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they visited, including an unpublished travel guide to the Netherlands.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.
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