Conditions Governing Use

Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Conditions Governing Access

The course work material in this collection contains grade reports which were restricted until May 2014. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Preferred Citation

Mary Eleanor Davis Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Faulconer. Gift during the mid-1970s. Mss. 2010.676 was a gift of Robert and Virginia Faulconer, October 2010

Biographical / Historical

Mary Eleanor Davis Ries was the daughter of Donald Walton Davis and Katherine Bressler Davis. She was born on 14 March 1910 in Cambridge, Mass. and died on 16 December 1968 in Normal, Ill. She graduated from Williamsburg High School, the Castilleja School, Palo Alto, Ca., Smith College and attended graduate school at Cornell University. She married Donald Timmerman Ries in 1935 and worked as a biological researcher.

Scope and Contents

Papers, 1870-1967, of Mary Eleanor (Davis) Ries. Includes correspondence of Ries with her parents, Donald Walton Davis [1882-1950] and Katherine (Bressler) Davis and other family members including her brother Donald Walton Davis, Jr. and sister Virginia Davis Faulconer as well as research notes, research papers, photographs, postcards, and memorabilia from her years at Smith College. The collection also includes papers of Donald Timmerman Ries and photographs of Williamsburg, Virginia and pets; and greeting cards.

Acc. 2010.676 contains diplomas of Mary Eleanor Ries: one from Smith College dated 1931 and one from Cornell University dated 1938. There is also a copy of a paper from the 1932 International Congress of Genetics, which she attended.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Diplomas
• Letters (correspondence)
• Photographic prints
• Reports
• Williamsburg (Va.)--History