This collection has no restrictions.
Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Barnard Archives and Special Collections. The Barnard Archives and Special Collections approves permission to publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Photocopies or scans may be made for research purposes.
Caroline King Duer papers, 1905 - 1952; Box and Folder; Barnard Archives and Special Collections, Barnard Library, Barnard College.
The acquisition date and source is unknown.
No additions are expected.
This collection was processed and the finding aid written by Dinah Handel, July 2015.
Descriptive Rules Used: Finding aid adheres to that prescribed by Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Encoding: Machine readable finding aid encoded in EAD 2002.
Finding aid written in English.
Related materials providing further information about the history of the Duer family may be found in the following collections in this repository: BC 20.9 Alice Duer Miller Papers, BC 20.18 Duer Family Papers, and BC 20.19 Elizabeth Meads Duer Papers.
Caroline King Duer, 1865 - 1956, was born into a society family in New York City in 1865. She was the sister of Alice Duer Miller, 1874 - 1942, a Barnard College alumna and Trustee. She was educated at Bishop Doane's school of Saint Agnes in Albany, New York. Following her schooling, she was sent to study nursing at Bellevue Hospital. Caroline worked primarily as a writer, and her work was published in prominent magazines of the time, such as
In 1915, Caroline traveled to France and worked as a nurse in the bandage room at the Ris-Oranges hospital near Fontainbleau, France. Following the end of World War I, Caroline returned to the United States, and continued working in a hospital as a flu nurse. Eventually, she returned to New York, and began working for
In 1941 following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Caroline attempted to find hospital work again, in New York City, but was refused on account of her age. However, she was able to find night work at the Travellers Aid canteen in Grand Central Station. After the war ended, Caroline returned to writing. She passed away in 1956, at the age of 89.
The collection contains autobiographical narratives, correspondence, manuscripts, magazine and newspaper clippings, and personal papers related to Duer's volunteer work in France during World War I and her literary career. Included is a transcript of her "Reminiscences" for the Columbia Oral History Project.
The collection is arranged into two series:
Series 1, Personal Papers, 1905 - 1952
Series 2, Correspondence, 1915 - 1918