Biography of an Educator's Life During Wartime: Dorothy Walker's Letters, 1939–1944, Birmingham, England

• In Event: 49.054 - Research Stages in Historical and Biographical Inquiry

Abstract

Between 1939 and 1944, twice a week, Dorothy Walker, a 30-year-old school principal (Head Teacher) in Birmingham England, wrote to her fiancée Stanley Chamberlain who lived on the other side of the city. Reporting on day-to-day activities of her family life, job, and the world, the letters offer a remarkable insight into a woman’s life at a remarkable time. Dorothy began her career as a Head Teacher in January, 1940, as the wartime impact on the city was entering a fever pitch and city schools were subject to evacuations, air raids, general trauma and urban disruption, and significant shortages of coal, paper, and staff.

Author

• Kate B. Rousmaniere, Miami University