Christmas Poems, 1953-1984

Series I, Personal materials, contains items relating to Margaret Shardelow Young’s life. Subseries IA, School, centers on school materials and includes a charming 1913 yearbook containing several inscriptions from and about Ivonette Wright [Miller], who graduated Steele High School in 1914. It also contains undated teaching plans and notes from early in her forty-year career as a schoolteacher. Subseries IB, Journals, contains journals covering the period 1946 to 1957 as well as one for 1969. Of particular interest is the Five-Year diary from 1953-1957, which includes her wedding and subsequent travels. Also, there is a journal in which she kept notes about the books she read during her lifetime. Subseries IC, Travel, includes travel documents and notes, including a 1927 travel guide to Europe between the wars. Also, there is an amusing American Airlines Brochure on jet travel, advertising what travel would be like on their new 707 jet flagship in 1959. Subseries ID, Dwight E. Young, contains materials primarily concerning his death in 1967. Subseries IE, General, includes information on Margaret Shardelow Young’s long affiliation with the First Baptist Church of Dayton, Ohio, as well as information concerning her death.

Series II, Writings, contains primarily the personal writings by Margaret Shardelow Young. Materials include her annual Christmas poems and sonnets, some in published form, as well as birthday and anniversary poems written for Dwight Young. Mixed throughout the poetry are original works along with copies of her favorites by other authors.

Series III, Friday Afternoon Club papers, is composed of Margaret Young’s papers written for the literary club. These include: Directions in Modern Poetry, November 21, [1958]; Fact vs. Fiction, October 9, 1959; Henry James, January 6, 1961; The Riddle, February 1, 1963; Book and Thimble Day, February 14, 1964; Dante, [January 21], 1966; Garibaldi, [February 3], 1967; The Durable, Delicate Sex, [November 3, 1967]; Christopher Morley, [November 3, 1961]; Lady Mary Wortley Montague, 1970; The Town in Literature, [January 22, 1971]; Writers in a Foreign Tongue, [March 16, 1973]; Chaucer, April [29], 1977; The Barbary Coast, December 2, 1977; Political Giants, 1979; Willa Cather, [January 11, 1980]; Pilgrim’s Progress, October 16, 1981; The Greeks Had a Word For It, October 8, 1982; and, The Lore of the Land, November 16, 1984. Dates for many of the papers were obtained from the program books of the Friday Afternoon Club found in MS-290.

Series IV, Correspondence, contains letters and cards from a variety of family and friends. Highlights of this series include an article written by Dwight Young concerning Orville Wright, and a copy of Orville Wright’s response. Other correspondents include Marquis Childs, Christopher Morley, and William Saxbe.

Series V, Newspaper Clippings, centers primarily on articles written either by or about Dwight Young or Margaret Shardelow Young. It also includes a large series of Dwight Young’s regular column, “Talking It Over.” There are also articles written by Margaret Shardelow Young, as well as articles written about their travels and respective deaths.

Series VI, Family History, contains items primarily about the Delscamp family. It includes an autograph book collected by Jeanette Delscamp in 1919-1920 as well as a notebook of verse and lyrics collected by Louis Shardelow in 1881.

Series VII, Photographs, contains images from both the Delscamp family and Margaret Shardelow Young’s life. There is a scrapbook of the Delscamp family, which includes a few photographs of the 1913 Dayton flood as well as the campsite the family had at Delhurst, on Philadelphia Drive in Dayton, when the women and children were evacuated from Dayton, potentially from an epidemic. There are also several wedding photos of an unnamed wedding in the 1920s as well as the 1953 weddings of Margaret Shardelow and Dwight Young and of her niece, Patricia Shardelow.

Series VIII, Patricia Shardelow DeReamer-Surgener, contains both personal materials from Patricia as well as materials documenting the long and close relationship between Margaret Shardelow Young and her niece. Of particular interest are the extended series of letters from Margaret Shardelow Young to Patricia, covering more than twenty-five years. They demonstrate not only the great love and affection between the two women but also offer insights into Margaret Shardelow Young’s thoughts and life.