Upon digging further into Helen's extensive collections, one cannot help but get the feeling that she was a women who had a zest for life! Her photographs of her many travels, among them Old Faithful in Yellowstone, and the Giant Redwoods in Sequoia in the 1930s and 1940s are of some of the most interesting I have found to date. The two National Parks before real commercialization took over are beautiful.
We have 25 photo albums that we have just begun working on cataloging and archiving. I'm sure as our work progresses, I will find more photographs that will hold my interest, and will also show another side of Helen that we have not yet seen. Each box holds a new treasure!
--Lynne
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
The Helen Leone Rogler Collection at Pioneer Bluffs
Helen Leone Rogler was born November 2, 1902, and died July 21, 1999, a lifetime that spanned most of the 20th century. She attended elementary school and high school in Chase County and earned a degree in Home Economics from Kansas State Agricultural College in 1926. After graduation she took a semester of teaching courses, trained in dietetics at Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago, and served as secretary for her father, Henry Rogler, who was a Kansas State Senator. She received a Master’s from Iowa State University in the early 1940s.
After graduating from college, she held several positions: teaching in rural Kansas, selling Ovaltine, and short term clerical and sales work. On short notice she took a short-term teaching assignment in Florida, finishing out the school year for a teacher who had left unexpectedly. During this early period and throughout her life, she spent summers at the family ranch. She traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, India, Greece, Egypt, Jerusalem, and Cuba.
In 1943 she moved to California and taught home economics in various high schools. When she was in her mid-50's she took Arthur Murray Dance lessons and began dancing competitively, a hobby she pursued with passion until she was well into her 70's. Upon retiring from teaching in the mid-1970s, she began attending acting classes and workshops, and made guest appearances on several television shows (One Day at a Time, General Hospital, All in the Family, Maude), played lead or supporting roles in commercials (Schlitz, McDonald’s, United Airlines, Swift’s Butterball) and film and performed on stage.
Helen remained single throughout her life, although she is reported to have had numerous suitors. By every indication it appears that she very much enjoyed managing her own career and finances, with the added benefit of having the freedom to travel and pursue her hobbies of dancing and acting. Hometown acquaintances mention her sense of humor, lively personality, and adventurousness.
In the late 1980s she returned to Emporia, Kansas to spend the remaining years of her life near her childhood home and her brother Wayne.
Beginning as a young teen, Helen saved the story of her life and her family in a methodical and comprehensive way. Her avid documentation, especially in light of having no offspring to inherit the materials, suggests a keen awareness of the innate value of historical materials.
After she died in 1999, the collection was stored privately by a member of the family who was the executor of her estate. It was donated to Pioneer Bluffs Foundation in January 2008 and is held at the ranch headquarters, the 1908 house.
After graduating from college, she held several positions: teaching in rural Kansas, selling Ovaltine, and short term clerical and sales work. On short notice she took a short-term teaching assignment in Florida, finishing out the school year for a teacher who had left unexpectedly. During this early period and throughout her life, she spent summers at the family ranch. She traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, India, Greece, Egypt, Jerusalem, and Cuba.
In 1943 she moved to California and taught home economics in various high schools. When she was in her mid-50's she took Arthur Murray Dance lessons and began dancing competitively, a hobby she pursued with passion until she was well into her 70's. Upon retiring from teaching in the mid-1970s, she began attending acting classes and workshops, and made guest appearances on several television shows (One Day at a Time, General Hospital, All in the Family, Maude), played lead or supporting roles in commercials (Schlitz, McDonald’s, United Airlines, Swift’s Butterball) and film and performed on stage.
Helen remained single throughout her life, although she is reported to have had numerous suitors. By every indication it appears that she very much enjoyed managing her own career and finances, with the added benefit of having the freedom to travel and pursue her hobbies of dancing and acting. Hometown acquaintances mention her sense of humor, lively personality, and adventurousness.
In the late 1980s she returned to Emporia, Kansas to spend the remaining years of her life near her childhood home and her brother Wayne.
Beginning as a young teen, Helen saved the story of her life and her family in a methodical and comprehensive way. Her avid documentation, especially in light of having no offspring to inherit the materials, suggests a keen awareness of the innate value of historical materials.
After she died in 1999, the collection was stored privately by a member of the family who was the executor of her estate. It was donated to Pioneer Bluffs Foundation in January 2008 and is held at the ranch headquarters, the 1908 house.
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