Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. 7.6 lin. ft. (7 record cartons, 1 archival box, 11/2 archival box)

Summary

1. The Ellen Tarry Papers consist primarily of Tarry's writings and her involvement in projects pertaining to Blacks and Catholicism. The Alphabetical File series, 1940-1999, includes research files along with personal and professional correspondence. The correspondence files include letters concerning her writings and activities related to the Catholic Church, among them a 1953 letter from Mary McLeod Bethune asking for Tarry's assistance in writing a column regarding the Church.
2. There is correspondence between Tarry and John Cardinal O'Connor, then Archbishop of New York, and several priests pertaining to Pierre Toussaint, a Haitian slave brought to New York City by his owner, ca. 1787. The correspondence deals with the elevation of Toussaint to Venerable, a step toward sainthood proclaimed by Pope John Paul II in 1996 and the efforts of the Office of Black Ministry in the Archdiocese of New York to canonize him. Additional records concerning Toussaint in this series consist of Tarry's research material and the 1993 testimony given in Rome regarding the efforts to have him beatified and canonized.
3. Tarry also authored a book for teenagers, "Katharine Drexel: Friend of the Neglected" (1960) based upon the story of this Philadelphia heiress who founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and provided schools and social services for African Americans and Native Americans. Files discuss Drexel's beatification at the Vatican in 1988 and Tarry's meeting with Pope John Paul II as a member of the committee on Drexel's beatification. The transcript of an interview with Tarry conducted by a doctoral student in 1988 is in the folder "Publishers."
4. There are two files concerning Tarry and Baroness Catherine de Hueck Doherty's work at Friendship House, a Catholic outreach center promoting interracial friendship in Harlem; related matters are also discussed in the correspondence.
5. The Writings series, 1939-1997, contains a small number of Tarry's published articles, including a few of her journalistic articles (1939-1965). The bulk of this series consists of manuscripts for published books, unpublished book manuscripts, and unpublished short works. The manuscript for her published children's book "Hezekiah Horton (Gets His Wish)" (1942) and for "The Other Toussaint" can be found here as well as manuscripts for two unpublished books: "A Home for Dixie" (1980s), a fictional work concerning a black journalist who left New York to return to her home town in Birmingham where she covers the civil rights movement, and "Memories of Alabama and the Twentieth Century: Diary of a Weary Foot Soldier," focusing on Tarry's family and church life at the beginning of the twentieth century (1996). There are also a large number of short manuscripts which relate various aspects of Tarry's experiences, a few are fictionalized stories and some are biographical stories about well-known African Americans. Her poems also form part of this series.
6. The series Datebooks, 1945-1996, contains datebooks with entries for many of her personal appointments as well as her travels, including to Rome for the beatification of Katherine Drexel.

Subject

1. Black author
2. Birmingham (Ala.)
3. African Americans > Race identity
4. Toussaint, Pierre, 1766-1853?
5. Doherty, Catherine de Hueck, 1896-1985
6. African American novelists
7. Tarry, Ellen, 1906-2008
8. African American women authors
9. African American women
10. O'Connor, John, Cardinal, 1920-2000
11. Harlem Friendship House
12. African American Catholics
13. Drexel, Katharine Mary, Saint, 1858-1955
14. African American journalists
15. African Americans > Social conditions
16. African American authors
17. African Americans > Intellectual life
18. African Americans > Social life and customs
19. Catholic Church New York (State) > New York
20. African Americans > Segregation > Alabama > Birmingham

Call number

1. Sc MG 738

Note

1. Photographs transferred to Photographs and Prints Division.

Source (note)

1. Elizabeth Tarry Patton

Location of other archival materials (note)

1. Friendship House Records Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Biography (note)

1. African-American author and journalist, Ellen Tarry was primarily known for her writings and work pertaining to Blacks and the Catholic Church. Tarry worked with Baroness Catharine de Hueck Doherty at Harlem's Friendship House, during the 1940s, and later assisted in setting up a Friendship House on the South Side of Chicago.
2. Tarry authored several books for children and teenagers and two autobiographies, only one of which was published. Among her published works is "The Other Toussaint" (1981), a biography of Pierre Toussaint, the Haitian slave credited with funding the construction of old St. Patrick's Cathedral in lower Manhattan. Tarry was also involved in efforts to have him canonized. She wrote a young adult book about Katharine Drexel and served as a member of the committee for Drexel's beatification. In 2008, Tarry died at the age 101, in New York City.

Author

1. Tarry, Ellen, 1906-2008.

Title

1. Ellen Tarry papers, 1937-1999 (bulk 1970-1980).

Biography

1. African-American author and journalist, Ellen Tarry was primarily known for her writings and work pertaining to Blacks and the Catholic Church. Tarry worked with Baroness Catharine de Hueck Doherty at Harlem's Friendship House, during the 1940s, and later assisted in setting up a Friendship House on the South Side of Chicago.
2. Tarry authored several books for children and teenagers and two autobiographies, only one of which was published. Among her published works is "The Other Toussaint" (1981), a biography of Pierre Toussaint, the Haitian slave credited with funding the construction of old St. Patrick's Cathedral in lower Manhattan. Tarry was also involved in efforts to have him canonized. She wrote a young adult book about Katharine Drexel and served as a member of the committee for Drexel's beatification. In 2008, Tarry died at the age 101, in New York City.

Location of other archival materials

1. Friendship House Records Also located at Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Connect to:

1. Finding Aid

Local subject

1. Black author.

Added author

1. Tarry, Ellen, 1906-2008. Other Toussaint.
2. Tarry, Ellen, 1906-2008. Hezekiah Horton gets his wish.
3. Tarry, Ellen, 1906-2008. Home for Dixie.
4. Tarry, Ellen, 1906-2008. Memories of Alabama and the twentieth century: diary of a weary foot soldier.

Research call number

1. Sc MG 738