Item 42: Booklet of the History of Azilum: French Refugee Village on the Susquehanna, 1940

Item — Box: 18, Folder: 15

Staff Only

Item 42: Booklet of the History of Azilum: French Refugee Village on the Susquehanna, 194

Dates

Created: 1940

Creator

Murray, Elsie, 1878-1965 (Person)

Access:

All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.

Extent

1 items

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Type of Material:

Booklet

Condition Note:

Good, no issues.

Measurements:

3 ½ in. x 6 ¼ in.

Description:

A small booklet describing the history of the French town based on the Susquehanna River. This is the work of psychologist and historian Elsie Murray. Murray was a professor at Vassar, Sweet Briar, Wilson, and the University of Illinois. She contributed heavily to the study of color perception, blindness, and memory in her work as a psychologist. Murray served as the director of the Tioga Point Museum from 1935 to 1955 and starting in 1954 she was also the director of the French Azilum historic site. This publication is about the village of Azilum that was built by French immigrants in the 1790s. The majority of these immigrants were fleeing France and Haiti for safety from political uprisings. They were moving to Azilum to escape the French Revolution and Haiti’s slave uprisings. The majority of them were nobility or wealthy. Murray discusses some of the notable landmarks of Azilum and how the colonists there lived. She writes about how they believed Marie Antoinette would live there after she fled France, so they built her a house that is the focal part of the historical site. The artistic rendition of the house by a local artist Elizabeth Laporte, but the sketch is not included. Notable people of Azilum include Vicomte de Noailles and Antoine Omar Talon, who were founders of the settlement. Later settlers of the town include Aristide Aubert du Petit-Thouars a French sea captain, who cleared land for his sisters to live. The captain would later die in the Battle of the Nile. Murray then concludes the booklet by saying that the historic site is popular with hikers and tourists interested in French history.