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Jean Vernon Gordon Lauper papers

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSS 1559

Scope and Contents note

Collection consists primarily of correspondence between Lauper and various members of her family (notables include her sons-in-law, Crawford Gates and Richard L. Bushman). It also includes her journals and diaries and other biographical material, files documenting her involvement in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Gordon and Vernon family history materials (including papers, correspondence, life histories, journals, and scrapbooks), as well as travel files and letters and cards of sympathy. Dated from 1851 to 1977.

Dates

  • 1851-1977

Creator

Conditions Governing Access note

Open for public research.

Conditions Governing Use note

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances. Permission to publish material from Jean Vernon Gordon Lauper papers must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Board of Curators.

Biographical History

Jean Vernon Gordon Lauper (1904-1977) was a talented musician, genealogist, and homemaker.

Jean Lauper was born on April 6, 1904, to James Frater and Margaret Elizabeth Schutt Gordon in Stirling, Alberta, Canada, the last of four children. Part of a musical family, Jean developed an early love of and talent for good music as well as for sewing, taking over where her mother had neither the skill nor the inclination. When she was thirteen, the family moved to Salt Lake City, where Jean received further musical training. The family later moved to Los Angeles, where she got a job at the May Company and was selected to receive further training in seamstressing in order to provide assistance to struggling customers. It was while employed there that she met a young vacuum salesman by the name of Serge Lauper. The two kept company for over a year and married on October 6, 1929, despite Serge's assignment to business in Oregon. Jean joined him after four months. Later that year he was transferred to Oakland, where two of their four daughters were born. In the fall of 1937, they moved into a custom-built house on 24th Avenue in San Francisco, which would remain the family home for the next 50 years. "Jean's life centered in that home. At the living room piano she worked over the music her choruses would sing. There she entertained company in her uniquely enthusiastic and creative way. In the study she made the endless encouraging telephone calls which kept her projects afloat and wrote letters to her family and friends. In the kitchen she cooked up the batches of brownies and fudge and the decorated cakes for which she was well-known. In the closets was the evidence of her creative and precise sewing. In her bedroom she sewed almost daily, completely cleaning up all evidence of scraps and threads after every use. She would lay out a cut fabric for a new dress for one of her daughters after the children had left for school, and by the time school was out, the dress was often ready for a final fitting. Her stock of fabrics filled drawers and cupboards throughout the house, which reflected her tastes and activities." Jean later developed talent in typing and bookkeeping when her husband started his own business; and when her mother, who had come to live with her, died in 1966 at the age of 100, she became an ardent genealogist until her own death, the result of a stroke, on September 15, 1977.

Extent

7 cartons (7 linear ft.)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Collection of correspondence, diaries and other materials belonging to Jean V. Gordon lauper, 1851-1977.

Other Finding Aids

File-level inventory available online. http://files.lib.byu.edu/ead/XML/MSS1559.xml

Custodial History note

Donated by Claudia Bushman (daughter of Jean Vernon Gordon Lauper) in 1978.

Immediate Source of Acquisition note

Donated; Claudia Bushman; 1978.

Appraisal note

19th Century Western and Mormon Manuscripts.

Processing Information note

Processed; Amanda Clark; 19 July 2007.

Title
Register of Jean Vernon Gordon Lauper papers
Status
Completed
Author
Karen Glenn and Amanda Clark, student processors and John Murphy, curator
Date
2009
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English in Latin script.

Repository Details

Part of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Repository

Contact:
1130 HBLL
Brigham Young University
Provo Utah 84602 United States