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Home >> Sophia Smith Collection >> Leslie Nelson Savage Mahoney Papers, 1880-1986
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Leslie Nelson Savage Mahoney Papers, 1890-1986 (Bulk: 1942-1970)
10 boxes (4 linear ft.)
Collection number: MS 229

Abstract:
Architectural historian and interior decorator. The papers provide insight into the life a southern woman and a professional single mother. Her writings include material related to interior decorating; poetry; travel diaries; an unpublished biography of her father; and photographs of mostly family mambers. Correspondents include photographer, Frances Benjamin Johnston and lawyer and House of Representatives member, Lucy Sommerville Howorth.

Terms of Access and Use:

Restrictions on access:

The collection is open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection without any additional restrictions.

Restrictions on use:

The Sophia Smith Collection owns copyright to unpublished works of Leslie Nelson Savage Mahoney. Copyright to materials created by others may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission must be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use."

Sophia Smith Collection
Smith College
Northampton, MA

Biographical Note
Nell Savage Mahoney, May 1942

Nell Savage Mahoney, May 1942

Leslie Nelson ("Nell") Savage was born in 1890 in Nashville, Tennessee, one of three daughters of Leslie Alice Jones and opthamologist Dr. Giles Christopher Savage. She graduated from Ward Seminary, a private girls' school in Nashville, in 1908 and began study at Vanderbilt University. After a year she transferred to Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1912. Her continued interest in architectural history and design led her to take courses at the Art League in New York, the New York School of Applied Design for Women, and Cooper Union. She began study in 1916 at Ward Belmont School, completing a Certificate in Interior Decorating. In July 1918, she received an appointment as clerk in the Surgeon General's Office in Washington, D.C. She resigned in October of the same year. In 1923 she married Charles Hallum Mahoney, the first cousin of her sister Kate's husband. They were divorced in May 1925. She received full custody of their daughter Margaret Ellerbe Mahoney who was born in October 1924.

Nell entered Vanderbilt University in 1937 and received her Master of Arts degree in history in 1939. Her thesis was titled "The Building of the Tennessee State House, 1845-1854," and was written under the direction of Professor Frank L. Owsley. She worked as an interior decorator, lecturer, and writer. Her work on architect William Strickland was published in the Tennessee Historical Quarterly and various magazines and newspapers. In 1944, she worked for the Department of Military Intelligence in the Signal Corps. Although she anticipated the publication of a monograph on Strickland through McMillan & Co., the manuscript was never completed. She died January 30, 1986.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Leslie Nelson Savage Mahoney Papers consist of four linear feet of correspondence, writings, diaries, and photographs and date from 1890 to 1986. The bulk of the material dates from 1942 to 1970. The papers are both personal and professional in nature and provide insight into the life a southern woman and a professional single mother.

This collection is organized into four series:


Information on Use
Terms of Access and Use
Restrictions on access:

The collection is open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection without any additional restrictions.

Restrictions on use:

The Sophia Smith Collection owns copyright to unpublished works of Leslie Nelson Savage Mahoney. Copyright to materials created by others may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission must be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use."

Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Leslie Nelson Savage Mahoney Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.

History of the Collection

The Leslie Nelson Savage Mahoney Papers were received from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, where they were temporarily stored, in three installments between 1986 and 1988. Some of the personal papers were also received as part of Margaret E. Mahoney's papers donated to the Sophia Smith Collection in the same period.

Processing Information

Processed by Susan Boone, 2001.


Additional Information
Contact Information
Sophia Smith Collection
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063

Phone: (413) 585-2970
Fax: (413) 585-2886

Email Reference Form: http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/emailform.html
URL: http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/

Language
English.