MARILYN LOVELL COLLECTION

Finding Aid

Size: 2.0 linear feet

Literary rights:
Literary rights were not granted to Wichita State University. When permission is granted to examine the manuscripts, it is not an authorization to publish them. Manuscripts cannot be used for publication without regard for common law literary rights, copyright laws and the laws of libel. It is the responsibility of the researcher and his/her publisher to obtain permission to publish. Scholars and students who eventually plan to have their work published are urged to make inquiry regarding overall restrictions on publication before initial research.

Restrictions: None

Content note:
The Marilyn Lovell Collection includes many loose photographs, an album, her baby book, personal correspondence, travel memorabilia, work-related materials, and personal business papers. Ms. Lovell entered the Navy as one of the first WAVES from San Antonio in 1943. Much of the material relates to her career in aviation and space program material procurement, as well as family and social life through the early 1970s.

See also: the George E. Lovell Papers, MS 94-16.

Biographical note:
Marilyn Lloyd Louise Lovell was born August 29, 1920, in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Captain George E. Lovell and Marjorie Victoria Blackburn Lovell. George Lovell graduated from West Point in 1913, beginning a long Army career from the cavalry to aviation. Stationed as military attache to the American Embassy, the family lived in Rome, Italy, from 1927-1932. From 1937-1939 the family was stationed in the Panama Canal Zone. After early studies in Geneva and Paris, Marilyn graduated from high school in Shreveport, Louisiana, attended H. Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans, and graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BA in English in 1942. Upon her entry in the Navy in 1943, Marilyn trained at the United States Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, and earned a commission as an ensign in the Reserves. While in the service, Marilyn was an Aviation Machinist's Mate, assistant to production engineers in the Electronic Components Group, BUAIR, Washington, D. C., until June 1946.

With an Honorable Discharge, Ms. Lovell sold real estate and wrote advertising copy for Mildred Shaw Campbell Realty, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, through 1949. She then married and as Mrs. William Daniel Pratt, Jr., lived in Fredonia, Kansas until 1954. After her divorce, Marilyn served as material and spares clerk for North American Aviation, Inc., at Patrick Air Force Base, in Aviation Missile Control, living in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Her resume indicates her position included "Maintaining Electronic and Mechanical Lab stock material level in support of missile flight test(s) ". From 1957 to 1963, Marilyn worked for Martin-Marietta, Canaveral Division, Cocoa Beach, Florida, as a Material Analyst and as a Procurement Coordinator.

Letters of condolence on the death of her mother in 1957 make up the bulk of one section of her personal correspondence. After this time, material and information is scarce. Her work record is clear from resumes through 1963, when she was searching for another position. After this time, the final information included in the collections relates to a 1974 trip to Rome.

Marilyn Lovell served her country both in the Service and in the Aviation Industry. Her biography as reflected by the material in this collection is incomplete, but serves to illustrate a portion of an important time in United States history and development.

Acquisition: Purchased from Charles Apfelbaum

Processed by: SMH, 5-12-1994; JEF, 4-19-1999