Cal Poly

Kathleen Goddard Jones Correspondence, 1918-2002 (bulk 1926-1932) MS 173

Pages: Collection Summary | Biographical Note | Scope and Content

Scope and Content Note

The Kathleen Goddard Jones Correspondence, 1918-2002, contains the personal papers of environmental activist Kathleen Goddard Jones of Arroyo Grade, California.

The majority of the collection is comprised of correspondence written by Kathleen Goddard Jones to her parents during her years at college and during her first marriage. The letters, which doubled for Goddard Jones as her personal diary, provide a detailed recounting of her life at Mills and on the East Coast at the height of the Great Depression. Enclosed with her correspondence Goddard Jones often included the correspondence of friends and family or pamphlets and brochures from places she traveled. When possible these additional items are included in the item description.

The collection also includes an assortment of photographs compiled by researchers and family that illustrate her life, from student to environmental activist. The correspondence complements the Kathleen Goddard Jones Papers, 1933-2001, providing an introduction and background to the later environmental work Goddard Jones performed along the Central Coast.

In order to retain historical context, in the collection Kathleen Goddard Jones can be found under the following surnames:

• Kathleen Goddard
• Kathleen Shirazi
• Kathleen Ali-Shirazi
• Kathleen Shirazi Parvaz
• Kathleen Duncan
• Kathleen Goddard Jones

Before arriving at Cal Poly, the collection was arranged in chronological order. During this process, the photographs were separated from the original correspondence. Where possible, the provenance, or original organization, of the papers has been preserved. However, in order to simplify access to the collection for researchers, some materials in specific formats and topics were reorganized and refoldered to more accurately reflect their contents.

The Kathleen Goddard Jones Correspondence is divided into 7 series:

• Series 1. Pre-Collegiate Correspondence, 1921-1926, including Mother’s Day cards and correspondence from her trip to Europe;
• Series 2. Mills College Correspondence, 1927-1929;
• Series 3. Correspondence as Mrs. Kathleen Shirazi, 1929-1932, including programs, pamphlets, and travel ephemera;
• Series 4. Kathleen Goddard Shirazi Manuscript “Passage to Persia,” 1934, typescript for a short story about the Shirazis time in Persia.
• Series 5. Correspondence to Goddard Family, 1918-1929, correspondence from friends of the Goddard family;
• Series 6. Photographs, 1927-2001;
• Series 7. Clippings, 2001-2002

The Kathleen Goddard Jones Correspondence is housed in 6 Hollinger containers, with Series 2. Mills College Correspondence and Series 3 Correspondence as Mrs. Kathleen Shirazi containing the most extensive and unique portions of the collection. The 86,000-word 618-page manuscript in Series 5 recounts her experiences in Persia in the mid-1930s, while the clippings in Series 7 are on the subjects of her passing and a biography on Goddard Jones published in 2001.

Pages: Collection Summary | Biographical Note | Scope and Content