Guide to the Dwight H. Fee and Lucille B. Fee Papers

Descriptive Summary

Title

Dwight H. Fee and Lucille B. Fee Papers

Inclusive Dates

1919-1990

Bulk Dates

1921-1926

Call Number

RG 416

Creator(s)

Fee, Dwight Humphrey, 1892-1966.

Quantity

0.92 cubic feet (3 boxes)

Language

Materials in English

Restrictions on Access

Collection open for research

Digital Content

To browse this collection's digital content visit Pearl.

Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not be available on Pearl or in their entirety.

Repository

Presbyterian Historical Society, 425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147-1516 USA

Biographical Note / Administrative History

Biographical Note

Dwight Humphrey Fee was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, on September 4, 1892, and his wife, Naomi Lucille Brockman Fee was born in Prosperity, Pennsylvania, on June 3, 1895. The Fees met in the summer of 1912, when he was a young journalist and she was a senior in high school. They were married four years later, in the summer of 1916, when he was working for the Pittsburgh Gazette-Times. After serving overseas in World War I, Fee returned to his wife and the newspaper in early 1919.

In May 1920, when viewing a mission pamphlet, Dwight Fee saw a call for a "publicity man" to serve in Egypt. For the next several months, he was in conversation with the Board of Foreign Missions of the United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA) concerning the probable activities of this new and experimental work. The Fees applied to the Board in December and, in January 1921, they were appointed as missionaries to the American Mission in Egypt. They sailed from New York in May, traveled in Western Europe, and arrived in Alexandria, Egypt, on June 21.

From the summer of 1921 to the summer of 1923, Dwight and Lucille Fee worked in Egypt mainly to publicize the American Mission in Egypt to people in the United States. Traveling by automobile, train, and boat, they visited the mission districts in Lower, Middle, and Upper Egypt. Dwight Fee photographed both the mission work and the daily life of the Egyptian people, and amassed a sizable collection of photographs for publicity purposes. He produced news stories in support of the American Mission and sent these to newspapers of communities with UPCNA congregations, to UPCNA presbytery papers, and to the Board of Foreign Missions. He prepared material on the American Mission for Board of Foreign mission publications and was responsible for getting out the American Mission in Egypt pamphlets for tourists. Lucille Fee assisted her husband in his work and she wrote narrative accounts and letters, some of which were published.

In September 1922, Dwight Fee sent a letter to the Board of Foreign Missions with a proposal for a motion picture that would tell the story of the American Mission in Egypt and would be available to the United Presbyterian community in America. Although the film project was approved and funded, due to unforeseen circumstances, the production of the film did not proceed according to his plan. Filming commenced in March 1923 and the shooting, developing, and printing were completed in the summer. The Fees left Egypt in August and returned to Pennsylvania. Over the next several months, Dwight Fee edited and prepared the film for release. In early 1924, the Fees committed to an additional two years of service. They were assigned to travel with the film to different territories within the United States.

In 1926, Dwight and Lucille Fee left the mission service, and Dwight Fee resumed his career as a Pittsburgh journalist. The Fees raised their family in Mt. Lebanon Township and were members of the Mt. Lebanon United Presbyterian Church.

Dwight Fee died on January 10, 1966, and Lucille Fee on March 3, 1973.

Collection Overview

This collection documents Dwight and Lucille Fee's missionary service with the Board of Foreign Missions of the United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA) from 1921 to 1926. The bulk of the material consists of photographs taken by Dwight Fee, from 1921 to ca. 1923, for use in promoting and publicizing the American Mission in Egypt. They document mission life, work, and workers as well as Egyptian daily life and places. A portion of these photographs are annotated with brief descriptions and identification of people and places. Additional photographs chronicle the Fees' 1921 journey from New York to Alexandria, Egypt and Lucille Fee's 1923 trip to Palestine and Syria. There are two group photos from conferences attended in ca. mid-1920s.

In addition to photographs Dwight Fee's narrative report to the Board provides a personal account of the Fees' five years in mission service focusing on their publicity work in support of the American Mission in Egypt and their involvement with the motion picture of the Egyptian mission field. Correspondence between Dwight Fee and the Board documents the film's early history. His datebook contains brief publicity notes, and documents the tour dates, locations, attendance, and collections received for the picture.

Narrative accounts, clippings, personal correspondence, and Lucille Fee's diary excerpts further document the American Mission and the Fees' publicity work as well as Egyptian daily life and places. Publications include the American Mission in Egypt pamphlets for tourists which Dwight Fee was responsible for producing. The collection also includes three published family biographies and genealogies written by the Fees' eldest son, William W. Fee. In Character(s): Dwight Humphrey Fee and Lucille Brockman Fee of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he uses material from the collection in chronicling his parents' missionary service.

Organization and Arrangement

SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE AND NARRATIVE REPORT, 1919-1928
Subseries 1: Board of Foreign Missions Correspondence and Narrative Report,
1921-1926
Subseries 2: Personal Correspondence, 1919-1928

SERIES II: NARRATIVE ACCOUNTS, 1921-ca. 1923

SERIES III: CLIPPINGS AND PROGRAM, 1921-1925

SERIES IV: DIARY, 1921

SERIES V: DATEBOOK, 1924-1926

SERIES VI: PUBLICATIONS, 1920-1928

SERIES VII: BIOGRAPHIES AND GENEALOGIES, 1989-1990

SERIES VIII: EPHEMERA, ca. 1921-ca. 1923

SERIES IX: OVERSIZE MATERIAL, ca. 1925

SERIES X: PHOTOGRAPHS, 1921-ca. mid-1920s
Subseries 1: Dwight and Lucille Fee, 1921-ca. mid-1920s
Subseries 2: American Mission in Egypt, 1921-ca. 1923

Alternative Formats

To browse this collection's digitized content visit Pearl.

Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not have been digitized in their entirety.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

These materials were donated to the Presbyterian Historical Society by the Fees' son, William W. Fee, in 2001.

Processing Information

Collection processed and finding aid prepared: Summer 2002 by Rachel Melroy, Archives Intern

Collection re-processed and finding aid edited: December 2004 by Bill Brock, Collection Management Archivist

Materials added and finding aid revised: July 2007 by Bill Brock, Collection Management Archivist

Catalog Headings

The following headings have been used to index the description of this collection in the society’s electronic catalog.

Personal Name Subject

Fee, Dwight Humphrey, 1892-1966.

Fee, Lucille Brockman, 1895-1973.

Corporate Subject

United Presbyterian Church of North America. Egypt Mission.

Topical Subject

Missionaries--Egypt--20th century.

Women missionaries--Egypt--20th century.

Presbyterian Church--Missions--Egypt--20th century.

Missions--Egypt--20th century.

Geographic Subject

Egypt--Missions--20th century.

Egypt--Description and travel--20th century.

Egypt--Social life and customs--20th century.

Genre-form

Photographs. aat

Personal Added Name

Fee, Lucille Brockman, 1895-1973.

Collection Inventory

Box	Folder	Description	Alternative Formats

1	1	Finding Aid to Record Group 416

		SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE AND NARRATIVE REPORT, 1919-1928

		SUBSERIES 1: BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS CORRESPONDENCE AND NARRATIVE REPORT, 1921-1926

1	2	Incoming and outgoing, 1921-1926
1	3	“A Narrative of the Fees’ Five Years in the Mission,” Dwight Fee, April 1926

		SUBSERIES 2: PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1919-1928

1	4	Incoming and outgoing, 1919-1928, n.d.

		SERIES II: NARRATIVE ACCOUNTS, 1921-ca. 1923

1	5	Titled and untitled narrative accounts by Dwight or Lucille Fee, 1921-ca. 1923

		SERIES III: CLIPPINGS AND PROGRAM, 1921-1925

1	6	The Fees and the American Mission in Egypt, 1921-1925

		SERIES IV: DIARY, 1921

1	7	Excerpts from the diary of Lucille Fee, 1921

		SERIES V: DATEBOOK, 1924-1926

1	8	Dwight Fee, 1924-1926

		SERIES VI: PUBLICATIONS, 1920-1928

1	9	Annual handbooks on foreign missions, 1920 and 1926
1	10	American Mission in Egypt pamphlets for tourists, ca. 1921-ca. 1923	Digital
1	11	English language primer for Egyptian pupils, 1921
1	12	1925-1927 Triennial Report on the Board of Foreign Missions, 1928

		SERIES VII: BIOGRAPHIES AND GENEALOGIES, 1989-1990

1	13	Fee, William Warrell. Character(s): Dwight Humphrey Fee and Lucille Brockman Fee of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1990.
1	14	Fee, William Warrell. The Fee Family and the Daily Notes of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania: The Evolution of a Family, Its Newspaper, and Its Community, 1990.
1	15	Fee, William Warrell. Robert Humphrey and West Alexander, Pennsylvania: A Revolutionary War Soldier and His Town, 1989.

		SERIES VIII: EPHEMERA, ca. 1921-ca. 1923

1	16	Holiday greeting cards with scenes of Egyptian life, ca. 1921-ca.1923

		SERIES IX: OVERSIZE MATERIAL, ca. 1925

2	1	Publicity flyer for the American Mission in Egypt motion picture, ca. 1925

		SERIES X: PHOTOGRAPHS, ca. 1921-ca. mid-1920s

		SUBSERIES 1: DWIGHT AND LUCILLE FEE, 1921-ca. mid-1920s

2	2	Trip from New York to Alexandria, Egypt, 1921
2	3	Trip to Palestine and Syria, 1923
2	4	On Board Ship, Gibraltar, n.d.
2	5	Conferences attended, ca. mid-1920s

		SUBSERIES 2: AMERICAN MISSION IN EGYPT, 1921-ca. 1923

2	6	Alexandria, 1921-ca. 1923
2	7	Assiut, 1921-ca. 1923
2	8	Benha, Cairo, Damietta, and Faiyum, ca. 1921-ca. 1923
2	9	Luxor, Mansurah, Tanta, Shebin El-Kom, and Zagazig, 1921-ca. 1923	Digital

3	1	Mission life, work, and workers, 1921-ca. 1923	Digital
3	2	Mission life, work, and workers, 1921-ca. 1923	Digital
3	3	Mission life, work, and workers, 1921-ca. 1923	Digital
3	4	Mission life, work, and workers, 1921-ca. 1923	Digital
3	5-6	Egyptian life and scenes, 1921-ca. 1923

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Guide to the Dwight H. Fee and Lucille B. Fee Papers

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