Frank L. and Edith Cadwallader Howley papers

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Scope and content note

Administrative Information

Controlled Access Headings

Collection Inventory

Early Family Memorabilia

Frank and Edith (née Calwallader) Howley

Family Photographs and Images

Summary Information

Repository

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Creator

Howley, Edith Cadwallader.

Creator

Howley, Frank L., 1903-1993.

Title

Frank L. and Edith Cadwallader Howley papers

ID

3720

Date

1879-1986, undated (Bulk 1912-1962)

Extent

2.8 Linear feet ; 8 boxes, 6 volumes

Author

Finding aid prepared by Susan Kearney.

Language

English

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Scope and content note

Frank L. Howley, born in Hampton, New Jersey in 1903, attended New York University where he played football, baseball and track, formed his own Philadelphia- based advertising company in the 1930s, completed a distinguished military career during and after World War II, worked at New York University, and wrote several books. Howley actively served in the U.S. Army from 1940 to 1949 and worked his way to the rank of brigadier general. Overseas, he fought in the Battle of Normandy and helped re-establish the governments in the French cities of Cherbourg and Paris. He served as deputy commandant (1945-1947) and then commandant (1947-1949) of the U.S.-occupied sector of Berlin, Germany. He played an instrumental role re-instituting that city’s government while dealing with delegations from France, the USSR, and Britain. After discharge from the army in 1949, he and his wife, Edith (nee Cadwallader) and family moved to West Grove, Pennsylvania. He took the position of vice chancellor of New York University and went on to author several books including Berlin Command (1950). His wife Edith died in 1985; he died in Virginia in 1993.

This collection documents the history of the Howley and Cadwallader families, dating from the late 1870s to mid 1980s. There is a substantial collection of correspondence, photographs, photo albums, scrapbooks, and a smattering of legal and genealogical records. These materials are arranged into three series: early family memorabilia, Edith and Frank Howley, and family photographs.

The first series, early family memorabilia, focuses on Edith Cadwallader’s life and family history prior to her marriage to Frank Howley. Edith and her sister Marian were the daughters of Elwood Cadwallader (1880-) and Florence S. Donecker (1879-1916). Elwood and Florence had a contentious relationship resulting in a separation in 1911 and divorce in 1913. Much of the correspondence relates to these family matters and later to Marian’s work as a foreign-service nurse. A small amount of genealogical material develops the Cadwallader line back several generations. Materials related to family reunions of the descendants of Benjamin and Hannah Cadwallader together with a clipping about a John Cadwallader who came to Philadelphia from Wales in 1682 and his son, Thomas Cadwallader, a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, demonstrate the family’s early American roots. Florence Cadwallader (nee Donecker) wrote a family history entitled “The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife.” An autograph book entitled “Mother’s Autographs” contains some literary signatures including one by George Washington Cable. The letters of Elwood and Edith, together with two official divorce decrees (Elwood and Florence D. Cadwallader in 1913, and Marie Helen Shriver and John Jay Shriver in 1915) are interesting windows into their personal lives and the issue of divorce and child custody in the early 20th century. Elwood Cadwallader remarried Marie Helen Young (probably Marie Helen Shriver) on 14 June 1916, the same day his first wife Florence died.

The second series, Edith and Frank Howley, comprises materials almost entirely focused on Frank Howley. Articles, scrapbooks and yearbooks from New York University (1925, 1926) document the collegiate athletic successes of Frank Howley in football and baseball. Later in life, some materials indicate he participated in equine competitions. Certificates, plagues, articles and other memorabilia center on Brigadier General Frank Howley’s military life, activities and writings. In addition to his book about his time in Berlin, Germany post World War II ( Berlin Command, 1950), he wrote a series of articles produced for Collier’s magazine, and an article entitled “Characteristics of Russian Leaders.” His son Peter H. Howley wrote an academic thesis entitled “An Inquiry into the Role of Telepurchasing in the Home Consumer Market,” (1970).

The third series, family photographs, comprises a large collection of images from the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries. There is a daguerreotype of Grandmother Jefferies and a few tintypes, but most of the pictures are 20th century and are housed in several photo albums. There are several formal portraits of Brigadier General Howley. Edith Howley (nee Cadwallader) is noticeable underrepresented beyond her youth and early marriage. One letter dated 1979 suggests the couple separated.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

 Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; 2017.

Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Provenance

Gift of Jeanine Alexander Howley and Peter A. Howley.

Accession number 2013.087.

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Controlled Access Headings

Family Name(s)

• Cawallader.
• Howley.

Genre(s)

• Correspondence.
• Photographs.

Personal Name(s)

• Howley, Jeanine Alexander.
• Howley, Peter A.

Subject(s)

• Divorce--20th century.
• Family life--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.
• Manners and customs--Pennsylvania--20th century.
• Photograph albums.

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Collection Inventory