NORAH O'LEARY SOREM:

Norah O'Leary was born on January 20, 1909, the eldest daughter of Norbert and Frances "Fanny" O'Leary. The O'Leary family, which eventually included daughters Ruth and Elizabeth (Betty) and a son John, lived in Williston, North Dakota from 1921 until 1925. In 1925 they moved to Worthington, Minnesota where Norbert O'Leary took a job as a district court reporter. Norah entered Worthington high school as a sophomore at the beginning of the 1925-1926 school year and graduated in the spring of 1928. In high school she became friends with Milton Sorem, who was a year or two older. In the fall of 1928 Norah entered Hamline University in St. Paul and graduated four years later. All through college Norah O'Leary and Milton Sorem kept in touch and they married in early June of 1932.

A daughter, Gretchen, and a son, Anthony, joined the family in the next few years as Milton worked his way through medical school at the University of Minnesota. He graduated in 1939 and set up a family practice in St. Paul. Despite having two young children, Milton Sorem, and the U.S. government, felt his medical skills were needed more in the Pacific theater for three long years during World War II. After the war, Milton Sorem continued his medical practice in St. Paul, eventually becoming chief of staff at St. Luke's Hospital. Daughters Anita and Alana were born before the Sorems' marriage eventually dissolved. While Norah O'Leary Sorem never remarried or changed back to her birth name, Milton Sorem remarried and helped raise four additional children with his second wife, Evelyn. Milton Sorem died in St. Paul on March 4, 1987, about six months shy of his 80th birthday, and Norah O'Leary Sorem died in Minneapolis on January 24, 1989, shortly after reaching her 80th birthday.

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This collection consists of the assorted diaries, artwork, mementos, correspondence, and school papers of Sorem from the early 1920s, when she was in her early teens, until the early 1950s. Users of this collection will get a glimpse of what life was like for a high school girl from a rural Minnesota town in the 1920s, college life at Hamline University in St. Paul from 1928 to 1932, and what life was like for a mother raising two small children, while her husband was away during World War II.

Material is arranged in a more or less chronological order within five sections. Childhood mementos, artwork and writing comprise the first series. Diaries and notebooks from Norah's years in junior high and high school come next. Many of these diaries contain her thoughts about everyday events, friends and family, and her current "heart throb." Correspondence, which comes next, covers some of the same time period as the first two series, but largely contains post-high school correspondence with family, friends, and boyfriend Milton Sorem. The fourth series contains Norah's class papers and mementos from Hamline University. Also included are some papers from graduate school classes in the 1930s, undated writings, and a book of favorite poems.

The final series, World War II letters, which date from October 1942 to October 1945, document the daily life of a mother with two small children living in St. Paul and trying to cope without their husband and father. This series documents the feelings and daily lives of people left at home during the war. These letters, written almost daily, are quite long and often contain news clippings and cartoons that Norah wanted to share with Milton, and short notes and cards from the two children. While a few letters from Milton to Norah are found here, the rest apparently were destroyed. Some miscellaneous correspondence of Milton Sorem and a sign he saved from the war rounds out the collection.

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These documents are organized into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Norah Sorem Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,694

Processing Information:

Processed by: Rich Arpi, April 2005

Catalog ID number: 990036588550104294

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Almost exclusively letters from Norah (and the two oldest children) to Milton Sorem while he was stationed aboard a medical ship in the Pacific theater in World War II. Several letters were written each week, which included newspaper clippings, and artwork and writings from the children. Only a couple of Milton's responses have survived.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

High school students -- Minnesota -- Worthington.

College students -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

College students -- Correspondence.

World War, 1939-1945 -- personal narratives, American.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Minnesota.

Places:

St. Paul (Minn.).

Worthington (Minn.).

Organizations:

Hamline University.

Types of Documents:

Diaries.

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