of Isabella's war work.

Stapp felt her publisher, Charles Howe, was not doing his part to promote the fourth Isabella book, Isabella, Queen of Gooseland. She wrote to Howe on May 4, 1949:  "We are sure you realize that books, no matter how delightful we think they are, will not sell themselves without publicity...I am most eager to know what your plans really are, Chubb, to publicize these books."  Sending out publicity folders and letters to hundreds of department stores, public libraries, and school systems, Stapp and Howe must have felt that the fourth book was a success because the partnership between the two continued until 1952 with a total of six Isabella books published including:  Isabella the Bride, Isabella's Goose Village, and Isabella's New Friend.

Isabella's New Friend was to be Emilie Stapp's last published work.  In the mid-1950s, the arthritis that had plagued her for years confined her to bed until her death in 1962.  Her beloved sister Marie had passed away in 1960.

The young newspaper woman from Des Moines proved that one person can make a difference. Through her work, she quietly improved the lives of hundreds of children without demanding notoriety.  Emilie Blackmore Stapp lived up to the Go-Hawk motto "to make the world a better place."    

Sources:

  • Harrison, Alferdteen B.  Piney Woods School: An Oral History.  Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1982.
  • Noun, Louise Rosenfeld. "Emilie Blackmore Stapp and Her Go-Hawk Happy Tribe: A World War I Children's Crusade." The Iowa Heritage Illustrated, Winter 1996: 172-190.
  • Rausch, Emilie Stapp.  Telephone interviews.  12 April 1997, 3 May 1997 and 12 May 1997.
  • Stapp, Emilie and Marie.  Papers.  de Grummond Children's Literature Collection, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Scope and Content:

The Emilie Blackmore and Marie Graham Stapp Papers consist of five series and multiple subseries which give an excellent representation of the sisters' eclectic tastes and interests. The five series in the arrangement are: published works, periodical publications, unpublished works, subject files, and miscellaneous files.     

The Published Works Series is divided into books, plays, and edited children's pages from newspapers.  The books subseries contains typescripts, research notes, correspondence and galleys for fourteen titles. The materials are arranged alphabetically by title, and within each title the materials are arranged in the probable order in which they were created. The correspondence is also separated by title. The plays subseries contains correspondence, reviews, publisher catalogs, and publicity for seven titles. The materials are arranged alphabetically by title, and within each title the materials are arranged in the probable order in which they were created. The last subseries in the published works series is Emilie Stapp's edited children's pages from various newspapers. The two newspaper sections represented are the Go-Hawks Happy Tribe pages, which cover the years 1910-1922, and the Happyland pages, which existed from 1920 to 1925.

The second series is the Periodical Publications Series. This series features literary works written by the sisters for various periodicals in the early 1920s. Materials are separated into verse, serialized stories, and children's stories.

The Unpublished Works Series is the third series in the Stapp Papers arrangement and consists of correspondence, research, and typescripts for three unpublished books in the first subseries. The second subseries contains correspondence, typescripts, programs, and publicity for twelve plays, while the third subseries has correspondence and typescripts from unpublished poetry. Also included in the unpublished works series are short stories, creative writing assignments, and miscellaneous typescript pages from unidentified writings.  

The largest and most diverse series is the Subject Files Series, and is a true indication of the many areas that held the Stapp sisters' interest. Subject files encompass the following subseries: personal materials; professional correspondence; Go-Hawks' Happy Tribe materials; Isabella's Victory Flight; Dolls' House/Friendship Farm; Good Will Dinners; Wiggins, Mississippi; civic activities; Marie Graham Stapp; family members; friends & acquaintances; diaries; photographs; clothing; and dolls.

The personal materials subseries holds the biographical materials for Emilie and Marie, including articles, passports, and travel logs.  Also included are Emilie Stapp's personal diaries from 1939-1957, financial records, business cards, notes, and scrapbooks.

The Go-Hawks' Happy Tribe subseries is a particularly interesting group of materials.  It contains the correspondence (i.e. a letter from Rudyard Kipling), scrapbooks, resolutions, rules, publicity, and promotional materials for the organization.  Also included among these materials is the information on the Million Penny Drive, various state proclamations, and ephemera from benefits and charity dinners.  Documents and information on the Albanian Library Project and the Iowa War Memorial are the last two parts of the Go-Hawk subseries.

Isabella's Victory Flight materials include correspondence, publicity, scrapbooks, and "golden" wooden eggs featuring sales figures used during the war bond promotion. Items included in the Dolls' House/Friendship Farm subseries are correspondence, publicity, doll registry and guest books, and account ledgers for Friendship Farm sales.

The civic activities subseries consists of information on charitable causes and the Stapps civic involvement in activities within their adopted state of Mississippi. The first public library in Wiggins, MS, the Piney Woods School, and various women's clubs are represented through these materials.

The Marie Graham Stapp subseries gathers the writings, correspondence, notes, and sketches of the youngest Stapp sister in one section.  Other family members have their own subseries as well, where correspondence, obituaries, articles, diaries, and photographs are housed together.  The same types of materials from non-family members are arranged alphabetically by surname in the friends and acquaintances subseries.

Another interesting subseries is the one reserved for miscellaneous diaries and scrapbooks.  Included here is the diary of ten-year-old Amelia Siedler, a young pioneer girl traveling to Arkansas with her parents in 1895. Also included are the diaries of Fanny Dickerson for the years 1862 and 1863. The last item in the subseries is an 1867 scrapbook created by Mary Florence Taft, who was a cousin of President W.H. Taft who went on to become a Doctor of Homoeopathic Medicine in Boston.

The photographs subseries contains images of the Stapps along with family members & acquaintances, Go-Hawk photographs, play performances, etc. The clothing subseries contains articles of clothing belonging to the sisters, including two Japanese kimonos which were given to them by friends who traveled to Japan.

The last subseries in the subject files series features the Stapps extensive holding of dolls, each of which was given to them by friends and acquaintances for their collection. These dolls were permanently displayed at the Dolls' House at Friendship Farm in Wiggins, MS until the death of the sisters in the 1960s.  Each doll has been described and numbered for easy identification. Information on where the doll came from is included when known.

The Miscellaneous Files Series is the last Stapp Papers series. This consists of the artwork, ephemera, travel information, research and general miscellaneous subseries.  The artwork is described with all information that is known about the piece at the time of processing. Postcards are divided into Mississippi-related and general pieces.  The travel subseries contains brochures, menus, and maps collected by the Stapps and others from various locations.  The research subseries holds regular and oversize newspaper and magazine clippings on random subjects that the Stapp sisters found interesting.  Most of these were probably clipped by Marie. The general miscellaneous subseries holds various items that do not fit anywhere else in the arrangement.  The de Grummond Collection subseries consists of articles about the Stapp Papers held at the de Grummond Collection as well as the exhibition materials used in the Stapp doll display in the 1970s. 

 

Series and Subseries:

A. PUBLISHED WORKS

1. BOOKS

"Go-Hawks" series:

  • LITTLE BILLY BOWLEGS (1916)
  • THE SQUAW LADY (1913)
  • THE TRAIL OF THE GO-HAWKS (1908)
  • UNCLE PETER, HEATHEN (1912)

"Isabella the Goose" series:

  • ISABELLA, QUEEN OF GOOSELAND (1948)
  • ISABELLA, THE BRIDE (1947)
  • ISABELLA, THE WISE GOOSE (1940)
  • ISABELLA'S BIG SECRET (1946)
  • ISABELLA'S GOOSE VILLAGE (1950)
  • ISABELLA'S NEW FRIEND (1952)

Other Titles:

  • BREAD AND 'LASSES: SKETCHES OF CHILD LIFE (1902)
  • THE GOLDEN FLUTE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY FOR YOUNG CHILDREN (1932)
  • PENNY WISE (1935)
  • STORIES FROM THE WEST (1946)

2. PLAYS

  • HAPPYLAND'S FAIRY GROTTO PLAYS (1922)
  • THE HOLLY WREATH: A PLAY IN ONE ACT FOR CHILDREN (1922)
  • THE LITTLE GRAY LADY: A PLAY IN ONE ACT FOR CHILDREN (1922)
  • THE LOST FIREWOOD: A PLAY IN ONE ACT FOR CHILDREN (1922)
  • MOLLY'S NEW YEAR'S PARTY: A PLAY IN ONE ACT FOR CHILDREN (1922)
  • MR. FEBRUARY THAW: A PLAY IN ONE ACT FOR CHILDREN (1922)
  • THE TADPOLE SCHOOL: A PLAY IN ONE ACT FOR CHILDREN (1922)

3.  CHILDREN'S PAGES EDITED BY E. B. STAPP IN NEWSPAPERS

 

B. PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS

1.  VERSE

2.  SERIALIZED STORIES

3.  CHILDREN'S STORIES

 

C. UNPUBLISHED WORKS

1. BOOKS

2. PLAYS

3.  VERSE

4.  OTHER WRITINGS

5.  UNIDENTIFIED WRITINGS

 

D. SUBJECT FILES

1.  PERSONAL MATERIALS

2.  PROFESSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE

3.  GO-HAWKS' HAPPY TRIBE   

4.  ISABELLA'S VICTORY FLIGHT

5.  DOLLS' HOUSE / FRIENDSHIP FARM

6.  GOODWILL DINNERS

7.  WIGGINS

8.  CIVIC ACTIVITIES

9.  MARIE GRAHAM STAPP MATERIALS

10. FAMILY MEMBERS

11.  FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES            

12. DIARIES

13.  PHOTOGRAPHS

14.  CLOTHING

15.  DOLLS

 

E. MISCELLANEOUS FILES

1.  ARTWORK

2.  EPHEMERA

3.  TRAVEL

4.  RESEARCH

5.  GENERAL MISCELLANEOUS

6.  DE GRUMMOND COLLECTION

 

 


Processed: September 1998
Revised October 2012; August 2015

 


Created by: Mary H. Hamilton & Danielle L. Bishop
Prepared and maintained by
University of Southern Mississippi Libraries de Grummond Children's Literature Collection
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Revised: June 15, 2017