Papers of Patricia Rosalind Cutler Warner, 1944-1996
Overview
Correspondence, newsletters, publicity, etc., of Patricia Rosalind Cutler Warner, founder of the Anorexia Nervosa Aid Society of Massachusetts.
Dates
- Creation: 1944-1996
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Original correspondence from persons suffering from eating disorders will remain closed until January 1, 2046. Copies with identifying information removed are available for research. An appointment is necessary to use any audiovisual material.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. During the donor's lifetime, researchers must obtain her written permission, and after her death that of her son, Nicholas Fish Warner.
Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.
Extent
1.25 linear feet ((3 file boxes) plus 1 folder of photographs, 1 audiotape)This collection documents both Patricia Rosalind (Cutler) Fowler Warner's personal and professional life, with considerable emphasis on her work on eating disorders. It includes correspondence with family, friends, and colleagues during World War II, and autobiographical sketches about Warner's time with the OSS, X-2 branch. There are clippings and correspondence of Warner's husbands, Robert L. Fowler and Charles G. K. Warner, and various relatives. The papers regarding Robert L. Fowler stem largely from sketches by his friends from St. Paul's School, class of 37, and Harvard University, class of 41. They also include an account of their six-month wartime marriage, description of the battle of Cape Esperance, where he died, and correspondence about Robert L. Fowler. There are also notes and correspondence regarding their son's current book project "In Search of a Father."
Also among the papers is Warner's 1985 masters thesis, "Eating Disorders: Mothers in Search of Their Special Voice," a feminist interpretation influenced by the research of Carol Gilligan, and correspondence about the manuscript.
The bulk of the collection consists of letters to Warner from those suffering from anorexia and bulimia, as well as letters about eating disorders from other health care professionals and interns. There are Anorexia Bulimia Care, Inc. records (minutes, correspondence, clippings, mailings) concerning meetings, conferences, and workshops; records of Eating Disorders Awareness Week, including Hamilton Fish, Jr.'s 1993 congressional bill on eating disorders; and clippings, etc., regarding President Bush's selection of Anorexia Bulimia Care, Inc. as the 577th Point of Light. There is a taped interview with Warner and Dr. Susan Hurwit about the causes and warning signs of eating disorders, steps toward therapy, self-esteem, media image, and diet. The ANAS Newsletter (1984-1986) and ABC Newsletter (1986-1994) have been removed and filed in the Manuscript Department's publications file.
BIOGRAPHY
Patricia Rosalind (Cutler) Fowler Warner was born in New York, New York, on May 21, 1921. On January 17, 1942, she married Robert Ludlow Fowler; he was killed in action while serving on the U.S.S. Duncan in October 1942. Their one child, Robert Ludlow Fowler III, was born in 1943. For two years during World War II, Warner served with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in New York, Washington, D.C., London and Madrid. Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 1951, Warner turned it down to marry Charles George Kavanaugh Warner, a history professor, on August 4, 1951. They had five children: Charles Christopher Stuyvesant, born in 1952, Nicholas Fish (1954), Cecily Bayard (1957), and twins Rosalind Livingston and Joshua Cutler (1958). Warner earned a B.A. from Barnard College (1949), a certificate in learning disabilities from Tufts University (1975), and an M.A. in independent studies, specializing in eating disorders, from Lesley College (1985).
Because of her daughter's long-time struggle with both anorexia and bulimia nervosa and the fact that there was so little information about these disorders in that period, Warner, along with another parent, co-founded Anorexia Nervosa Aid Society Inc. (ANAS) in 1978. The organization ran workshops for parents and eating disordered individuals, served as a clearing house for gathering and disseminating information, maintained a register of professionals working in the field, published monthly newsletters, and hosted an annual conference. Warner was the unpaid executive director, running the parent workshops, writing the newsletter, and working 60 hours a week, many of them on the HOT-LINE.
In 1987, with 15 other similarly involved national leaders, Warner founded Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention Inc. and served on the national and international steering committees. Determined to stem the rising incidence of eating disorder cases, she turned to her cousin, Hamilton Fish, Jr., Congressman from New York State, who was instrumental in pushing through Congress a bill proclaiming the first week in February National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW). In 1986, ANAS legally became known as Anorexia Bulimia Care, Inc. (ABC). Warner remained as executive director until her retirement in 1991. A few years later, after some unsuccessful efforts to find a replacement, Anorexia Bulimia Care, Inc. officially merged with the Massachusetts Eating Disorder Association (MEDA).
In May 2019, Warner was honored for her work during WWII with the OSS with the Congressional Gold Medal.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession number: 96-M57
These papers were given to the Schlesinger Library in April 1996 by Patricia Rosalind Warner.
SEPARATION RECORD
The following items have been removed from the collection and discarded, April 1997:
- Frank, Richard B. Guadalcanal. New York: Random House, 1990, pp. 292-312. (photocopies) Discarded. (Book available at Widener Library.)April 1997
CONTAINER LIST
- Box 1: 1-20
- Box 2: 21-33
- Box 3: Originals of #17-33 (CLOSED until January 1, 2046.)
Processing Information
Preliminary inventory: April 1997
By: Glynn Edwards
- Title
- Warner, Patricia Rosalind Cutler, 1921- . Papers of Patricia Rosalind Cutler Warner, 1944-1996: A Finding Aid
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- Sponsor
- The collection was processed with funds from Patricia Rosalind Warner and several of her associates.
- EAD ID
- sch00952
Repository Details
Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository
The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.