Emily Harris Preyer Collection

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
How much has been digitized?: Only a part of this collection has been digitized.
Where can I find more information?: https://uncg.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/992
What's in the full collection?: 19 April, 1999 Oral History transcript; a light weight khaki overcoat; a desk name plate; 2 photographs and a copy of the article "Emily Preyer; still no ghost; appears again;" Greensboro News and Record,12 Jan 1989.
Full biography: Emily Harris Preyer (1919-1999) of Greensboro, North Carolina, served with the Red Cross in Australia from 1943 to 1945. Emily Harris Preyer was born on 16 October 1919 in Reidsville, North Carolina. She grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina, and graduated from Greensboro Senior High School. She double-majored in English and French at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro). After graduating in 1939, Preyer went directly to graduate school in English literature at the University of Virginia. In 1942, she taught German, French, and Spanish at a school in Charlotte, North Carolina. Preyer joined the Red Cross in 1943. She had two months of training in Washington, D.C., before being sent to Brisbane, Australia. After several months in Brisbane, she went briefly to Subic Bay, Philippines, in 1944 before her final duty station in Perth, Australia. Preyer remained with the Red Cross in Perth until 1945. She returned to the United States and married L. Richardson Preyer, who later served as a United States Congressman and federal judge. She also continued to be involved with the Greensboro chapter of the American Red Cross. Emily Preyer died on 12 December 1999.
Topics: Women's History
Military
Schools and Colleges
Branch of service: Red Cross
Conflict: World War II era (1940-1946)
Subject headings: World War, 1939-1945
American Red Cross
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

: Emily Harris Preyer at the Red Cross Service Club; Emily Harris Preyer in a trench coat, holding a folder and some packages and her purse in her right arm and gesturing with her left arm, smiling broadly in front of an open door beneath a large sign that reads "American Red Cross/Service + Club"

: Oral history interview with Emily Harris Preyer; Primarily details Emily Harris Preyer's days at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro) and her experiences with the American Red Cross during World War II. Preyer discusses her father's death and her family; Woman's College (WC) professors, including Louise Alexander, Dean Harriet Elliott, and Dr. Malcolm Hooke; pouring tea for Eleanor Roosevelt during Roosevelt's visit to WC; being involved with WC student government; and June German dances in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. " Topics related to World War II include Preyer's reasons for choosing the Red Cross over the other services; her pet koala bears; her duties with the Red Cross; her relationship with servicemen and other Americans in Australia; babysitting for General MacArthur in Brisbane; working in shifts in the hospitals; cultural differences she encountered in Australia; the general attitude the Australians exhibited toward Americans; reactions to V-E Day and V-J Day in Australia; and her husband's military experiences in the North Atlantic and at Okinawa. " Preyer also discusses her life after the war, including her continued work with the Red Cross in Greensboro; her children's experiences in similar organizations, like the Peace Corps and VISTA; and her opinion of women in combat positions.