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Title
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Finding Aid for the Fannie Mae Turner Collection
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extracted text
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Collection Summary
Title
Fannie Mae Turner Collection
Date
1920s to 2008
Extent
5 archival boxes
Name and Location of Repository
Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence (Mo.)
Reference code: MGC 1175-FMTC
Processed by: Jolene Clark, 2019; finding aid created by Jolene Clark, 2019
Name of Creator
Fannie Mae (Twombly) Turner
Biographical History
Fannie Mae Twombly was born in Arcadia, Kansas in 1918. She was the daughter of Emma and Archie
Twombly. She had two siblings, Archie and Ruth, and one half-sister, Billie Mae, from her mother’s
second marriage to Walter Hughes. Her father remarried to a woman named Nellie. Her mother, Emma
“Etta” Foulk, was the daughter of John Foulk and Lydia Moore who lived in Arcadia, Kansas. Her father,
Archie Twombly, was the son of Nathanial “Nat” Twombly and Martha Starns who settled in Crawford
County, Kansas in the town of Dearing in the early 1900s.
Buford H. Turner was born in Kansas in 1911 and was the son of James B. Turner and Ida Troy. James B.
Turner was the son of Micajah Wilson Turner and Priscilla Elizabeth Fields. The Turner family came to
Bourbon County Kansas from Missouri in the late 1800s.
Fannie Mae married Burford on November 11, 1933 and together they had one son, Jimmie Arthur
Turner. The family lived in Independence, Missouri. Fannie Mae desired to be an artist at a young age.
Her husband built an art studio for her and encouraged her to paint. She attended the Kansas City Art
Institute and over her lifetime received many honors for her work including portraits, scenes and still
lifes. Fannie Mae remained active in her art into her 90s. She passed away at the age of 99 in
Independence, Missouri on August 7, 2017.
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Scope and Content
This collection mainly contains correspondence received by Fannie Mae from her family and friends. The
correspondence begins when she is a teenager in the 1930s and continues throughout her life. She had
lifelong correspondence with many family members, many which lived to be in their 90s. Other items in
the collection include notecards and greeting cards that Fannie created. The cards were used by friends
to write to Fannie Mae. Over the years Fannie Mae saved invitations to weddings, baby showers,
anniversary parties, and class reunions. She kept birth announcements and funeral notices as well. A
sampling of the numerous cards that was originally donated represent the types cards mailed to Fannie
Mae and Buford. They include some cards given to Fannie Mae as a child in the 1920s as well as to her
son, Jimmie, in the 1940s
The letters not only provide important genealogical information about the family, but include
information about the communities in Kansas and Missouri in which the families lived. The letters
provide insight into the time in which the individuals lived. Fannie was born in 1918, a year where war
and influenza, impacted the country. A 1918 Club was later started for anyone born in that year.
Fannie’s correspondence from a friend includes information about that club in the area. The family
corresponded through the Depression. Fannie received several “Prosperity Club” chain letters in 1935.
This first chain letter encouraged recipients to copy send a dime, copy the letter and send it to five of
their friends. The chain letters that year almost shut down post offices across the country. During World
War II, Fannie received letters from family and friends serving in the military. One letter kept by Fannie
was a letter from a family in her hometown notifying them that their son was missing and presumed
dead. Later in life, Fannie received post cards from her family and friends as they traveled throughout
the country and the world. As older generations passed away, younger generations of children and
grandchildren continued sending letters to Fannie Mae.
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Collection Inventory
System of Arrangement
These records are arranged in 3 series.
Box 1
Series 1, Buford’s family Correspondence
Subseries 1, Letters from mother-in-law
Folder 1, 1930s letters from Ida (Troy) Turner
Folder 2, 1940s letters from Ida (Troy) Turner
Folder 3, 1950s letters from Ida (Troy) Turner
Subseries 2, Correspondence between Fannie Mae and Buford
Folder 1, From Fannie Mae to Buford
Folder 2, From Buford to Fannie May
Subseries 3, Other relatives
Folder 1, Mike Turner (grandson)
Folder 2, Jimmie Turner (son)
Folder 3, Other Turner relatives
Series 2, Fannie’s family Correspondence
Subseries 1, Letters from father
Folder 1, Letters from Archie and Nellie Twombly
Subseries 2, Letters from mother
Folder 1, undated letters from Emma (Foulk) Twombly Hughes
Folder 2, 1930s letters from Emma (Foulk) Twombly Hughes
Folder 3, 1940-1942 letters from Emma (Foulk) Twombly Hughes
Folder 4, 1943-1950 letters from Emma (Foulk) Twombly Hughes
Box 2
Subseries 3, Letters from grandparents
Folder 1, undated letters from Martha (Starns) Twombly
Folder 2, 1930s letters from Martha (Starns) Twombly
Folder 3, 1940-1942 letters from Martha (Starns) Twombly
Folder 4, 1943-1947 letters from Martha(Starns) Twombly
Folder 5, 1948-1949 letters from Martha (Starns) Twombly
Folder 6, 1950s-1960s letters from Martha (Starns) and Nat Twombly
Folder 7, 1970s letters from Lydia (Moore) Foulk
Box 3
Subseries 4, Letters from brother
Folder 1, 1934-1944 letters from Archie Twombly
Folder 2, 1945-1994 letters from Archie and Betty Twombly
Subseries 5, Letters from sister
Folder 1, undated letters from Ruth Twombly
Folder 2, 1930s letters from Ruth Twombly
Folder 3, 1940s letters from Ruth Twombly
Folder 4, 1950s letters from Ruth Twombly
Folder 5, 1980s letters from Ruth (Twombly) Evans
Folder 6, 1990s letters from Ruth (Twombly) Evans
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Folder 7, Letters from Billie Mae (Hughes) Peck
Box 4
Subseries 6, Other relatives
Folder 1, Vida (Foulk) Cullman (aunt)
Folder 2, Violet (Foulk) Wilson (aunt) and Barbara Wilson
Folder 3, Wanda Lee (Foulk) Tullis (aunt)
Folder 4, Dennis Twombly (nephew)
Folder 5, Bob Twombly
Series 3, Other Correspondence
Subseries 1, Letters from friends
Folder 1, Louise and Ralph Barnett
Folder 2, Lillian (Adkins) Netz
Subseries 2, Letters from various friends by date
Folder 1, undated
Folder 2, 1930s
Folder 3, 1940s
Folder 4, 1950s
Folder 5, 1960s
Folder 6, 1970s
Box 6
Folder 7, 1980s
Folder 8, 1990s
Folder 9, 2000s
Subseries 3, Miscellaneous
Folder 1, Miscellaneous correspondence
Folder 2, Announcements, invitations, anniversaries, reunions, funerals
Folder 3, Cards designed by Fannie Mae
Folder 4, Valentine cards
Folder 5, Christmas cards
Folder 6, Easter cards
Folder 7, Birthday cards
Folder 8, Mother’s and Father’s Day cards
Folder 9, Anniversary, thank you, get well, and sympathy cards
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Rights and Access
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research use by appointment.
Physical Access
Most records within this collection are housed within file folders.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the Midwest Genealogy Center.
Languages and Scripts of the Material
Materials in the collection are entirely in English.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection was donated by Andrea Hughes.
Accruals
No further accruals are expected for this collection.
Existence and Location of Originals
Originals owned by the Midwest Genealogy Center.
Notes
The following sources were consulted during the preparation of the biographical history:
Ancestry.com. United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com
Operations, Inc.
Find A Grave. Find A Grave.
Mortaljourney. “Send a Dime Chain Letter (1930's).” Mortal Journey, 29 Dec. 2010,
www.mortaljourney.com/2010/11/1930-trends/the-prosperity-or-send-a-dime-chain-letter-fad.
Patrick, Nikki. “NO PLACE LIKE HOME.” Morning Sun, Morning Sun, 7 Nov. 2008,
www.morningsun.net/x1720643989/NO-PLACE-LIKE-HOME.
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