Finding Aid for Margaret Agnes Delaney Scrapbook and Papers, 1923-1949 | University of Illinois Archives

Title: Margaret Agnes Delaney Scrapbook and Papers, 1923-1949

ID: 41/20/310

Primary Creator: Margaret Agnes Delaney (1898-1981)

Extent: 0.5 cubic feet

Date Acquired: 06/02/2023

Subjects: Altgeld Hall, Baccalaureate, Commencement, Grange, Gregorian Society, Gymkhana, National Society of Scabbard and Blade, Sachem, Sigma Xi, Tobacco, Wesley Foundation

Scrapbook and papers of Margaret Alice Delaney (1898-1981), (B.A. Journalism, 1924).  Scrapbook is an incredibly detailed record of Margaret Delaney’s experiences during the 1923-1924 school year at the University of Illinois.  It includes documents from her quarantine for scarlet fever, documents related to the 1924 commencement, handwritten lists (of her friends, professors, dates, sayings, poems, and favorite memories), invitations, newspaper clippings, playbills and newspaper clippings (advertising the Wesley Players, the Rialto and Virginia Theaters), programs for debates and commencement, the cover for her thesis, and writings (mostly poetry).

Also included are copies of an autobiographical sketch written by Delaney and an article profiling her for a 1949 issue of the South Dakotan.

Margaret Agnes Delaney was born on September 17th, 1898 in South Dakota, a daughter of Bernard and Alice Marie (Lynch) Delaney.  She attended the University of Chicago, Northern College (Aberdeen, SD), the University of Minnesota, and graduated from the University of Illinois in 1924 with a bachelor's degree in journalism.  She later earned a master's degree from the University of Missouri in the same subject.  She had a long and successful career as a writer, both for newspapers across the United States and in personal poetry and prose. 

She was a charter member of the South Dakota Press Women, and had, as of 1949, won more than 60 awards in South Dakota literature contests.  In part of her career, she specialized in writing farm articles and features.  In addition to her membership in women's journalism groups, she was involved with and helped publicize many other civic organizations.  She finished her career with the Humboldt Times of Eureka, CA.

Margaret Delaney died on January 4th, 1981, and is buried in the Delaney family plot of St. Boniface Cemetery, Clark, SD.

Altgeld Hall
Baccalaureate
Commencement
Grange
Gregorian Society
Gymkhana
National Society of Scabbard and Blade
Sachem
Sigma Xi
Tobacco
Wesley Foundation

Repository: University of Illinois Archives

Acquisition Source: Alyce Leach

URL: https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/uasfa/4120310.pdf

PDF finding aid for Margaret Agnes Delaney Scrapbook and Papers (41/20/310)