Ernestine Dunaway Bingham Letters, MSS.2357

Abstract: Letters from Ernestine Dunaway Bingham in New York, to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. E.M. Dunaway of Chicago, Illinois.Scope and Content Note: The collection contains three letters from Ernestine Dunaway Bingham in New York, to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. E.M. Dunaway of Chicago, Illinois. The letters are full of family news, mainly centered on Bingham's children, Harry and Leslie, and her soon-to-be-husband, Hilgard "Hilly" Pannes. She also describes her work and travel for the Commission on the Freedom of the Press, and her work as an editor. The included poem is by ________ and was written on the occasion of her marriage to "Hilly."Biographical/Historical Note: Ernestine Dunaway was born on 17 June 1907 in Nebraska. At some point in the late 1920s or very early 1930s she married and was then widowed or divorced after her first two children were born, Harry Hobart Bingham (born 25 May 1931, died 24 August 1994) and Leslie Bingham Williams (born circa 1935). The family moved to New York City, and in 1945 and 1946, she worked with the Commission on the Freedom of the Press. Sometime in early 1946 she married Hilgard "Hilly" Pannes and the couple had another son, John (born 20 October 1946, died 15 September 1994). "Hilly" died 25 July 1983 and Ernestine died on 7 October 1997.[Note: I can find no record of Ernestine Dunaway's first marriage but surmise it to have been in the mid- to late-1920s or very early-1930s, as she would have only turned 20 in 1927 and her first son, Harry was born in 1931. Consequently, I have no information regarding her first husband's given name. Any information given in Harry's obituary and memorial statements only list his mother's name. MAB 11/12/2010