The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Mabel Wing Castle Papers 1865-1957
© 2013 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | Castle, Mabel Wing. Papers |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1865-1957 |
| Size: | 2.5 linear feet (5 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | Mabel Wing Castle was a writer, teacher and activist, wife of Henry Northrup Castle, mother of Elinor Castle Nef, sister-in-law of George Herbert Mead, and mother-in-law of Committee on Social Thought founder John U. Nef, Jr. The collection contains correspondence, personal diaries, and photographs. Material spans the dates 1865-1957, with the bulk dating from 1890 to 1940. |
The collection is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Castle, Mabel Wing. Papers Papers [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Mabel Wing Castle was born June 19, 1864 to Leander Joseph and Zillah Annette Lovering Wing in Providence, RI. She attended Wellesley College, graduating in 1887, and spent time both during and after college teaching Greek, first at a high school in Maine and then at Wellesley High. In 1891 she was encouraged to accept a job teaching Greek at the Punahou School (Oahu College) in Hawaii, which she did.
In 1892, Mabel Wing met Henry Northrup Castle at a concert where she played the piano. Castle, a widower with a young daughter, was the son of Samuel Northrup Castle, patriarch of a wealthy and prominent family on the islands. He was also the close friend and brother-in-law of philosopher George Herbert Mead, who later became guardian of John Ulric Nef, Jr. Mabel Wing and Henry Northrup Castle were married on Christmas Day 1892.
In November of 1894, Mabel Wing Castle’s only child Elinor Henry was born. Henry Castle was at the time in Germany with his first daughter Dorothy, visiting his first wife’s family. In January 1895, alarmed by news of impending revolution in Hawaii, Henry booked passage for Dorothy and himself on the ill-fated German passenger ship Elbe. When the ship collided with another and sank, Henry and Dorothy perished, having never met baby Elinor.
After Henry’s death, Mabel Wing Castle continued to live in Hawaii, writing for the Advertiser (one of the papers owned by her late husband) and caring for members of his family. She and Elinor also travelled extensively during these years, often for health reasons. Mabel had a kidney removed in Chicago in 1899, vacationed in California when Elinor was unwell, and spent the years 1907-1911 in Europe with her daughter and assorted other members of her family, as their health variously allowed or required.
In 1911 Castle moved back to the United States to Lexington, MA, where Elinor attended school in Massachusetts and then in Connecticut. She was active in the women’s suffrage movement through WWI, and continued to travel extensively, often to Chicago to visit sister-in-law Helen Castle Mead. Elinor attended the University of Chicago and also spent much time with the Meads, where she met their ward John Ulric Nef, Jr. The two were married in 1921.
In the 1920s, Castle channeled her interests and energies into vocational guidance, working with various clubs and committees. By 1932, however, she had become active in the peace movement, and served as an officer in the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, an anti-war organization founded by Jane Addams. Now living in California, Castle was also active in the Women’s University Club, particularly in poetry-related projects. She herself was a writer of poetry throughout her adult life. Her first book of poetry, Sonnets for Seventy came out in 1937, on the occasion of her 50th reunion at Wellesley. The second, Birthday Party, came out in 1944 just after her 80th birthday.
Still active in the 1940s with the Women’s International League, Mabel Wing Castle chaired that organization’s Jane Addams Peace Fund Committee (also called the Jane Addams Memorial Fund Committee) from 1942 to 1948. When the Committee was superseded by the Jane Addams Peace Association, Castle became the first president of its board of directors, serving until her death. The Peace Association established a Scholarship Fund in her memory.
Mabel Wing Castle died in Chicago on April 22, 1950. Her reminiscences, recorded by Elinor, were published after both of their deaths by John U. Nef, Jr. under the title My Mother’s Reminiscences.
The collection is arranged in four Series. Series 1, Personal, contains diaries (arranged chronologically) autograph and date books, a few personal papers and ephemera, and texts of memorial addresses and other posthumous materials.
Series 2, Correspondence, contains personal and family correspondence (in subseries 1 and 2 respectively). Personal correspondence is arranged chronologically, and correspondence with Henry Northrup Castle is foldered separately. Family correspondence is arranged alphabetically by main correspondent.
Series 3, Writings, contains articles and poems by Mabel Wing Castle.
Series 4, Photographs, contains photographs of members of the Castle and Mead families, and of family friend Julia Swanzy, dating from around the turn of the century.
Castle, Henry Northrup. Papers
Mead, George Herbert. Papers
Nef, Elinor Castle. Papers
Schütze, Eva Watson. Photographs
Series I: Personal |
| Box 1 Folder 1 | Diary, 1891 |
| Box 1 Folder 2 | Diary, 1892 |
| Box 1 Folder 3 | Diary and Ephemera, 1893 |
| Box 1 Folder 4 | Diary, 1895 |
| Box 1 Folder 5 | Appointment Book, 1898 |
| Box 1 Folder 6 | Autograph Album/Scrapbook, 1939-1945 |
| Box 2 Folder 1 | Emerson Birthday Book |
| Box 2 Folder 2 | Clippings – Frederic Yates Exhibition, 1897 |
| Box 2 Folder 3 | Passport, 1923 |
| Box 2 Folder 4 | Memorial Service – Texts of Addresses Given, 1950 |
| Box 2 Folder 5 | Jane Addams Peace Association, Annual Report, 1951 |
| Box 2 Folder 6 | Christmas Cards – Pictures and Remembrances of Mabel Wing Castle, 1951 |
| Box 2 Folder 7 | Correspondence following Mabel Wing Castle's Death, 1951-1957 |
Series II: Correspondence |
Subseries 1: Personal Correspondence |
| Box 2 Folder 8 | Correspondence – Wing, Leander, 1888 |
| Box 2 Folder 9 | Correspondence – 1890 |
| Box 2 Folder 10 | Correspondence – Includes one Letter by Henry Northrup Castle, 1892-1893 |
| Box 2 Folder 11 | Correspondence – Castle, Henry, 1893 |
| Box 2 Folder 12 | Correspondence – Castle, Henry, 1893 |
| Box 2 Folder 13 | Correspondence – Castle, Henry, 1893 |
| Box 2 Folder 14 | Correspondence – Castle, Henry, 1894 |
| Box 2 Folder 15 | Correspondence – Castle, Henry, undated |
| Box 2 Folder 16 | Correspondence, 1894 |
| Box 2 Folder 17 | Correspondence, 1895 |
| Box 2 Folder 18 | Correspondence, 1896 |
| Box 3 Folder 1 | Correspondence, 1897 |
| Box 3 Folder 2 | Correspondence, 1898 |
| Box 3 Folder 3 | Correspondence, 1899 |
| Box 3 Folder 4 | Correspondence, 1900 |
| Box 3 Folder 5 | Correspondence, 1901 |
| Box 3 Folder 6 | Correspondence, 1902 |
| Box 3 Folder 7 | Correspondence, 1903 |
| Box 3 Folder 8 | Correspondence, 1904 |
| Box 3 Folder 9 | Correspondence, 1905-1906 |
| Box 3 Folder 10 | Correspondence and Greek Diary, 1907-1908 |
| Box 3 Folder 11 | Correspondence, 1909 |
| Box 3 Folder 12 | Correspondence, 1910 |
| Box 3 Folder 13 | Correspondence, |
| Box 4 Folder 1 | Correspondence, 1912 |
| Box 4 Folder 2 | Correspondence, 1913 |
| Box 4 Folder 3 | Correspondence, 1914 |
| Box 4 Folder 4 | Correspondence, 1915-1916 |
| Box 4 Folder 5 | Correspondence, 1917 |
| Box 4 Folder 6 | Correspondence, 1918-1921 |
| Box 4 Folder 7 | Correspondence, 1922 |
| Box 4 Folder 8 | Correspondence, 1923-1926 |
| Box 4 Folder 9 | Correspondence, 1927 |
| Box 4 Folder 10 | Correspondence, 1929 |
| Box 4 Folder 11 | Correspondence, 1930-1935 |
| Box 4 Folder 12 | Correspondence – Christmas Letter, 1937 |
| Box 4 Folder 13 | Correspondence, 1938-1940 |
| Box 4 Folder 14 | Correspondence, 1941-1943 |
| Box 4 Folder 15 | Correspondence, 1944-1950 |
Subseries 2: Family Correspondence |
| Box 4 Folder 16 | Harriet "Hattie" Angeline Castle Coleman – Typescript Copy of Letter Written to Edward and Mary Hitchcock, 1865 |
| Box 4 Folder 17 | Mary Eloise Castle – Correspondence, 1895 |
| Box 5 Folder 1 | Mary Tenney Castle (b. 1819) – Correspondence, 1894 |
| Box 5 Folder 2 | Samuel Northrup Castle (b. 1808) – Correspondence, 1889-1893 |
| Box 5 Folder 3 | Samuel Northrup Castle (b. 1880) and William Richards Castle –Correspondence, 1917 |
| Box 5 Folder 4 | Harriet "Hattie" Angeline Castle Coleman – Correspondence, 1895-1924 |
| Box 5 Folder 5 | George Herbert Mead – Correspondence, 1894-1927 |
| Box 5 Folder 6 | Helen Castle Mead – Correspondence, 1882-1928 |
| Box 5 Folder 7 | Correspondence to Ermine Cross regarding death of Helen Mead, 1929-1930 |
| Box 5 Folder 8 | Leander Joseph Wing – Correspondence, 1888-1912 |
| Box 5 Folder 9 | Zillah Annette Lovering Wing – Correspondence, 1888-1892 |
Series III: Writings |
| Box 5 Folder 10 | Poetry, Essay, and Notes – Manuscripts, 1886-1947 |
| Box 5 Folder 11 | Wellesley Magazine – Includes an Article on "A Taste of Hawaiian Royalty" by Mabel Wing Castle, 1893 |
| Box 5 Folder 12 | Clipping – "Early Impressions of Matthew Arnold" by Mabel Wing Castle, 1902 |
| Box 5 Folder 13 | Report to Wellesley College Class of 1887, 1912 |
| Box 5 Folder 14 | Poetry – Reprint, 1933 |
Series IV: Photographs |
| Box 5 Folder 15 | Photographs – Castle and Mead Family, Julia Swanzy, circa 1880-1910 |