Frances Sanger Mossiker Family Papers:

A Guide

Biographical Note

Frances Sanger Mossiker was an award winning Dallas author best known for writing historical nonfiction. She was born on April 3, 1906, in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of Elihu and Evelyn (Beekman) Sanger. She was the granddaughter of Alexander Sanger, one of the founding brothers of Sanger Brothers and an early Dallas settler and civic leader. She frequently visited her mother's family in France and became fluent in French and German. She died on May 12, 1985.

Frances was educated at the Hockaday School in Dallas and enrolled at Smith College but was prevented by college policy from remaining a student after she eloped with Frank Beaston, an actor, about 1922. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Barnard in 1927, did graduate work at the Sorbonne in Paris, then moved to Detroit and to Hollywood with her husband; the marriage ended in divorce about 1929, and she returned to Dallas. She married businessman Jacob Mossiker on October 15, 1935. They had no children. Frances Mossiker began her writing career as a book reviewer for the Dallas Morning News in the 1930s. When WFAA radio began broadcasts she hosted a book review program and later a daily program, "Woman's World" for KGKO in Fort Worth. Her first book, The Queen's Necklace, was awarded best nonfiction book of the year by the Texas Institute of Letters in 1961. Mossiker had six books published in addition to numerous historical articles and book reviews.

Sources:

• Tyler, Ron, ed. The New Handbook of Texas Volume 4. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1996, pp. 856-857.
• Frances Sanger Mossiker Family Papers, AR423, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library.

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Scope and Contents

The Frances Sanger Mossiker Family Papers are contained in five boxes totaling 1.25 linear feet. They consist primarily of postcards of Europe and family photographs and are arranged in three series.

Series I consists of clippings, letters, travel journal, postcards, and will. This information is regarding the family. A 1911 travel diary traces the family's travels through Europe from July through early September. A 1918 letter from a relative in France, A. Geisenberger, relates his unlawful imprisonment by the Germans in 1914. Clippings include an obituary of an uncle, A. G. Beekman, 1923, a news story about Elihu Sanger, and articles featuring Frances Mossiker, 1969 and 1981. A copy of Mossiker's will is included. A few travel mementos are also included. Newspaper clippings were photocopied onto acid-free paper and the original clippings were discarded.

Series II consists of guide and picture books, and postcards of Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, the United States, cruise ships, and art. All of the 854 postcards were placed in protective sleeves. Of these, 184 postcards have travel notes from a trip to Europe in 1911, handwritten on the back by Evelyn Beekman Sanger, Frances' mother. Also included are a few that are addressed to family and friends. Correspondents include Florence Beekman, Ernest L. Levy, Elihu Sanger, and Alex G. Beekman. The types of postcards included are 74 photograph type, 8 postcard books, 3 double width folded, 1 trifold, 1 five folded, 1 three-dimensional, and 2 with cloth for the dresses glued to the postcard.

Series III consists of photographs of both travel and family. Included are numerous black and white snapshots of the family, individual portraits, trip scenes, and views of the Sanger home in Dallas, approximately 1887-1963. The bulk of the photographs are not dated or identified. However, in comparing them with those that are identified, it is possible to determine family groups, and these unidentified photos have been placed in the appropriate folders. Identified photos include Florence Beekman, Ruth Beekman, Wiley and Ruth Buchanan, Frances Sanger Mossiker, A. Sanger, Elihu Sanger, Evelyn Coarrine Beekman Sanger, and Everett and Fae Sanger. Included are three tintypes. All of the photographs were placed in protective sleeves and the two oversized photographs were placed in Box OS300. Some photographs were removed from two leather albums and placed in acid free folders. Most of the travel related items, postcards, and photographs were produced before the 1930s. Included in the collection is information about Wiley T. Buchanan, Jr., a Dallas resident, who was appointed minister to Luxembourg in 1953. This collection has importance for postcard collectors and genealogists.

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Restrictions

Access

Open for research.

Literary Rights Statement

Permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, or use by any and all other current or future developed methods or procedures must be obtained in writing from Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library. All rights are reserved and retained regardless of current or future development or laws that may apply to fair use standards.

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Related Material

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Administrative Information

Provenance

Received from A.C. Greene as part of AR409 A. C. Greene Papers (1848-1998). This collection was willed to Mrs. A.C. Greene. Dr. Gerald Saxon acknowledged the papers in 1993.

Citation

Frances Sanger Mossiker Family Papers, AR423, Box Number, Folder Number, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library.

Acquisition

Accessioned as number 98-2.

Processing Information

Finding aid prepared by Elizabeth Hokanson, September 1999.

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Container List

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