Betty Beale Collection
Scope and Contents
The Betty Beale Collection consists of 14 small spiral-bound notebooks and one Selectronics WordFinder 224 from ca. 1952 -1981, all of which belonged to journalist Betty Beale. The notebooks contain handwritten notes in both English and shorthand. The notes in English include names of individuals, places, phone numbers, addresses, numbers and figures, schedules/itineraries, and other miscellaneous bits of information. The shorthand notes have not been translated to English. Within the notebooks, some sections have been crossed out and many pages have lines through them. Several of the notebooks appear to be from trips to places such as Santa Fe, New Mexico; Santa Barbara, California; India; Hong Kong; Japan; and Hawaii.
Dates
- Creation: ca. 1952-1981
Biographical / Historical
Betty Beale was a Washington, DC-born and based journalist who wrote about the city’s upper class society for over four decades. After graduating from Smith College, she went on to work for the Junior League, the Washington Post (1937-1940), the Washington Evening Star (1945-1981), and the North American Syndicate (1953-1989). Following the closure of the Washington Evening Star, Beale wrote briefly for the Washington Times and Georgetown and Country. She also published an autobiography, Power at Play: A Memoir of Parties, Politicians, and the Presidents in my Bedroom, in 1993.
Beale passed away at the age of 94 in 2006.
Extent
0.25 Linear feet (1 box)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
The collection is divided into two (2) series: I. Notebooks and II. Selectronics WordFinder 224.
Custodial History
There is no Deed of Gift. This collection was mailed to the DC Public Library by James Rosen in May 2018. Follow-up efforts to contact the donor were unsuccessful.
Topical
- Title
- Betty Beale Collection
- Subtitle
- A Guide to the Betty Beale Collection at DC Public Library
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Julie Burns
- Date
- 2021-12-15
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the The People's Archive, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library Repository