Pages
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Title
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P31 Nelly Don Collection Finding Aid
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Description
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The Nelly Don Collection contains 35 black and white photographic prints donated to the Missouri Valley Special Collections in August 2001. The donor's aunt had been an employee of the Donnelly Garment Company and had collected these photographs. Few of the individuals in the photographs are identified, and many images are not dated. The photographs largely consist of Donnelly Garment Company employee group portraits on holiday and otherwise festive occasions.Nell Donnelly Reed was born Ellen Quinlan in Parsons, Kansas, 1889, and moved to Kansas City in 1906. She began designing and sewing her own housedresses, several of which she offered for sale to the George B. Peck Dry Goods Company in 1916. By 1931 she owned the Donnelly Garment Company, which manufactured the widely known "Nelly Don" line of women's apparel. Reed retired in 1956, and the organization's name was changed to Nelly Don, Inc. The company evolved throughout the 1960s and 70s, although the changing economic climate of the nation eventually brought its demise. The selling of fabrics was a sustaining innovation of the 1970s, but Nelly Don, Inc., filed for Chapter 10 bankruptcy in 1978.
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Date
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1920~/1950~
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Object Type
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Finding Aid
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Title
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Nell Donnelly Reed and Employees
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Description
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Group portrait of Nell Donnelly Reed and employees at Nelly Don Pioneers group luncheon in Reed's office.
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Date
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1937-06-08
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Object Type
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Photograph
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Title
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Get the Other Gang
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Description
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Story of the kidnapping and safe return of Nell Donnelly with the aid of a "North Side leader" associated with "Kansas City's recognized and organized underworld."
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Date
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1931-12-26
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Object Type
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Magazine Article
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Title
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Donnelly Garment Company Christmas Party
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Description
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Interior view of Christmas party given by employees in honor of Nell Donnelly Reed's son, David, at a location identified as "Community Church."
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Date
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1932-12-23
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Object Type
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Photograph
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Title
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Nell Donnelly Reed and Employees
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Description
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Group portrait of Nell Donnelly Reed and Donnelly Garment Company employees at unidentified location.
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Object Type
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Photograph
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Title
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Woman Seated at Desk
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Description
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Informal portrait of woman at desk, identified by writing on photo as Mrs. Reeves.
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Object Type
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Photograph
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Title
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Three Seated Women
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Description
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Portrait of three unidentified women seated at unknown location.
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Object Type
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Photograph
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Title
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Portrait of Two Women
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Description
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Informal protrait of two unidentified women.
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Object Type
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Photograph
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Title
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Nell Donnelly Reed and Employees
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Description
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Group portrait of Nell Donnelly Reed and Donnelly Garment Company employees seated at table.
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Object Type
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Photograph
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Title
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Women Seated at Table
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Description
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Group of Donnelly Garment Company employees dining at table.
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Object Type
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Photograph
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