Gaddie-Truman Family Papers and Photographs., 1921-2008
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Gaddie-Truman Family Papers and Photographs.
- Creator
- Gaddie-Truman Family
- Collection Number
- MSS 504
- Extent
- 4.5 Linear Feet 3 boxes and 2 o/s folders
- Date
- 1921-2008
- Abstract
- Morris Gaddie and Ella Truman were married in 1941 and were residents of Pittsburgh for most of their lives. Morris Gaddie served in the U.S. Army during World War II, then worked as a U.S. Post Office clerk, and later as a science teacher. Ella Gaddie worked at the Health and Welfare Association of Allegheny County. The Gaddie-Truman Family Papers and Photographs document the personal and professional lives of the couple and their extended family.
- Language
- English .
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
-
1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
Biographical / Historical
Morris Gaddie and Ella Truman were married in 1941 and were residents of Pittsburgh for most of their lives. Morris Bell Gaddie was born to Armstead Gaddie and Bessie Caldwell Gaddie on August 11, 1918, in Louisville, Kentucky, where he was raised primarily by his grandmother. Morris Gaddie graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Kentucky State College in August 1939. He then took a job as a materials handler with Westinghouse Electric Company and moved to Pittsburgh. Shortly after the move, he met Ella Truman, and the couple wed on June 27, 1941. The couple had two sons, Morris, Jr., born on May 15, 1942, and Gregory, born in 1948. From September 1944 to July 1946, Morris Gaddie served in the United States Army, followed by a fourteen-year stint as a U.S. Post Office clerk. He then worked for over twenty years as a science teacher at Latimer Middle School on the North Side. Throughout his life, Gaddie was involved with St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church. Morris Gaddie died on April 23, 1995.
Ella Rebecca Truman Gaddie, daughter of James and Mary Truman, was born on May 28, 1919, in Newell, Pennsylvania. She spent a portion of her childhood in Youngstown, Ohio, before moving to Pittsburgh in 1930. She graduated from Westinghouse High School in 1937, and she married Morris Gaddie on June 27, 1941. The couple spent most of their married life living in the Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood at Belmar Gardens, whhich was among the nation's first Black-owned housing cooperative built with a federally insured mortgage. In 1965, Ella Gaddie became a clerk-typist for the Health and Welfare Association of Allegheny County, where she worked for the next twenty years. Like her husband, she was active in St. James A.M.E. Church. She died on January 2, 2008.
James and Mary Truman, Ella's parents, were married on October 17, 1917. Mary Truman was born on December 7, 1901, in West Newton, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania. James Truman worked for the Potter McCune Company in McKeesport for many years. The couple also had a son, Richard, who became a doctor; he married Harriet Duckett. James Truman died July 11, 1988, and Mary Truman died February 25, 1991.
Scope and Contents
The Gaddie-Truman Family Papers and Photographs contain materials documenting the personal and professional lives of Morris Gaddie and Ella Truman Gaddie. This includes material related to Ella Gaddie's parents, James and Mary Truman. The papers pertain to Morris and Ella Gaddie's education, marriage, housing, and careers. This includes Morris Gaddie's letter to President John F. Kennedy regarding his position at the U.S. Post Office and a reply from the U.S. Civil Service Commission; a St. James A.M.E. Church program for a memorial service for Martin Luther King, Jr. from January 15, 1969; school diplomas; and correspondence written between the couple. Records regarding Belmar Gardens include a stock certificate, occupancy agreement, and a program for a mortgage-burning community picnic from 1995. This collection includes photographs depicting members of the Gaddie and Truman families. This collection also includes two oversized folders, one containing a poster recreation of one of Morris Gaddie's letters to his wife during World War II, the other containing an image of Morris and Ella Gaddie inside a church during an event.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Copyright may be retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. Researchers are therefore advised to follow the regulations set forth in the U.S. Copyright Code when publishing, quoting, or reproducing material from this collection without the consent of the creator/author or that go beyond what is allowed by fair use.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Andrea Gaddie Bullock in 2008. Archives Accession 2008.0010
Separated Materials
A selection of publications were transferred to the library collection.
A U.S. Army Good Conduct Medal, awarded to Morris Bell Gaddie, was transferred to the Museum Division (Acc. No. 2009.28)
Processing Information
Processing by Robert O. Stakeley and Elliot Gill in 2009 and Liz Schaller in 2014. Additional processing and finding aid edited by Bryan Brown in March 2022.
Preferred Citation
Gaddie-Truman Family Papers and Photographs, 1921-2008, MSS 504, Detre Library and Archives, Heinz History Center
Subjects
- Health and Welfare Association of Allegheny County
- Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- African Americans--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh
- African American veterans -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- African American churches -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- African Americans--Housing--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh
- African American educators -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- World War, 1939-1945
- Allegheny County (Pa.)--Health.