Collection Scope and Content Note

Papers documenting the lives of Doc and Katy Abraham, including correspondence, clippings, notes on articles and "Belles of Shangri-La," manuscripts and articles, documents, spent shells and dog tags, Doc's photographs recording images from West and North Africa (Ghana or the Gold Coast, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Liberia, Nigeria, and North Africa), and U.S. involvement there during World War II including Africans at work, daily life, and dancing; animals including chimpanzees, baboons, monkeys, giraffes, dogs, cattle, donkeys, snakes, vultures; soldiers; landmarks; military training, equipment, and repair; medical conditions and treatments including malaria, elephantiasis, filariasis, steatopygia, leprosy, and snakebite. (The descriptions of the photographs were largely supplied by Doc.) Also included are books relating to the war, tribal markings, airlines, Liberia, tribes, tribal medicine, geography, photography, and Africa as well as unidentified films about Africa and films labelled Africa 1943-1944, Accra, and Red Sea. Also, their horticultural work and garden advice that appeared in newspapers, radio, and television under the title "The Green Thumb" from 1960-1999, many of which are in the form of clippings, articles and their regular newspaper columns. Also correspondence 1979-1980's, teaching materials, thanks you letters, awards, agreements and contracts, subject files, radio program scripts and book reviews. The collection also contains a small amount of personal material, such as a file of their obituaries and memorials and a scrapbook containing Doc's Cornell diploma and clippings regarding Leanna's marriage.