Bryn
Mawr College Library Special Collections
Part I: Description
Special Collections Department, Bryn Mawr College Library
Collection Number:M 12
Copyright © 2001 by Special Collections Department, Bryn Mawr College Library
Extent
Total Boxes: 4
Linear Feet: 2.7
Administrative Information
Provenance
Purchased from Franklin Gilliam Rare Books, Charlottesville, VA, January 2001.
Ownership & Literary Rights
The Louise Heron Blair Daura Collection is the physical property of the Special Collections Department, Bryn Mawr College Library. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns.
Cite as:
Louise Heron Blair Daura Collection, Special Collections Department, Bryn Mawr College Library
Restrictions on Access
This collection is open for research.
LOUISE HERON BLAIR DAURA (1905-1972)
Louise Heron Blair Daura was the daughter of Lewis Harvie Blair, a banker
and manufacturer, and his second wife, Martha Ruffin Field. Louise graduated
from Bryn Mawr College in 1927. The wealthy Blair family lived in Richmond,
Virginia, but after the death of Louise's father in 1916, her mother and sister
Jean began to travel. Upon graduating from Bryn Mawr with a degree in English,
Louise traveled to Vienna and Paris. In 1928 in Paris, she married her art teacher,
the Catalan painter Pierre Daura. They lived in Paris for two years, then moved
to Saint Cirq-la-Popie, a small town in Southern France. They restored their
own house, built in 1236, and painted numerous frescoes within it. Martha, their
only child, was born on September 24, 1930.
Pierre joined the Spanish Republican Army in 1937, while Louise and Martha
remained in Saint Cirq-la-Popie. Louise wrote a series of letters to her family
about going to visit Pierre while he was on leave in Barcelona in 1938. These
letters vividly describe the living conditions and damage done to the towns
of Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Pierre was wounded at the Battle of Teruel
and sent home to France in 1938. In 1939, the Dauras went to Virginia, where
they remained until 1947. After the war the Spanish government revoked Pierre's
citizenship. After 1947, the Dauras lived in both Saint Cirq-la-Popie and Virginia.
Louise lectured, and researched and documented pre-historic cave art in France
as well. She was also a member of the Archaeological Society of America and
the Société Préhistorique de France. Both she and Pierre
continued to paint. Louise died on November 10, 1972, in Rockbridge Baths, Virginia.
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
The collection includes letters to Louise while she was at Bryn Mawr as
well as letters written to her from family and friends while she traveled in
Europe during the 1920s. There are a series of letters that she wrote to her
family while living in France after her marriage. The letters give rich descriptions
of the life of an American living in Europe before and during the Spanish Civil
War. The collection also contains Louise's essays and other writings from Bryn
Mawr, giving a sense of what Bryn Mawr was like in the mid-1920s.
Series I, Correspondence, is arranged by writer and then chronologically. Many of the letters are from Louise's mother and sisters. There are a series of letters written to Louise at Bryn Mawr from both her mother and her sister Jean while they were abroad in Europe during the winters of 1924-5 and 1926-7, which are separated from the rest of their letters. There are also letters to Louise written by friends from Bryn Mawr during the mid-1920s and a group of letters of advice from a consultation by questionnaire with the professional mystic Brown Landone. Drafts of Louise's letters to her family before and during the Spanish Civil War from Saint Cirq-la-Popie are included.
Series II, Other Papers, is divided into
"Bryn Mawr," "Writings," "Photographs," and "Other
Materials." "Bryn Mawr" includes her compositions for class and
her pamphlet, "The Idea of a College," a tongue-in-cheek rewriting
of Bryn Mawr social life as a caste system based on seniority. It also includes
Exam Insurance forms from a "company" that Louise formed with Edith
Parsons, a friend from Bryn Mawr, for students to insure themselves against
failing an exam. "Writings" includes a typewritten novel, "Rounding
Out," and two shorter works. The two photographs are of the Cloisters and
Jean Field Blair. "Other Materials" includes clippings, quotes, Louise's
passport, her sketchbook from 1925, a notebook, and an index card file entitled:
"Girls I Have Known," with comments on, and small photos of, some
of her classmates.
Processing and description by Michelle Strizever.
Last Update: January 9, 2006 , Special Collections at SpecColl@brynmawr.edu
