Name/Title
Julia Davis (Adams) CollectionEntry/Object ID
ARC172Scope and Content
Collection of scripts and other materials associated with playwright, Julia Davis (Adams).
Julia McDonald Davis (Adams) was the granddaughter of Julia Yates Leavell (who inherited Media from her mother) and Edward H. McDonald and the daughter of Julia Leavell McDonald and John W. Davis (politician, diplomat and lawyer and Democratic presidential candidate in 1924). She spent the last years of her life in Jefferson County.
Inventory
Folder 1: Letters (basis of book, The Embassy Girls)
-Written by Julia Davis in England to her family in West Virginia. At the time her father, John Davis, was U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain.
-July 4, [1919] Letter signed Julia. 2 pp. Written from London. About a dance at Lord Hadfield's and the 4th of July reception at the American Embassy in London.
-July 13, [1919] Letter signed Julia. 3 pp. Written from Chequers. About meeting English Royalty and Mrs. William Waldorf Astor, Lord Somers, and others.
-July 31, [1919] Letter signed Julia. 4 pp. Written from London. About ceremonies at the Guildhall, a dance, dinner with the Archbishop of Canturbury [sic], and other social events.
-Aug. 6, 1919 Letter, possibly missing pages. 1 p. Written from London. About touring Lambeth Palace and Westminister Abbey, and meeting the Bishop of London.
-Nov. 2, 1919 Letter, signed Julia. 2 pp. Written from London. About the visit of the Sha [sic] of Persia, and meeting people, attending plays, the movies, etc.
-Miscell. Letter fragments. 4 1/4 pp. Probably 1919.
-July 23 [1921] Letter, to Amma signed Julia. 1 p. Written from Warwick Castle. About social gatherings prior to Julia Davis' trip to India.
Folder 2: Plays
-[1923] Good Enough. 23 pp. Written and performed at Barnard College. A WWI serviceman comes to the hills to visit his parents and tells them he won't be returning. He tries to take his mother and child with him - but fails with his mother.
-[ca. 1960] The Prisoners. 20 pp. Unpublished. A German prisoner-of-war is in a work camp in France when he meets a young girl crippled by the war who gives him hope for a new future.
Folder 3: Play
-[ca. 1950] Partnership. 3 acts, 103 pp. Unpublished. A husband and wife have difficulty with their marriage when financial reversal puts the wife back into the workplace - and leaves the husband wondering about his role.
Folder 4: Short Stories
-[ca. 1930s] Miss Tallahassee and the professor. 23 pp. Unpublished. A beauty queen goes to Reno for a divorce, but discovers her absent-minded professor husband does care for her when he follows her there.
-[ca. 1940s] They'll Send Me Back. 19 pp. Unpublished. An orphan girl, named Sally, is sent to try another set of adoptive parents. She discovers they do want to adopt her, despite her efforts to be sent back to foster care.
Folder 5: Short Stories
-[ca. 1925] Judged. 14 pp. Unpublished. A tramp returns to an older woman who had been kind to him in the past. She helps him escape the sheriff.
-[n.d.] Tangled Web. 19 pp. Unpublished. A young man tries to convince his father he has been thrown over by his girlfriend, when in fact he has already married her.
-[n.d.] Walter Doesn't Hurt Little Boys. 7 pp. Unpublished. Includes a 1-page outline, probably for the memoir Legacy of Love.The story is a description of a spring day on the farm, with the story revolving around a young girl and her grandfather.
Folder 6: Journal
-1959 A Russian Diary. 84 pp. A travel journal about her 1959 trip to Moscow, Tbilisi, and Leningrad in Russia. Accompanied by Grace Stone, she stayed for approximately 8 days beginning on March 14th, 1959.
Folder 7: William Theriault papers concerning Julia Davis
-2000 Julia Davis: A Literary Biography, by William Theriault, Eastern Panhandle Print and Copy, Ranson, WV
-1992 Julia Davis: West Virginia Wordcrafter, by William Theriault, Goldenseal, Vol. 18, No. 3
-Various dates Newspaper clippings, concerning Julia DavisAcquisition
Accession
00Source or Donor
Found in collectionAcquisition Method
GiftArchive Details
Date(s) of Creation
1919 - 2000Archive Size/Extent
7 foldersArchive Notes
Date(s) Created: 1919 through 2000