Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection open for research.

Use Restrictions

Physical characteristics and conditions affect use of some of this material. Photocopying of fragile items not permitted. Special handling of scrapbook pages required. Visual materials may require special handling.

Preferred Citation

Anna Snowden Wildman Dyer Collection (1849-1973), M 078 Thomas Balch Library Leesburg, VA.

Acquisition Information

Elizabeth Seccombe Smith, Pennsylvania.

Alternative Form Available

None.

Accruals

2000.0002; 2006.0145; 2007.0127

Processing Information

Teckla H. Cox, 17 October 2013

Biographical Information

Anne Snowden Wildman Dyer, known to her family and friends as Anna, was born on 7 July 1895 in Leesburg, Virginia, the daughter of Christiana (generally called Christine or Chris) Rogers Wildman (1872-1943) and Robert Bentley Wildman (1849-1934). Both of her parents came from established and well-connected families in Loudoun County. Anna graduated from Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in 1917 and worked for the War Trade Board in Washington, D.C. In 1921 she obtained a teaching certificate and began teaching in the Loudoun County schools.

In early 1921 Anna made an extended trip to Egypt and Europe in the company of a college friend and her friend's mother. She made three more long trips to Europe in 1923, 1925, and in 1928. Her letters to her parents recount the first trip in considerable detail, and she kept diaries of all of the trips as well as taking extensive photographs.

In 1932 she married Archibald Murray Dyer (1907-1970), an English journalist and author. Dyer was born in Tokyo, Japan and came to the United States in 1929. He became a U.S. citizen in 1937. The couple lived first in New York, where he worked as a writer for CBS and NBC. He published one novel about Japan, The Bridge of Heaven, and wrote an unpublished novel titled The Lonely Command. They later moved to Leesburg to the home where Anna grew up on Edwards Ferry Road. They shared the house with Anna's sister, Christine Clagett Wildman (1898-1958). Murray Dyer died June 4, 1970 and Anna Dyer died on August 25, 1973.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of the personal papers of Anna Snowden Wildman Dyer, including her years at Bryn Mawr College (1913-1917). There are letters she wrote her parents while traveling in Egypt and Europe in the 1920s, as well as her travel diaries. The photographs in the collection document Anna's college years, her travels, and the Wildman house on Edwards Ferry Road. A set of photographs document the military service of Lawrence Layton (1894-1918), a pilot in the U. S. Army Service during World War I. Layton died in combat over France. Also included are a published novel, an unpublished manuscript, and a diary detailing the last days of World War II in Australia, all written by Murray Dyer. In addition, the collection includes material from Anna's sister, Christine Clagett Wilman. Christine serves as the administrator of the estates of several family members, including her parents; her uncle John B. Wildman (1855-1945); and her aunt, Katherine Longden Wildman (1861-1943).

Arrangement

Box:folder

Related Material

Nancy Graham Rogers Collection (M 058), Elizabeth Welbourne Seccombe (M 089)

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Bibliography

"A. Murray Dyer," The Washington Post , June 5, 1970.

Anna Snowden Wildman Dyer Collection, 1849-1973 (M 078), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Frain, Elizabeth. Union Cemetery, Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia: Plats A and B 1784-1995 . Lovettsville, VA: Willow Bend Books, 1995.

Loudoun County Cemetery Database, http://www.leesburgva.gov/index.aspx?page=940 (accessed 17 October 2013).

"Murray Dyer, 63, Newsman and Novelist," The Washington Post , June 6, 1970.

Other Finding Aid

PastPerfect Catalogue Records