{"id":3995,"date":"2015-06-24T16:39:31","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T16:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archives.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/?p=3995"},"modified":"2023-11-28T19:59:37","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T19:59:37","slug":"louis-and-ruth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/2015\/06\/24\/louis-and-ruth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Courtship of Louis and Ruth: An Illinois Love Story"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Louis<\/a>
Louis and Ruth c. 1935<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Written by Anna Trammell<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scrapbooks, dance cards, and letters in the Student Life and Culture Archives often reveal tales of love that blossomed on campus. The love story of Louis Wright and Ruth Fisher materializes out of a combination of these items and comes to light through discoveries made by their daughter Nancy Wright Meyer, also a graduate of the University.<\/p>\n

When Nancy and her sister Lois began organizing the attic of their parents\u2019 home in Des Plaines, Illinois,\u00a0they came across extensive correspondence between Louis and Ruth during their courtship. \u201cThere was no way we could throw them away\u2026 not after being saved for more than sixty-five years. They chronicled a developing friendship, romance, campus life in Champaign-Urbana, life on the farm, life in Des Plaines, teaching at Maine Township High School, job search, and life in general during the mid-1930s,\u201d Nancy wrote in the preface to The Courtship of Louis and Ruth<\/em>. [1] Nancy transcribed each letter and published this volume as a way to share them with family and friends.<\/p>\n

\"Louis<\/a>
Louis Wright, 1935<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Louis Anton Wright graduated from the University of Illinois in June of 1934. The correspondence begins shortly after as Ruth and Louis spent the summer living in their separate home towns. That fall, Louis and Ruth both returned to campus. Louis pursued his Master\u2019s in Education while Ruth completed her degree\u00a0in Communications. She graduated in 1935 and began teaching high school while Louis stayed in Champaign-Urbana. Their correspondence illustrates their growing romance during these transitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cGlad you haven\u2019t been to any dances since our last one,\u201d Ruth writes in December of 1935 \u201cMaybe I\u2019m selfish but wish you\u2019d save all your dances for me. Hate to think of having anyone else in your arms all evening!\u201d In April of 1936, Louis counts down the days until he will be reunited with Ruth writing, \u201cMonday with her full moon that we both saw is gone. Tuesday with her bright moon is going, and now only three or four more days left to go before you are back in my arms where you belong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ruth<\/a>
Ruth Fisher, 1935<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The letters give us a taste of farm life when, in the summer of 1934, Louis complains \u201cI have six cows to milk, a bunch of hogs to feed, and a myriad (miriad) (neither looks right; I can\u2019t find a dictionary but it means countless number of) (the first probably being correct) of things that are always waiting to be done.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0They also illustrate popular cultural trends with Ruth mentioning in August of 1934, \u201cA while ago I saw \u2018Tarzan and His Mate\u2019 in the movies. It surely is a great picture as far as production is concerned.\u201d In 1935, she writes \u201cSaw \u2018Go Into Your Dance\u2019 with Al Jolsen and Ruby Keller Monday. Ruby is a bigger hit than Jolsen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Louis describes his studies at the University by writing, \u201cStill in the old tramping grounds waiting to enroll in the fifth largest university in America as a graduate student tomorrow morning at 8:00 am!\u201d He later mentions, \u201cWent over to Armory from 4-5 this PM to do pistol shooting\u201d and \u201cWent over to the library before the Council got over Friday night and read down in a cubicle of stacks. Came home after the closing hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Numerous dance cards are included in the Louis and Ruth Wright Papers<\/a>. \u00a0Ruth writes in the card from the Military Ball of 1935, \u201cOur first military ball is over, but memories of the grand affair will last forever. K. Kyser\u2019s music was grand\u2026 gym nicely decorated for the 1250 couples\u2026 but being with my handsome 2nd<\/sup> lt. made the eve complete for me!\u201d In the Homecoming 1935 program Louis writes to Ruth, \u201cMusic at the rink, music on the radio, music at the dance, music in my heart when I\u2019m with you!\u201d [2]<\/p>\n

\"Louis<\/a>
Louis Wright<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ruth<\/a>
Ruth Wright<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Louis’ final letter in the series of correspondence he writes, “There is much for the two of us to do and to live for, and to live for together. May that time not be too long, and may it be fruitful until we are together, loving as we should be.” Ruth and Louis would be married later that year. They lived to the ages of 88 and 89, respectively, and had two daughters, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren at the time of their death. [3] \u00a0The Louis and Ruth Wright Papers<\/a> (RS 41\/20\/185) also include several home films<\/a> showing scenes of campus life 1934-1935.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

[1] Meyer, Nancy Wright. The Courtship of Louis and Ruth: Letters exchanged June 1934 thru August 1936.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

[2] Dance programs, Louis and Ruth Wright Papers<\/a> (RS 41\/20\/185)<\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0Meyer, Nancy Wright. The Courtship of Louis and Ruth: Letters exchanged June 1934 thru August 1936.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Anna Trammell Scrapbooks, dance cards, and letters in the Student Life and Culture Archives often reveal tales of love that blossomed on campus. The love story of Louis Wright and Ruth Fisher materializes out of a combination of these items and comes to light through discoveries made by their daughter Nancy Wright Meyer, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":626,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[81,181,190,191,212,263],"class_list":["post-3995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-found-in-the-archives","tag-dance-cards","tag-letters","tag-louis-and-ruth-wright","tag-love-stories","tag-nancy-wright-meyer","tag-scrapbooks"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/626"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3995"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11400,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3995\/revisions\/11400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}