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Marion E. Grusky Rucker collection, 1919-2017 (majority within 1940s-1950s)

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Summary

Creator:
Rucker, Marion E. Grusky, 1919-2015
Abstract:
The Marion E. Grusky Rucker Collection contains materials reflecting on her service in the United States Navy Reserves from 1943 to 1961, her naval training and education, her promotions from ensign to lieutenant commander, and her work as a teacher and career consultant. A personal narrative describing her naval training exercise in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1945 and other items reflect aspects of sexism in the military during and following the Second World War.
Extent:
0.5 linear feet
Language:
English
Authors:
Collection processed and finding aid created by Jayne Ptolemy, December 2023

Background

Scope and Content:

The Marion E. Grusky Rucker Collection contains materials reflecting on her service in the United States Navy Reserves from 1943 to 1961, her naval training and education, her promotions from ensign to lieutenant commander, and work as a teacher and career consultant. A personal narrative describing her naval training exercise in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1945 and other items reflect aspects of sexism in the military during and following the Second World War.

The Correspondence Series contains letters sent to Marion E. Grusky Rucker, principally written in the 1950s and concerning her naval appointments, her coursework, and teaching opportunities, including her year abroad teaching with a Fulbright Scholarship. Several letters relate to her release from active duty and its impact on her coursework at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1953. One letter written by Donald Rucker to his mother announces his upcoming marriage to Marion E. Grusky. One undated letter written by Rucker's granddaughter is also present.

The Documents Series includes materials relating to Rucker's naval career, including personnel paperwork concerning her appointments, promotions, education, leaves and discharges, retirement, and other matters. The series also contains various instructions and orders, and authorization to wear the American Campaign Medal and American Theatre Victory Ribbon. The partially printed document appointing Rucker as a Reserve Officer at the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy in October 1956 uses male pronouns, indicating gendered expectations for the officer class. Personal affairs are also reflected, including her birth certificate, the official change of her last name to Grusky in 1948, her work permit allowing her to teach in England in 1958, and her resume. Three passports date from 1958, 1970, and 1975.

The Writings Series consists of typed accounts, speech notes, drafts, and a eulogy. Two accounts produced by Rucker and her colleague Dorothy Weeks on September 14, 1945, detail a trip to Norfolk, Virginia, to attend training exercises aboard the U.S.S. Beverly Reid. They discuss how they circumvented sexism to secure travel arrangements to Norfolk, their accommodations, and observations of the ship and its crew. In Rucker's account she wrote, "The day before I called and called trying to get reservation on the Nats, but all I got with my feminine voice was the run around. Being persistant [sic] and determined, I had a man lend us his voice to persuade the WAVE that we had to have passage on the 4:30 Plane. Being a man, his charm did the trick and we were put on the list." She also referred to other instances of gender and sexism. She also noted the captain showing her and Weeks a scrapbook that included photos, notes, and souvenirs relating to his tours, including photographs of women. The captain took their photo without warning, and Rucker reflected, "I suppose that we will be added to the collection." The later typed version of Rucker's account includes an additional page of reminiscences about her service as a USNR Communications officer, with a final thought that, "A male first name may have permitted me to be sent (to the amusement of my CO) on some unusual assignments. i.e. being aboard a submarine and other small craft while on training maneuvers with rarely another WAVE in the group." Weeks' account parallels Rucker's, offering different details and perspectives on their assigned mission.

The speech notes reflect Rucker's consulting work focusing on women, especially teachers, their career development, goal-setting, and self-appraisal. Other notes document Rucker's biographical events, listing out employment, her work undertaken as a Fulbright Scholar, and places she lived.

Lee Rucker Keiser's eulogy for her mother is included, entitled "A Four C's Woman of the World," commenting on Rucker's life and their relationship.

The Diary Series consists of one volume Rucker maintained during her year teaching in Norwich, England, from 1958 to 1959, describing daily life, work at the school, visits with her husband Donald who was working at the University of Birmingham, and travels in Europe during vacations. A list of her cash account for the year and a list of school vacations for herself and Don are also present, and two photographs of Rucker are laid in to the volume.

The Printed Materials Series includes a copy of The Buckeye Way: A Unique Guide to Columbus and Franklin County (1974), written by Marion Rucker and Anne Lapidus, with a newspaper clipping about the publication laid in. Newspaper articles concerning Rucker's naval career, a copy of her obituary, and a printed family memorial booklet produced following her death are also present.

The Photographs Series consists of 15 photographs. They depict Marion E. Grusky Rucker in uniform, both in formal portraits and informal snapshots with colleagues, at an Officer's Club dinner at Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and in her doctoral robe at her graduation from the University of Michigan in 1963, as well as several personal photographs.

Biographical / Historical:

Marion Estelle Grusky was born on June 18, 1919, in Newburgh, New York to Harry Grusky and Anita C. Grusky. She earned a teaching certificate from the New Paltz Normal School in 1940 and underwent officer training at Smith College in 1943. She attended the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, for communications instruction in 1953, but her course of study was interrupted by release to inactive duty. She underwent instructor training at the U.S. Naval School in Great Lakes, Illinois, in 1956. She received three degrees from the University of Michigan: a B.A. in 1948, a M.A. in 1954, and a Ph.D. in 1963.

She served in the United States Navy Reserve between 1943 and 1961, working in communications and cryptography. She was commissioned as an ensign in August 1943 and served at the U.S. Harbor Defense Base in Boston from 1943 to 1945 and at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington, D.C., from 1945 to 1946. She was promoted to lieutenant in 1946. From 1950 to 1953 she served as the Communications Division Officer at the United States Naval Supply Depot in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and was promoted to lieutenant commander in 1956. She retired from the Navy on December 1, 1961.

Marion E. Grusky Rucker taught at a number of schools, including in Alburgh, Vermont; Winchendon, Massachusetts; the U.S. Army Dependent School in Kumanoto, Japan; the Norwich Training College in Norwich, England, under a Fulbright Scholarship; Highland Park Community College; and the National College of Education in Evanston, Illinois.

Following her career with the Navy and teaching, Rucker worked as a career consultant, with a particular focus on teachers.

On September 27, 1957, she married T. Donald Rucker, who received degrees from Miami University, Ohio State University, and Syracuse University. Together they had one daughter, Nancy Lee Rucker, born in 1960, who went on to marry Matthew Keiser in 1994 and have one daughter, Lindsay Ruth Keiser, in 2001, all three of whom graduated from the University of Michigan.

Marion E. Grusky Rucker died on June 19, 2015, in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Acquisition Information:
Donated by Lee Rucker Keiser, 2023. M-7778 .
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in the following series:
  • Correspondence
  • Documents
  • Writings
  • Diary
  • Printed Materials
  • Photographs
Rules or Conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Contents

Using These Materials

Info for Visitors

How to Request

Ordering Reproductions

Download PDF Finding Aid
RESTRICTIONS:

The collection is open for research.

USE & PERMISSIONS:

Copyright status is unknown

PREFERRED CITATION:

Marion E. Grusky Rucker Collection, William L. Clements Library, The University of Michigan