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Literary manuscripts and papers, 1898-1980
Manuscript Collection 781
INFORMATION ABOUT ZILLAH CROSS PEEL
Zillah Cross Peel (1874-1941) was an Arkansas newspaper editor and writer. Born to Harvey and Ella Cross of Cameron, Missouri, Zillah attended the public schools there until being admitted to the University of Arkansas in 1891. Also during that year her father established the Benton County Sun, a newspaper in Bentonville, Arkansas. Zillah married Frank W. Peel, a son of United States Representative S.W. Peel of Bentonville, in 1894 and the couple had five children, Maurine, Frank, Jr., Samuel, Mary, and Zillah. In 1915 Zillah became the managing editor of her father's newspaper, eventually becoming the owner of the business during the course of the next seven years. She moved to Fayetteville in 1923 where she accepted a position as Associate editor of the University of Arkansas Alumni Magazine and columnist for both Fayetteville and Fort Smith newspapers. During the course of her career, Zillah also wrote essays for such magazines as Country Gentleman and Scribner's, gaining a reputation as a talented author and popular columnist. She was involved with the Works Progress Administration's Federal Writer's Project during the depression and a member of Pi Kappa and the General Federation of Women's Clubs.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Most of the materials in this collection are newspaper clippings, manuscript articles, and family photographs. Some correspondence, chiefly between Zillah and her publishers, is also included. The collection has been arranged in five series, and fragile originals have been replaced with positive photocopies for research use.
Literary manuscripts, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and photographs pertaining to Zillah Cross Peel were donated to Special Collections by Zillah Peel Dunlap of Clarksville, Arkansas, on April 2, 1987.
Prepared by Kim Allen Scott, Special Collections Division, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas, in April 1988.
Special Collections also holds another Zillah Cross Peel collection: Arkansas-related and other records, 1836 and 1839, 1850-1851, 1876-1878. MS P344 407. The finding aid is available in the Special Collections Reading Room.
CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION
(1/2 linear foot and one volume)
Series 1. Correspondence,
1916-1980 (Box 1, folders 1-3)
Series 2. Literary
Productions, 1898-1980 (Box 1, folders 4-11)
Series 3.
Newspaper clippings, ca. 1919-1939 ( Box 1, folders 12-15)
Series 4. Photographs (Box 2, folders
1-3)
Series 5. Scrapbook,
ca. 1930s (1 volume)
Series 1. Correspondence, 1916-1980 (Box 1, folders 1-3)
Letters to and from Zillah Cross Peel and Zillah Peel Dunlap. Included are several payment notices and vouchers from publishers to Mrs. Peel and letters of inquiry written by her to her research subjects. Two significant correspondents include Oklahoma historians Carolyn and Grant Foreman. Letters in folders 1 and 2 pertain to Zillah Cross Peel. Letters in folder 3 pertain to Zillah Peel Dunlap. All correspondence has been arranged chronologically and fragile originals replaced with positive photocopies.
Box 1
1. Correspondence, 1916-1922 (25 items).
2. Correspondence, 1923-1939 (30 items).
3. Correspondence, 1974-1980 (10 items).
Series 2. Literary Productions, 1898-1980 (Box 1, folders 4-11)
Typed and handwritten manuscripts, speeches, research notes, and essays by Zillah Cross Peel, Zillah Peel Dunlap, and other authors. Folders 4, 5 and 6 contain manuscripts written by Peel and, with the exception of the first item in folder 4, these manuscripts are undated and have been arranged alphabetically by title or first word. Folder 7 contains miscellaneous research notes collected by Peel and folder 8 holds two of her notebooks. Mrs. Peel's speeches, including three scripts for "Do You Know," a Fayetteville radio show hosted by Peel in the 1930s, can be found in folder 9. Manuscripts by other authors have been alphabetically arranged in folder 10, and research photocopies collected by Zillah Peel Dunlap are in folder 11. Fragile originals have been replaced with positive photocopies.
Box 1 (cont'd)
4. Peel manuscripts, A-G.
5. Peel manuscripts, H-L.
6. Peel manuscripts, N-W.
7. Peel research notes.
8. Peel notebooks.
9. Peel speeches.
10. Other manuscripts.
11. Dunlap research notes.
Series 3. Newspaper clippings, ca. 1919-1939 ( Box 1, folders 12-15)
Newspaper clippings collected by Zillah Cross Peel arranged by subject.
The clippings include articles written by Peel which appeared in the Fort
Smith South- West American, the Fayetteville Daily Democrat,
the Fayetteville Daily Leader, the Little Rock Arkansas Gazette,
and other newspapers. Other clippings include articles written about
Peel and those dealing with Arkansas history. Some of the clippings
contain handwritten marginalia for date and publication identification.
Almost all of the clippings have been replaced with positive photocopies.
Box 1 (cont'd)
12. Clippings, South-West American.
13. Clippings, other newspapers.
14. Clippings, Peel, subject.
15. Clippings, Arkansas history.
Series 4. Photographs (Box 2, folders 1-3)
Photographs of the Cross and Peel families, subjects researched by
Zillah Cross Peel in the course of her newspaper work, and miscellaneous
subjects. Photographs 1-6 are portraits of the Cross family and have
been arranged chronologically in folder 1. Folder 2 contains the
chronologically arranged photographs of the Peel family, numbers 7-16.
Folder 3 contains photographs 17-33 pertaining to the professional activities
of Zillah Cross Peel, including views of her interviewing people and subjects
she researched for her writings, including the Sir Thomas Cross family
of Great Britain. This family was not related to Zillah's and appears
to be another research subject for her.
Box 2
Folder 1. Cross Family Photographs.
1. Don L., Zillah, and Victor Cross, ca. 1885. Informal indoor portrait. 7" x 5". Ages and identification of children written on verso.
2. Ella Rineman Cross and niece, ca. 1880s. Formal vignette portrait. 5 3/8" x 4", mounted on 6 1/2" x 4" matteboard. Keifer and Kirsch, Lawrenceburg, Indiana, photographer. Identification written on verso.
3. Zillah Cross and Nelle Robinette, 1893. Formal studio portrait. 5 3/8" x 3 7/8", mounted on 6 3/8" x 4" matteboard with a scalloped edge. Thompson, Cameron Missouri, photographer. High school graduation picture. Identification written on verso.
4. Zillah and Don Cross, ca. 1894. Vignette studio portrait. 5 1/2" x 3 7/8", mounted on 6 1/2" x 4" matteboard. R.W. Hansard, Bentonville, Arkansas, photographer. Identification written on verso.
5. Ella Rineman Cross, 1914. Formal studio portrait. 9 5/8" x 3 3/4". Grabill studios, Fayetteville, Arkansas, photographer. Corrugated cardboard backing removed with following identification written on it; "Mrs. H.L. Cross. Ella Zan Rineman. Wife of Harry Lamar Cross. Grandmother of Zillah Peel Dunlap. 1914. Age 61."
6. Fanny Johnson Cross, ca. 1910s. Formal studio portrait. 9 1/2" x 7", mounted on 12" x 8 1/2" matteboard. F.A. Loomis, Emporia, Kansas, photographer. Identification written on verso.
Folder 2. Peel Family photographs
7. [Frank?] Peel and friends, ca. 1890s. Informal outdoor group portrait. 5 3/8" x 4 5/8", mounted on 4 1/4" x 5" matteboard. "Sage, Rader, Peel, Glen, White," written on lower border. "Sports of Belleore. High School. Baseball team," written on verso.
8. Frank West Peel, ca. 1892. Formal vignette portrait. 5 3/8" x 3 7/8", mounted on 6 1/2" x 4" matteboard. R.W. Hansard, Bentonville, Arkansas, photographer. "My husband when he was a student at the University of Virginia, 1892 or 93" written on verso.
9. Zillah Cross Peel and Maurine Peel, 1895. Informal studio portrait. 5 7/8" x 3 7/8" mounted on 6 1/2" x 4" matteboard. Laura Harris, Bentonville, Arkansas, photographer. Identification written on verso.
10. Samuel West Peel house, Bentonville, Arkansas, ca. 1899. Outdoor mid-distance view. 5" x 7". Woman and child visible on a tree shaded front porch. "Frank West Peel lived here from 2 yrs of age until marriage, 4/25/94. (Built in 1874 or 1875). My mother, Zillah Cross (w/o Frank West Peel) and Maurine Peel in picture. Probably made 1899. House is located on east side of HW 71 going into Bentonville. Still standing 1979. To be restored-1983," written on verso.
11. Zillah Cross Peel and children, left to right, Frank, Sam, and Maurine, ca. 1901. Formal vignette portrait. 3 7/8" x 5 1/2", mounted on 4" x 6" matteboard. Laura Harris, Bentonville, Arkansas, photographer. Identification written on verso.
12. Samuel Lamar Peel, ca. 1903. Formal studio portrait. 3 1/2" oval mounted on 7" x 5" matteboard. Laura Harris, Bentonville, Arkansas, photographer. Identification written on verso.
13. Samuel Lamar Peel, ca. 1903. Formal studio portrait. 5" oval mounted on 8" x 6" matteboard. Laura Harris, Bentonville, Arkansas, photographer. Identification written on verso.
14. Zillah and Mary Peel, 1918. Informal indoor portrait. 6" x 3 7/8". Identification written on verso.
15. Zillah Cross Peel, ca. 1918. Informal mid-distance outdoor view. 5 3/4" x 3 3/4". Peel posing in an open doorway wearing an exaggerated sun bonnet.
16. Maurine Peel Towler and Harry Hunt Towler, n.d. Formal vignette
portrait. 9" x 5 1/2". Mother posing with her baby. Identification
written on a discarded, deteriorating cardboard backing.
Folder 3. Miscellaneous photographs
17. Newsroom at the Fayetteville Daily Leader, ca. 1930s. Informal indoor snapshot. 5" x 7". Zillah Cross Peel is sitting with her back to the camera at a desk on the far right. Handwritten identification written on the face of the photograph in ink. Further identification written on verso, along with a sticker ordering a zinc halftone cut of the photograph from the Harper Standard engraving company of Dallas, Texas.
18. Zillah Cross Peel conducting an interview, ca. 1930s. Informal outdoor snapshot. 5 1/2" x 3 1/4". Peel standing in front of a bat and board shack with pad and pencil in hand, speaking with a woman wearing a large straw hat. "Mother. Zillah Cross Peel interviewing goat lady. Bentonville, Arkansas," written on verso.
19. Zillah Cross Peel conducting an interview, ca. 1930s. Informal outdoor snapshot. 5" x 2 7/8". Peel and "Gate-eye" Fisher standing in front of the doorway of a log shack. "Yes'm, I can write my name," said Gate-eye Fisher as he wrote his name in my book," typed on verso.
20. "Gate-eye" Fisher's residence, ca. 1930s. Informal outdoor snapshot. 2 7/8" x 5". Mid-distance view of shack pictured in #19.
21. Horse-powered sorghum mill, ca. 1930s. Informal outdoor snapshot. 3 1/2" x 5". Mid-distance view of an unidentified man standing next to a horse harnessed to a cane crushing device. "A sorghum meal in the Ozark hills. Zillah Cross Peel, Fayetteville, Arkansas," written on verso. "The Old-time sorghum mill where the horse goes round and round," typed on a slip of paper pasted to the verso.
22. Butterfield Stagecoach barn, Strickler, Oklahoma, ca. 1930s. Informal outdoor snapshot. 5" x 3 1/2". Deteriorating fame building with split-shingled roof. Identification on verso.
23. Butterfield Stagecoach bard, Strickler, Oklahoma, ca. 1930s. 5" x 3 1/2". Different view of picture 22. Identification on verso: "Old Butterfield Stagecoach barn on Sherry place at Strickler, Oklahoma."
24. Strawberry pickers in truck, ca. 1930s. Informal outdoor snapshot. 3 1/2" x 5". Three children in the back of a [Model A Ford?] truck. Legs of an adult woman visible sticking outside cab. "The father works in the mines and this trip is a vacation for the children. Mother is asleep in the front seat. View six, strawberry pickers." written on verso.
25. Rural Women's Club, ca. 1930s. Informal indoor snapshot. 4 1/2" x 6 1/2". Unidentified group of women gathered around a table on which is displayed canning apparatus. Standing woman at the right appears to be addressing the group. "Rural Women's Club, demonstration of cheese making," written on verso.
26. 4-H Club members, annual meet, University of Arkansas, ca. 1930s. Informal outdoor group portrait. 5" x 7". Lengthy typed caption on verso, but no further particulars of identification.
27. Unidentified group portrait, ca. 1930s. 5" x 7". Group of people standing in front of a church at an unknown location.
28. Ship's bell, S.S. Joseph, 1980. Polaroid print. 3 1/2" x 4 1/4". Snapshot of a ship's bell formerly owned by Otis Cardwell of Springdale, Arkansas, and sold to the Harber Village museum of Grove, Oklahoma.
29. Sir Thomas and Elizabeth Ann Cross, 1914. Photographic postal card. 5 1/2" x 3 1/4". Identification written on verso.
30. Elizabeth Ann Cross, 1900. Informal outdoor snapshot. 3 1/2" x 3 1/2". Identification on verso.
31. George Cross, ca. 1930s. Informal outdoor snapshot. 4 1/2 x 2 3/4. Identification on verso.
32. Cross family home, Boston Mountains, ca. 1930s. Informal outdoor snapshot. 3 1/2" x 5". Identification on verso.
33. Knayle House, [England?], ca. 1900s. Photographic postal card. 3 1/2" x 5 1/2". "There is a part of the house shown on this picture," written on verso.
Series 5. Scrapbook, ca. 1930s (1 volume)
One scrapbook of newspaper and magazine clippings of articles written and saved by Zillah Cross Peel. Many of the items in the book appear to duplicate those found in series 3, but the scrapbook has been retained for its evidential value in demonstrating Peel's collection priority.
Volume 1
Scrapbook, ca. 1930s.