| Repository: | Western Reserve Historical Society |
| Creator: | Norweb, R. Henry Family |
| Title: | R. Henry Norweb Family Papers |
| Dates: | 1880-1989 |
| Extent: | 3.40 linear feet (4 containers) |
| Abstract: | Raymond Henry Norweb was born in England and moved to Elyria, Ohio, with his family in 1907. He became a diplomat with posts in various countries, including France, Japan, the Netherlands, the Dutch East Indies, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Portugal, Peru, and Bolivia. His last assignment was as ambassador to Cuba, 1945-1948. His wife, Emery May Holden Norweb, was the daughter of Albert and Katharine Davis Holden and granddaughter of Liberty Holden, owner of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Emery Holden graduated from the Westover School in Connecticut in 1916, and then did hospital work with the American Ambulance Corps in France until her marriage to Henry Norweb in 1917. Dring their world travels, she collected Pre-columbian and Oriental art, which became the basis of collections at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where she served as a benefactor, officer, and trustee. Despite Norweb's worldwide assignments, the family maintained a home in Bratenahl, Ohio. Their children were Jeanne, Albert, and R. Henry Jr. Henry and Emery Norweb were both noted experts on world and U.S. coins, and the Norweb collection is one of the finest ever collected. The collection consists of scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, correspondence, manuscripts, travel memoirs, diaries, scripts, lectures, and notebooks. Emery May Norweb wrote diaries, memoirs, and articles on the many countries they visited, including an unpublished travel guide to the Netherlands. In addition, the collection contains family correspondence, including letters from Horace, Henry, and Emery May Norweb while living in Europe during World War I. The correspondence also includes copies of some State Department letters; correspondence on the purchase of coins for the Norweb collection; and letters from Albert and Katharine Holden to their daughters. Several scrapbooks contain photographs and clippings of Norweb's assignment as ambassador to Cuba 1945-1948. One scrapbook covers the courtship and married life of Albert and Katharine Holden. Emery May Holden's diary, 1916-1918, covers her life in Paris before and after her marriage to Henry Norweb. |
| MS Number | MS 4577 |
| Location: | closed stacks |
| Language: | The records are in English |
Raymond Henry Norweb (1894-1983) was born in England and moved to Elyria, Ohio, with his family in 1907. His father was a lace maker, who ran the American Lace Company in Elyria. Henry received his B.A. from Harvard in 1916 and entered the Foreign Service, rising rapidly through the diplomatic ranks with posts in various countries including France, Japan, the Netherlands, the Dutch East Indies, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Portugal, Peru, and Bolivia. His last assignment was as ambassador to Cuba, 1945-1948. His major accomplishments included negotiations of inter-American radio frequency allocations, and the Azores Bases treaty with Portugal, 1943-1944, a key element in Allied strategy during World War II. He was a trustee of Kenyon College and of the Western Reserve Historical Society.
Norweb married Emery May Holden (1895-1984) in Paris in 1917. She was the daughter of Albert Holden and Katharine Davis, and granddaughter of Liberty Holden, owner of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Holden family fortune was based on real estate, hotels, and mining, and they were early benefactors of the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Holden Arboretum. Emery May graduated from the Westover School in Middlebury, Connecticut in 1916, and volunteered for the American Ambulance Corps, doing hospital work in France until her marriage to Henry Norweb in Paris, 1917. During their world travels, she studied art, languages and history, and collected pre-Columbian and Oriental art, which became the basis of a collection at the Cleveland Musuem of Art, where she served as benefactor, officer, and trustee.
Although Emery May accompanied her husband on all his assignments they maintained a family home in Bratenahl, Ohio. Their children are Jeanne, (Mother Mary Joseph, O.C.D.), Albert, and R. Henry Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Norweb were both noted experts on world and United States coins, and the Norweb collection is one of the finest ever compiled. They made important donations to the Smithsonian Institution and to the American Numismatic Society.
click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for R. Henry Norweb
click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for Emery May Holden
click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for Liberty Holden
The R. Henry Norweb Family Papers (1881-1989) consist of scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, correspondence, manuscripts, travel memoirs, diaries, scripts, lectures and notebooks.
This collection is of interest to students of the Holden and Norweb families, and to researchers studying American diplomacy in the first half of the 20th century. Norweb's diplomatic career covered both world wars and the interwar period, and his assignments placed him in many of the trouble spots around the globe. In social class and background the Norwebs were typical members of America's foreign service, and the record of their lives and travels reveals the life style of a foreign service family. Emery May Norweb wrote diaries, memoirs and articles on the many countries they visited, including an unpublished travel guide to the Netherlands. In addition, the collection contains family correspondence, including letters from Horace, Henry and Emery May Norweb, who were in Europe during World War I, which discuss the cost of living, America's entry into the war, U-boat and Zeppelin raids, and other aspects of life in Paris during the war. The correspondence also includes copies of some State Department letters; correspondence on the purchase of coins for the Norweb collection; and letters from Albert and Katharine Holden to their daughters. Several scrapbooks contain photographs and clippings of Norweb's assignment as ambassador to Cuba between 1945 and 1948. One scrapbook covers the courtship and married life of Albert and Katharine Holden until her untimely death in 1900. Emery May Holden's diary, 1916-1918, covers her life in Paris before and after her marriage to Henry Norweb. In it she discusses her war work, German bombardment, air raids, and war news, as well as social engagements, shopping, her wedding, and the birth of her first child. Later diaries cover her world travels.
None.
Separated MaterialAll photographs which are not bound in scrapbooks have been removed to the photograph and print collection.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4577 R. Henry Norweb Family Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
R. Henry Norweb, Jr., 1989
Processed by Ann B. Ameling in 1991
Series I: Holden Family Papers 1881-1960 |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Account book, [Albert F. Holden?] 1886-1887 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Autograph book, A. F. Holden 1892 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Correspondence, Albert F. Holden to Liberty Holden, from Exeter 1881 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Correspondence, Albert Holden 1893-1894 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Correspondence, Katharine Davis Holden to daughters, "Bee" or "Little Girl" [Elizabeth], and "Baby Bird" or "Middle Size Girl" [Emery May] 1900 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Correspondence, Albert Holden and others to Mildred De Vere 1900-1904 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Correspondence, Albert F. Holden to daughter Elizabeth 1900-1905 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Correspondence, Albert F. Holden to daughter Emery May 1900-1905 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Correspondence, Albert F. Holden to daughter Katharine 1901-1904 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Correspondence, Holden family, Liberty E. Holden and wife to Elizabeth, Emery May and Katharine 1901-1905 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Correspondence, Elizabeth, Emery May and Katharine Holden 1902-1905 | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Correspondence, Emery May Holden 1902-1908 | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | Correspondence, Emery May Holden, diary letter relating to trip to Alaska with her father 1912-1913 | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | Program, christening of boat "Albert F. Holden" 1960 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | Scrapbook, Katharine Davis Holden, loose items 1893-1900 | |||||||||
| 1 | 15 | Scrapbook, Katharine Davis Holden 1893-1900 | |||||||||
Series II: Norweb Family Papers 1916-1989 undated |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 16 | Correspondence, Norweb family 1916-1918 | |||||||||
| 1 | 17-20 | Correspondence, R. Henry Norweb to family 1916-1918 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 21 | Correspondence, Horace Norweb to family 1917-1918 | |||||||||
| 1 | 22 | Correspondence, Emery May Norweb to mother-in-law 1918 1923 | |||||||||
| 1 | 23 | Correspondence, Emery May Norweb from Aunt Dell [D.B.W.] 1922 | |||||||||
| 1 | 24 | Correspondence, State Department letter relating to bill to combine consular and diplomatic services 1922 | |||||||||
| 1 | 25 | Correspondence, State Department, relating to lecture on China, Army War College 1922 | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 | Correspondence, State Department to R. Henry Norweb, relating to appointment to Tokyo 1923 | |||||||||
| 1 | 27 | Correspondence, R. Henry Norweb to parents and brother, and diary letter from Emery May Norweb, from Japan 1923-1924 | |||||||||
| 1 | 28 | Correspondence, State Department, from Charles E. Hughes relating to exchange of correspondence with Japanese government on Immigration Act of 1924 September 15, 1924 | |||||||||
| 1 | 29 | Correspondence, State Department to R. Henry Norweb, relating to visit to Netherlands East Indies 1925 | |||||||||
| 1 | 30 | Correspondence, State Department, memorandum on Japanese political institutions 1925 | |||||||||
| 1 | 31 | Correspondence, State Department, relating to lecture on Canada, Foreign Service School 1926 | |||||||||
| 1 | 32 | Correspondence, R. Henry Norweb 1930 | |||||||||
| 1 | 33 | Correspondence, Emery May Norweb to Mr. Kent, Houghton Mifflin Co., regarding publication of By Land and Water Through Holland 1931 | |||||||||
| 1 | 34 | Correspondence, Emery May Norweb with coin dealers re: coin purchases 1934-1936 1955 | |||||||||
| 1 | 35 | Correspondence, Emery May Norweb, letter from W. H. Abbott to George Bierce re: translation of Jacoba Und Ihre Zeit, commissioned by Mrs. Norweb 1935 | |||||||||
| 1 | 36 | Correspondence, Norweb family, undated, with letter from Jeanne Norweb on contents of family papers 1989 | |||||||||
| 1 | 37 | Compositions, Emery May Norweb, "Chinese Palaces", "Japanese Art", "Banned Books", and "Street Scenes" 1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 38 | Diary, Emery May Holden Norweb, trip to Japan 1916 | |||||||||
| 1 | 39 | Diary, Emery May Norweb, trip to Japan, 1916, France 1916-1918 | |||||||||
| 1 | 40 | Diary, Emery May Norweb, Japan, Singapore, Dutch East Indies 1924-1925 | |||||||||
| 1 | 41 | Diary, Emery May Norweb, Far East 1924-1926 | |||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 42 | Diary, Emery May Norweb, Far East, Java, Singapore 1924-1926 | |||||||||
| 2 | 43 | Diary, Emery May Norweb, Far East 1924-1926 | |||||||||
| 2 | 44-45 | Diary, Emery May Norweb, Holland 1927 | |||||||||
| 2 | 46 | Diary, Emery May Norweb, Chile 1929 | |||||||||
| 2 | 47-48 | Diary, Emery May Norweb, Cleveland 1936 1972 | |||||||||
| 2 | 49 | Essays, Emery May Norweb, "Eating Around the World" undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 50 | Essays, Emery May Norweb, "Holland on Skates" undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 51 | Essays, Emery May Norweb, "Origin of the Great Languages" undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 52 | Filet lace designs undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 53-54 | Newspaper clippings, Emery May Norweb 1976 1983 | |||||||||
| 2 | 55 | Newspaper clippings, Jeanne Katharine Norweb [Mother Mary Joseph, O.C.D.] 1987 | |||||||||
| 2 | 56 | Script, Emery May Norweb, Death Steps In undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 57 | Script, Emery May Norweb, Valley of the Shadow of Death undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 58-60 | Travel guide, Emery May Norweb, By Land and Sea Through Holland, manuscript 1935 | |||||||||
Series III: R. Henry Norweb, Ambassador to Cuba, Scrapbooks 1945-1948 |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 61-63 | Scrapbook, R. Henry Norweb, Ambassador to Cuba April 12, 1945-November 21, 1945 | |||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 3 | 64-67 | Scrapbook, R. Henry Norweb, Ambassador to Cuba September 4, 1945-March 28, 1947 | |||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 4 | 68 | Scrapbook, R. Henry Norweb, Ambassador to Cuba April 4, 1947-May 9, 1948 | |||||||||