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Lois Dozier Norvell papers
Descriptive Summary | |
| Repository: | Georgia Historical Society |
| Creator: | Norvell, Lois Dozier, (Evelyn Dozier), 1917-1986. |
| Title: | Lois Dozier Norvell papers |
| Dates: | 1917-1994 |
| Extent: | 1.5 cubic feet 7 boxes |
| Identification: | MS 1690 |
Biographical/Historical Note
Evelyn "Lois" Dozier Norvell (1917-1986) was born in Athens, Georgia, on December 24, 1917. Her parents were Obedience "Obie" Rogers Dozier, Sr. (1888-1939) and Alice Louise Brinkley (1888-1967). Lois' siblings were Roger Dozier and Alice "Lallie" Dozier Benkoski. On February 19, 1949, Lois married Lauren Gardiner Norvell (1910-1981), cousin of Oliver Hardy. Lauren was a graduate of Emory University (Atlanta, Ga.) and a reporter for the sports department of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Nancy Kathleen Norvell (1957-1994), born in Atlanta, Georgia, was their only child. Nancy married Timothy Lee Boaz on May 20, 1989. She had a Ph.D. in psychology and was taking flying lessons in Florida when her airplane ran out of fuel. Nancy died in the subsequent airplane crash on February 8, 1994, and is buried at Shiloh United Methodist Church in Thomson, Georgia.
Lois graduated from Georgia Evening College (now Georgia State University) with a degree in Business Administration on May 25, 1942. During World War II, Lois sent and received letters from men and women in military service. most of her correspondents were students form Georgia Evening College. Once a month, Lois published a newsletter providing information about the soldiers with whom she corresponded. Lois received awards and public notoriety for this and her other activities in the war effort. In February, 1967, she received a USO certificate in recognition of her distinguished service to the nation through United Service Organizations. In 1947, Lois served as chairman of the Office of Price Administration Information Panel in Newnan, Georgia. During World War II, Lois was advertising manager for Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, but she relinquished the job when the former advertising manager returned from the war.
Lois began her writing career early in life and won several prizes for her writing skills as a teenager. In high school, she was associate editor for central Night School's newspaper, Modern Knight. White attending college, she was editor of the college newspaper, Evening Signal. She later worked as a reporter for the Cobb County Times in Marietta, Georgia, the Newnan Herald in Griffin, Georgia, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for the Society Department in the fashion section as a garden editor. While working as garden editor in 1953, a camellia originated and cultivated by the Central Georgia Nurseries in Macon, Georgia, was named for her, "The Lois Norvell Camellia." From approximately 1954 to 1964, Lois was assistant editor and advertising manager of The Coca Cola Bottler in Atlanta, the company magazine for Coca Cola Company. She died on October 15, 1986 and is buried at Shiloh United Methodist Church in Thomson, Georgia.
The donor of this collection suggests researchers interested in writing about this family should contact her. See Library and Archives staff for her contact information.
Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of Lois Dozier Norvell's correspondence, publications, personal records and memorabilia, and photographs. The collection has been arranged in four series following that order. Lois' primary war correspondents included the following: Dean C. Broome; F.A. (Jack) Brown; Hogan F. Buford; Ed Clark; Frank Cloudt; Don J. Coffee, Jr.; Claudia M. Couch; Bill DeHood; Charles M. Dobbins; Dean E. Dreyer; George R. Edwards; Jack Farr; Joseph F. Forestal, Jr.; J.M. Gregory; Frank E. Hamilton, Jr.; Hugh H. Howell, Jr.; Jean Johnson; Waldo Keller; Jimmie Lacher; Robert C. Lowe, Jr.; Larry Manley; James G. Mason; Robert T. Solenstein; Raymond Styles; Charles W. Swilling; Julian Thomas; Newton M. White. Some letters are addressed to Lois and Caroline Reid, a few to Caroline only. Caroline, one of Lois' close friends, helped her with the newsletter. Lois' family and personal correspondents include her parents, her daughter, her aunts Carolyn Lois "Carrie" Dozier and Eva Brinkley, her uncle Jack Kane, and sister Lallie, in addition to various college friends and coworkers.
The photographs series consists of photographs of Lois, her wartime correspondents, family, and various individuals and groups, both identified and unidentified. Identified soldiers pictured include Grady Banks; Warren Blackmon; Kirby Callaway; John Cash; Jack Cason; John Clark; Frank Cloudt; Neil Crawford; Cliff Darby; Jack Driskell; John Ell; John Ellis; Jack Farr; Hugo Franz; Bubba Hill; Johnny Hill; Bill Jacobs; Jean Johnson; Jan Keller; Bob Lowe, Louis J. Lucas; Jimmy Mason; Millard Poesy; Caroline Reid; Robert T. Solenstein; Edward H. Still; Bill Thomas; Julian J. Thomas; and Peyton Turner. Many of the photographs in the collection are undated or the subjects are unidentified. In addition, the collection contains pictures of Emory University, Lauren's alma mater. Also included in the collection are two of Lois' scrapbooks with photographs of family, friends, and World War II correspondents.
The boxes containing photographs are noted as "VM" (visual materials) in the collection inventory.
Index Terms
Physical and Technical Access Restrictions
Negatives are restricted from patron use.
Administrative Information
Custodial History
Material was acquired from sister of creator.
Preferred Citation
[item identification], Lois Dozier Norvell papers, MS 1690, Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Lallie Dozier Benkoski, 2003-2005
Restrictions
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Georgia Historical Society. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Division of Library and Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Georgia Historical Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
Separated Material
Artifacts were separated and cataloged with the Georgia Historical Society Artifacts Collection. View digital images of artifacts at the end of this collection inventory or search the Digital Image Catalog for further information.
Sponsorship
Encoding funded by a 2012 Documenting Democracy grant from the National Historic Publications and Records Commission.Container List
SERIES 1:: Correspondence, 1934-1986 | |||||||||||||
| This series contains Lois Dozier Norvell's letters from World War II soldiers and other correspondence with friends and relatives that is not directly related to the war. This series is arranged chronologically. | |||||||||||||
| WWII soldiers | |||||||||||||
Box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | October 1941-February 1945. View images: 1 | 2. | |||||||||||
| Online Inventory Contains Digitized Items | |||||||||||||
| Robert T. Solenstein | |||||||||||||
| 3 | March 1945-January 1946 | ||||||||||||
| Parents | |||||||||||||
| 6 | June 1950-September 1960 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | October 1960-March 1966 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | February 1946-June 1948 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | March 1945-May 1946 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Caroline Reid's correspondence with WWII soldiers, February 1945-August 1945 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Family correspondence, circa 1950-August 1980 | ||||||||||||
| 9 | November 1935-February 1951 | ||||||||||||
| 10 | March 1971-May 1986 | ||||||||||||
| 11 | Greeting cards, circa 1934-July 1980 | ||||||||||||
| 12 | Military addresses | ||||||||||||
SERIES 2:: Publications, 1935-1994 | |||||||||||||
| This series contains Lois Dozier Norvell's World War II "Letter to Lois" newsletter, another World War Ii column, "The Boys Write Home," her articles in the Newnan Herald, Cobb County Times, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The collection also contains articles about Lois and those she kept detailing the war and lives of local servicemen as well as clippings with information on her friends and relatives. Also included is a scrapbook arranged by Lois' sister, Alice "Lallie" Benkoski, which primarily holds articles written by Lois in the Cobb County Times, as well as Gen. Jonathan Wainwrights' newspaper column. | |||||||||||||
Box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Modern Knight high school newspaper article by Lois, March 1936 | |||||||||||
| 2-3 | "Letters from Lois" newsletter, March 1943-July 1945. View images: 1 | 2. | ||||||||||||
| duplicates 2-3 | |||||||||||||
| Online Inventory Contains Digitized Items | |||||||||||||
| 4 | "The Boys Write Home" column in Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 1944-December 1944 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Newnan Herald articles by Lois, May 1945-April 1946 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Cobb County Times articles by Lois, March 1945-November 1945 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Scrapbook of Cobb County Times articles arranged by Lallie Benkoski, August 1944-April 1946 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Atlanta Journal-Constitution articles by Lois, July 1946-April 1953 | ||||||||||||
| Articles | |||||||||||||
Box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 2 | 9 | Lois, circa 1935-October 1986 | |||||||||||
| 10 | About or by Lois' friends and relatives, January 1942-February 1994 | ||||||||||||
| 11 | Gen. Jonathan Wainwright's WWII newspaper column, October-November 1945 | ||||||||||||
| 12 | Miscellaneous articles, October 1936-June 1966 | ||||||||||||
SERIES 4:: Photographs, 1917-1992 | |||||||||||||
| This series contains photographs of Lois, her wartime correspondents, family, and various individuals and groups, both identified and unidentified. Photographs unrelated to Lois' wartime activities have been arranged according to the subject's personal relationship with Lois, including her husband and daughter, Lauren Gardiner Norvell and Nancy Kathleen Norvell. | |||||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Identified military | |||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Unidentified military | |||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Robert T. Solenstein | |||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Kirby and Marian Callaway | |||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 5-8 | Evelyn "Lois" Norvell. View images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25. | |||||||||||
| Online Inventory Contains Digitized Items | |||||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Lois Norvell Camellia | |||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 10-12 | Lauren Norvell | |||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 13-15 | Nancy Norvell | |||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 2 | 1-2 | Identified individuals and groups | |||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 2 | 3-5 | Unidentified individuals and groups | |||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 2 | 6 | Emory University (Atlanta, Ga.) | |||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 2 | 7 | Miscellaneous exterior | |||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 2 | 8 | Miscellaneous interior | |||||||||||
| Scrapbook | |||||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | Lois' WWII correspondents | |||||||||||
vm_box | Fldr | ||||||||||||
| 3 | 2 | Lois' family and friends | |||||||||||
vm_box | |||||||||||||
| 4 | Negatives | ||||||||||||
| RESTRICTED | |||||||||||||
| Artifacts | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-001 Patch with a blue background and two overlapping white squares View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-002 Army-Navy insignia guide View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-003 Lois Dozier’s name tag for the Georgia Press Association’s 58th annual conference View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-004 Lois Dozier’s name tag for the Georgia Press Association’s 57th annual conference View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-005 Lois Dozier’s name tag for the Cobb County Times with and attached ”Editor” ribbon View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-006 Visitor badge 99 for the Bell Aircraft Corporation View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-007 Lois Dozier’s paper name badge for the 12th Annual Meeting of the Georgia Municipal Association in Atlanta View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-008 Small plastic paperweight with an image of the September 1963 cover of the magazine View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-009 Silver card with an image of a woman being offered a Coke View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-010 Matchbook cover from the Southeast Air Corps Training Center at Gunter Field in Alabama View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-011 Matchbook cover printed with an image of Donald Duck in an eggshell wearing pilot gear on one side View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-012 Matchbook cover from the Waverly Hotel in Columbus, Georgia View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-013 Matchbook cover from Kugler’s in Philadelphia View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-014 Pair of tickets for the Army War Show in Ponce de Leon Park in Atlanta in 1942 View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-015 Pair of ticket stubs for the Georgia Tech vs. Georgia football game at Georgia Tech’s Grant Field View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-016 Ticket for the November 28, 1942 Georgia Tech. vs. Georgia football game View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-017 Ticket for the December 2, 1944 Georgia Tech. vs. Georgia football game View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-018 Complimentary ticket for the November 30, 1940 Georgia Tech vs. Georgia football game View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-019 Ticket for the Georgia Tech vs. Georgia football game View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-020 Two tickets for a supper dance at the Atlanta Biltmore View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-021 Ticket to the Manager’s Benefit Dance at the Shrine Mosque View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-022 Ticket stub for the Shubert Theatre on April 24, 1943 View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-023 Hat check ticket #60439 from the Teche Greyhound Line between Columbus and Atlanta View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-024 Baggage check ticket #412703 from the Teche Greyhound Line line between Columbus and Atlanta, Georgia View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-025 Paper napkin from the wedding of Lois Dozier and Lauren Norvell, February 19, 1949 View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-026 Key attached to a series of three key chains View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-027 A "stir-pic" swizzle stick and cocktail fork combined from Windsor Castles north of Atlanta, Georgia View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-028 A "stir-pic" swizzle stick and cocktail fork combined from Anchorage Club at the Hotel Clermont in Atlanta, Georgia View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-029 A "stir-pic" swizzle stick and cocktail fork combined from the Ship Ahoy restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia View online. | |||||||||||||
| A-1690-030 A "stir-pic" swizzle stick and cocktail fork combined from the George Washington Hotel, in Jacksonville, Florida View online. | |||||||||||||