Storrs & Deville Chabrol Family Papers, 1850-2002

Gift of Michelle Storrs Booz, 1987, 2011.

The Storrs & Deville Chabrol Family Papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

The Storrs & Deville Chabrol Family Papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

Storrs & Deville Chabrol Family Papers, The Newberry Library, Chicago.

Kelly Kress, 2010.

This inventory was created with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this inventory do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

French-born author and wife of sculptor John Henry Bradley Storrs.

Marguerite Deville Chabrol Storrs was born June 2, 1881 in Saint-Jean-de-la-Ruelle, in the Loiret department of central France near the city of Orléans. Her parents, Paul Henri and Emma Deville Chabrol, married in 1877 and had one other daughter, Jenny Deville Chabrol. Paul Henri Deville Chabrol came from a military family, and served in the Franco-Prussian War before settling down in Orléans to work in commerce. Paul Henri's brother Jules Deville Chabrol served in the French military during Algeria's colonization, and chronicled his experiences there through letters and memoirs.

In 1914 Marguerite Deville Chabrol Storrs met and married the American sculptor John Henry Bradley Storrs, who had come to Paris to study with Auguste Rodin. Their daughter Monique was born in 1918, and in 1921 the couple purchased the Chateau de Chanticaille in Mer, France, their primary residence, though they traveled often to the United States. Marguerite Storrs published many novellas, short stories and art reviews under the pseudonym Marc Debrol, and also worked as a reporter for French newspapers. She and John Storrs traveled frequently between Chanticaille and the United States, primarly Chicago, where John Storrs had grown up and his family still lived. In 1939, the family returned to France after a trip abroad, and spent the entirety of World War II at Chanticaille. Both John Storrs and Monique Storrs Booz were imprisoned by the Germans, and Marguerite Storrs was nearly executed. After the war, Marguerite Storrs worked diligently to contact the relatives of some British soldiers who died when their aircraft was shot down near Chanticaille, and ensure the soldiers had a proper burial. After John Storrs' death 1956, Marguerite Storrs lived with her daughter Monique Storrs Booze in Winnetka, Illinois, where she died in 1959 at the age of 78.

Monique Storrs Booz (also known as Monica) spent most of her childhood in boarding schools in Chicago and Orléans, France, away from her parents. While living with her parents in France during World War II, she was involved in the French Resistance and worked for the French Red Cross before French collaborators denounced her and she was arrested by the Gestapo. After spending 21 days in jail, Monique Storrs Booz was released, and went on to assist the U.S. Army as an interpreter and translator during the final days of the war. She was awarded a Croix de guerre from the French government and received a commendation from the U.S. Army for her efforts. She later worked in the Paris office of the U.S. Army's Air Transport Command. After the war she met and married Donald Booz, an American, and the couple settled in the Chicago area. They had three children, Michelle, Edwin, and John. Monique Storrs Booz died in Winnetka, Il in 1985.

Primarily the correspondence, personal materials and writings of Marguerite Deville Chabrol Storrs and her family.

Marguerites Storrs' correspondence includes letters to her daughter, Monique Storrs Booz, and her mother, Emma Deville Chabrol. There is also a group of letters from relatives of British RAF soldiers killed when their aircraft crashed near the Storrs' home during World War II. Personal items belonging to Marguerite Storrs include calendars, notebooks, a passport and unofficial will. World War II-era materials include coupons, ration books, and clippings, and also documents related to the use of family property at Chanticaille and Orleans by both the French and German armies. The series also includes manuscripts and published copies of short stories, novellas and some arts-related pieces for brochures and art catalogs written by Marguerite Storrs under the pseudonym Marc Debrol.

Family papers comprise correspondence and other materilas related to the Deville Chabrol and Storrs families, including letters to and from Monique Storrs Booz, daughter of Marguerite Deville Chabrol Storrs and John Storrs. Letters to her parents cover Monique Storrs Booz's opinions about her time at various boarding schools in the United States and France, her attitude towards her parents, and also a period during World War II when she worked in Paris for the U.S. Army's Air Transport Command. Also included are documents and clippings related to Monique Storrs Booz's work with the U.S. Army as an interpreter and translator, her La Croix de Guerre award, and efforts by U.S. Army officials to secure an official commendation for her.

Deville Chabrol family papers are primarily correspondence and personal materials related to brothers Jules Deville Chabrol and Paul Henri Deville Chabrol, father of Marguerite Storrs, and include correspondence from Algeria during the colonization period and also the Franco Prussian War. Personal materials include account books, business correspondence, and military documents of Paul-Henri Deville Chabrol, and other Deville Chabrol family documents.

Storrs family papers consist primarly of correspondence to and from D.W. Storrs, father of John Storrs. There are also a few items related to his Chicago real estate business, and other family correspondence. There is a small amount of material related to John Storrs, including a few letters, notes and doodles, exhibit catalogs, and the manuscript of a Russian general's autobiography, which John Storrs evidently encouraged the general to write while they were both prisoners of the Nazis in 1944

Photographs include Marguerite Deville Chabrol Storrs and other members of the Deville Chabrol and Storrs families, as well as the Storrs' daughter Monique Storrs Booz in her U.S. Army uniform, and the Storrs' home Chanticalle in Mer, France. There is also a collection of World War I & World War II-era newspapers, mostly from France, with a few from Great Britain and the U.S.

Papers are organized in the following series:

Title Box Series 1: Marguerite Deville Chabrol Storrs, 1890-1960 Boxes 1-6 Series 2: Family Papers, 1850-2002 Boxes 7-10c Series 3: Photographs, 1872-1956 Box 11 Series 4: Newspapers, 1906-1950 Boxes 12-13

• Names
  • Storrs, John Henry Bradley, 1885-1956
  • Storrs, Marguerite Deville Chabrol
• Geographic Coverage
  • Algeria -- History -- 1830-1962 -- Sources
  • Beaugency (France)
  • Chicago (Ill.)
  • Constantine (Algeria)
  • France -- Colonies -- Africa -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
  • France -- Colonies -- History, Military -- 19th century
  • Kabylia (Algeria)
  • Mer (France)
  • Orle´ans (France)
• Subject
  • Arts
  • Chicago
  • Colonization -- History -- 19th century
  • Families -- France -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
  • Families -- Middle West -- History -- Sources
  • Family Papers
  • Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871 -- Sources
  • Literature
  • Manuscripts, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Mothers and daughters -- France -- Correspondence
  • Mothers and daughters -- United States -- Correspondence
  • Parent and adult child -- United States -- Correspondence
  • Women
  • Women authors, French
  • Women authors, French -- 20th century -- Correspondence
  • World War, 1914-1918
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- France
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- France -- Newspapers
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Military occupations -- France
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Military personnel -- American -- France
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Missing in action -- Great Britain
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Female
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Social aspects -- France
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- France -- Loir-et-Cher
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Women -- France