MS12-20 Sullivan-Bruch Papers

Collection Title: Sullivan-Bruch Papers

Series Number: MS12-20

Processed and Cataloged by: Processed by Richard B. Davis between August and December of 2012.

Date Listed: December 3, 2012

Date Span: 1891 - 1965

Size of Collection: 3.5 Linear Feet

Number of Boxes: 4 letter size document cases, 2 letter half size document cases, 1 legal size document case and 1 record center box.

Type of Material: Correspondence, records, newspaper clippings, photographs, and postcards.

Condition of Material: Good, some with minor tears and creases caused by improper storage and aging.

Arrangement: Organized by creator; Chronological arrangement.

Biographical / Historical Information: Virginia (Ginny) Irene Sullivan-Bruch was born May 26, 1921 in Hickman, Fulton County, Kentucky. A teacher and published poet, genealogist, and civic leader in Alexandria, she began a career in the Civil Service in 1948, retiring in 1980 from the Pentagon Army Library in Washington, D.C., where she was a section chief. She graduated from Murray State Teachers College (presently Murray State University) in 1943, married Truman E. Bruch in 1944 while he was a flight instructor for Civilian Aviation Corps, and moved to Tennessee, where Truman worked at Oak Ridge. Truman died in 2000 after 56 years of marriage. Her daughter, Susan Irene Bruch, was born in 1945. Truman and Ginny were founders and long-time members of First Christian Church in Alexandria, where Ginny taught Sunday school and expanded the church library. With her sister, Josephine Sullivan, Ginny compiled a database for the Ivy Hill Cemetery in Alexandria, Beneath the Oaks of Ivy Hill. Her comprehensive genealogical work, Proud Wanderers, traces the roots of her mother’s family, the Helm’s. A resident of Alexandria, Virginia for 63 years, she was active in Colonial Dames Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and also served as research curator for the General Robert E. Lee Boyhood Home located in Old Town Alexandria. She died on May 5, 2012, in Manassas, Virginia, at the home of family friends who were caring for her.

Scope and Content: Collection consists of original correspondence between various family members from 1894 through 1976. Correspondence gives clear descriptions of the living conditions in rural Western Kentucky during the early years of the 20th Century, and the Home Front experience during World War I and World War II. Details of various medical treatments for Typhoid and Influenza are also included as well as the college life experience at Murray State Teacher’s College during the 1930’s and 1940’s. Family research in the collection includes genealogical information for the Helm, Sullivan, and Rose families, as well as newspaper clippings, photographs, and postcards.

Subject headings / Descriptors:

Sullivan-Bruch, Virginia Irene, 1921 – 2012.

Sullivan family.

Rose family.

Blackmore family.

Helm family.

Murray State Teachers College – History.

Hickman (Ky.) – History.

Fulton County (Ky.) – History.

Alexandria (Va.)

Robert E. Lee Boyhood Home (Alexandria, Va.)

Influenza epidemic, 1918-1919 – Kentucky – Jackson Purchase.

United States – Social conditions – 1933-1945.

World War, 1914-1918 – Social aspects – United States.