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Rosalie Regen Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-166

Scope and Contents

The collection includes journals kept continuously from 1936 to the time of her death in 1993. She also maintained a prodigious correspondence with family and friends. Includes drafts of her writings, some of which were published: "Peaceful Heroes," a collection of plays, in 1962, and "Forever in Joy," a book of poetry, in 1974.

Dates

  • Creation: 1856-1993

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce items in this collection beyond the bounds of Fair Use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder or their heirs/assigns. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-RUU/1.0/.

Biographical / Historical

Rosalie Stork Regen (1909-1993) was a Quaker author and playwright who joined the Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting in 1941. She was the daughter of Charles Wharton Stork and Elisabeth "Lisl" von Pausinger Stork. Rosalie went to Germantown Friends School and Radcliffe College, graduating with honors in English Literature in 1931. She then went to New York City where she worked in publishing before meeting and marrying Curt Regen, who worked for an insurance firm. They had three children, Richard, Barbara and Deborah Regen. Two grandchildren, Peter Regen and Jeffrey Regen, graduated from Swarthmore College in 1989 and 1991, respectively.

The Regens settled in New Jersey and were active members of the Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting. Rosalie was active in Ministry and Oversight, Peace & Service and the Religious Education committees at Plainfield and served as chair of the New York Yearly Meeting Religious Education Committee. Curt was a member of the Board of The McCutchen, the Yearly Meeting Friends Home.

Rosalie wrote many stories, poems and plays for her own children and for Quaker children around the world. She was greatly involved with the First-day School at Plainfield MM and her plays were often put on by the children there and at Yearly Meeting at Silver Bay.

A collection of one-act plays entitled Peaceful Heroes was published by Friends General Conference in 1962. Other publications include Forever in Joy, a book of poetry published in 1974; I was a Problem Daughter, You were a Problem Mother, an autobiographical novel published in 1988; Peaceful Heroes II published in 1988; and The Joy of Death, written after the death of Curt Regen.

Curt and Rosalie were also active in visitation and traveled to minister to Friends all over the world. They took extensive slides, which were often shown at Silver Bay.

Rosalie also kept journals and a prodigious correspondence. Her interests, as documented in this collection of papers, photographs and slides, are divided among family, writing and active involvement with the affairs of the Society of Friends.

Extent

26.5 linear ft. (53 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Rosalie Stork Regen (1909-1993) was a Quaker author and playwright who joined the Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting in 1941. She was the daughter of Charles Wharton Stork and Elisabeth von Pausinger Stork. An active member of the Society of Friends, Rosalie taught First Day School and visited Quakers all over the world. The collection includes journals kept continuously from 1936 to the time of her death in 1993. She also maintained a prodigious correspondence with family and friends. Includes drafts of her writings, some of which were published: "Peaceful Heroes," a collection of plays, in 1962, and "Forever in Joy," a book of poetry, in 1974.

Arrangement

The collection is divided into four series:

  1. Historical and Genealogical Materials
  2. Journals
  3. Correspondence
  4. Writings

Arrangement generally alphabetical and chronological within each series. Correspondence is arranged according to the order established by Rosalie Regen.

Physical Location

For current information on the location of materials, please consult the Library's online catalog

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession information:

Donors: Children of Rosalie Regen: Richard Wharton Regen, Barbara Regen Claffie, Deborah Fisher Regen, 1993; Accession number: 93.15

The collection was given by the children of Rosalie Regen after her death in 1993. She had signed the gift form for the collection in November 1992.

Separated Materials

The following materials, originally part of the collection, have been removed and catalogued separately:

  1. Removed to FHL Cassette Recordings collection: a tape of Curt and Richard Regen's memories, 1987 (#60), a radio interview with Curt and Rosalie Regen about being Quakers and the Alternative to Violence Program, 1980 (#61), the Memorial Service held for Curt Regen at Plainfield Monthly Meeting, 1989 (#62), and the Memorial Service held for Rosalie Regen at Medford Leas, NJ, 1993 (#63).
  2. Removed to RG5 Rosalie Regan Papers Oversize: Germantown Friends School and Radcliffe College diplomas and Cum Laude certificate.
  3. Removed to PA 53: Rosalie and Curt Regen Slide Collection
  4. Removed to PA 58: Regen Family Photographs

Books removed from the collection and added to FHL stacks:

  1. Cooley, Rossa_B. School Acres an Adventure in Rural Education.
  2. Creasey, Maurice A. Sacraments A Quaker Approach. London: FHSC reprint, 1960.
  3. Curtis, Anna L. Brother Sam.
  4. Garner, Dorothy K. Reminiscences of Powell House Beginnings.
  5. Otto, Heinrich. Werden Und Wesen Des Quakertums und seine entwicklung in Deutschland.
  6. Penn, William. Some Fruits of Solitude. Introduction by Edmund Gosse. London: Archibald Constable & Co Ltd., 1907.
  7. Steere, Douglas V. On Speaking Out of the Silence.
  8. Stork, C.W. The Vineyard and the Sea.
  9. Vipont, Elfrida. A Lily Among Thorns: Some Passages in the Life of Margaret Fell of Swarthmoor Hall. London:
  10. Miscellaneous
  11. Transforming the Universe: A Study of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Rabindranath Tagore, Anonymous, 1972, removed to PG7 file on Tagore.
  12. Oil portrait of Rosalie Regen added to picture closet.
  13. Watercolor of Bad Pyrmont Meeting House, Germany added to Oversize Meeting Houses, Foreign.
  14. Miscellaneous postcards of Meeting Houses added to General Meeting House File.

Processing Information

Received unprocessed but partially sorted into boxes by Richard Regen.

Title
Rosalie Regen Papers, 1856-1993
Author
RKO
Date
1994
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Find It at the Library

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