Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1947-2008 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
2.75 Linear Feet
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Tillie Yoder Nauraine was born in 1920 to Amish parents near Kokomo, Indiana. She was the third of seven children. She left home at age 21 to pursue an education, studying at a private Mennonite school in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Hesston College, and Goshen College.
As a young woman, she was instrumental in founding Camp Ebenezer, a summer camp for poor African American children from Chicago. The camp was located on her father's farm, and Voluntary Service provided four staff members.
She met her husband, Joe Nauraine, at Goshen College, and they married in 1952.
Together they moved to Puerto Rico and worked at a children's home. for five years. They returned to Indiana, where her husband received an M.A. in social work. They later moved to Iowa, where they both held social worker positions. They had four children together. Joe Nauraine died in 1975.
In 1985, Tillie Yoder Nauraine returned to Northern Indiana and opened a doll shop, in which she hand-made dolls, many of her own creation. She died in 2010 in Goshen, Indiana.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The richest materials in the collection are Tillie Yoder Nauraine's writings, including poetry, essays, articles, diaries, and an autobiography. In them, she documents her personal experiences, domestic life, professional interests, travels, relationships with family members, and her religious beliefs. She writes openly about her abuse as a child and her difficult marriage.
Also of particular note is a scrapbook of photographs of her family and her work at Camp Ebenezer and the Peurto Rican home for boys.
Other material in the collection includes incoming personal correspondence, information about her doll shop and patterns, and photos of her hand-made dolls.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
Autobiography, 1975; Poems; Joe Naurraine materials; Correspondence; doll materials: February 18, 2003
Scrapbook, circa 1955; Wedding scrapbook, 1952; doll photographs, undated: June 25, 2010
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
This collection is open to the public.
Conditions governing reproduction
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. Copyright not owned by the Mennonite Church USA Archives.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Camp Ebenezer (Holmes Co., Ohio) (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
2010-06-25
Language(s)
- English