Finding Aid to the E. McClung Fleming Symbols of America Research Papers

Edward McClung (“Mac”) Fleming was born in India, where his father was a missionary; the family returned to the United States when he was three years old. He received a B.A. degree from Yale University, and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in American intellectual and cultural history from Columbia University. Dr. Fleming taught history at Forman College, Lahore, India for two years, then taught at the College of the City of New York for seven years. During World War II, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army. From 1947 to 1955, Dr. Fleming was professor of history and dean at Park College in Parkville, Missouri. In 1955, he came to Winterthur Museum as head of the Education Division, a position he held until his retirement in 1974. His responsibilities included educating tour guides, organizing school tours, presenting seminars and conferences, and teaching in the joint Winterthur Museum/University of Delaware Program in Early American Culture.

After retiring from Winterthur, Dr. Fleming researched symbols of America, in preparation for writing a book which Winterthur hoped to publish. Unfortunately, Dr. Fleming died on May 30, 1994, before completing the work.

Dr. Fleming was married to Patricia Crew Fleming. She was an artist and a guide at Winterthur, and was very interested in Chinese export porcelain and English ceramics. They had three sons and one daughter.

Most of the materials in the collection are notes and pictures, including photographs and slides, collected by Dr. Fleming for his book on symbols of America. Drafts of most of the chapters are included, as are copies of lectures delivered by Dr. Fleming, and information about Winterthur Museum. Some of the lectures were about symbols of America; the others covered a range of topics relating to history, material culture, and museums. There are also a number of slides from Winterthur's Education Department; most of these depict historic sites, 18th and early 19th century costumes, and Winterthur Summer Institutes. None of them seem to have any relation to his research on symbols of America.

The collection is organized in two groups, reflecting Dr. Fleming's arrangement of his papers; there is overlap between them in terms of subject matter. Boxes 1-15 comprise the first group, boxes 16-34 the second.

In the first group, boxes 1-4 contain drafts of most of the chapters of Dr. Fleming's book. Lectures delivered by him are found in boxes 4, 5, and 8. Boxes 10-15 contain note cards. The rest of the boxes in this group hold notes about some American symbols and information about Winterthur Museum.

The second group of papers (boxes 16-34) consists mostly of correspondence, but also includes notes about different symbols. Box 16 houses materials pertaining to Dr. Fleming's book: outline, contract, expense reports. Box 17 includes correspondence. Boxes 18-21 hold materials about some of the specific symbols that Dr. Fleming researched. Boxes 22-27 contain miscellaneous materials relating to the book project. Boxes 28-31 house slides, most of which depict images of the different symbols. Slides from Winterthur's Education Department are found in boxes 30-31. Most of these slides are labeled with a letter and number scheme (G-1, G-2, etc.), and they have been arranged in that order, although it is not known what the letters signify. Boxes 32 and 33 contain more note cards; the cards in Box 32 relate to the slides. In Box 34 are found books which Dr. Fleming consulted and in which he made notes while researching symbols of America.

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Gift of the Fleming family estate

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION Repository Code: DeWint File name: col582.xml Abstract: E. McClung Fleming was head of the Education Department at Winterthur Museum from 1955 to 1974. After retirement, he researched symbols of America in preparation for writing a book on the subject, which was not yet completed when he died in 1994. Extent: 16 feet Date range: Ca. 1960-1994 Related materials: Language: English Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera Winterthur, DE 19735 (302) 888-4853 E. McClung Fleming Symbols of America Research Papers Col. 582 Creator: E. McClung Fleming Title: Symbols of America Research Papers Dates: ca. 1960-1994 Call No.: Col. 582 Acc. No.: 95×21 Quantity: 34 boxes Location: 35 I-J

Books:

Box 34

Coin Dictionary and Guide, by C.C. Chamberlain and Fred Reinfeld, 1960;

1960;

Report on “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “Hail Columbia,” “America,” “Yankee Doodle,” by Oscar George Theodore Sonneck, 1972;

1972;

Songbook of the American Revolution, by Carolyn Rabson, 1974;

1974;

So Proudly We Hail: The History of the United States Flag, by William Rea Furlong and Byron McCandless, 1981.

1981.

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