Guide to the Manila D. Talley papers
1919-1990
Collection number: HMC-1240.
Creator: Talley, Manila Davis
Title: Manila D. Talley papers.
Dates: 1925-1990.
Volume of collection: 0.7 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Materials in this collection are in English.
Collection summary: Papers of a pilot who lived in Alaska and elsewhere.
Biographical note:
Manila Carolyn Davis was born in 1898 in West Virginia. She attended boarding school, West Virginia University, and later transferred to the New England Conservatory, where she studied piano and drama. She became interested in aviation and took a Curtis-Wright mechanics course and attended the M.I.T. Guggenheim School of Aeronautics. She earned her commercial pilot’s license while working on the Curtis-Wright sales force.
In 1933, Manila married Benjamin B. Talley, an officer in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. She traveled to various locations where her husband was stationed, including Yakutat, Alaska in 1940. She joined the Civil Air Patrol in 1941, eventually attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. She also completed the Air Force Officer Candidate Correspondence Course in and the Air War College Correspondence Course.
In 1964, Benjamin Talley, then retired from the Army, was asked to return to Alaska to help with reconstruction after the earthquake. The couple bought a homestead on the Kenai Peninsula and split their time between Alaska and Magnum, Oklahoma, where Benjamin Talley was from. Manila Talley wrote a number of articles for Alaska Sportsman magazine based on her life in Alaska. Manila Talley died in 1973 in Magnum, Oklahoma.
Collection description:
This collection consists of materials pertaining to Manila Talley’s career as a pilot, as well as her personal life. The papers include correspondence between Talley and friends and family; travel diaries and other materials; materials relating to Talley’s membership in the Civil Air Patrol; USAF and Air War College correspondence course materials; materials related to pilots’ organizations; an index card file of historical research; and photographs of Talley.
Arrangement: Materials in the collection are arranged by document type.
Digitized copies: 46 photographs from the collection have been digitized and can be viewed on Alaska’s Digital Archives. For information about obtaining copies please contact Archives and Special Collections. A digitized copy of a reel-to-reel audiotape is available but not available online. Contact the Archives for more information
Digital materials: The digital contents of this collection are not available online. Access may only be provided on-site in the Archives research room. For more information about potential distance access to digital records, please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Rights note: Archives and Special Collections holds copyright to materials created by Manila Talley. Materials not created by Talley may be subject to copyright not owned by the Archives.
Preferred citation: Manila D. Talley papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Works used in preparation of inventory: Lynam, Verona.“Manila D. Talley.” Profile. March, 1973.
Separated materials:Publications have been removed from the collection and selected items have been added to the Consortium Library’s Rare Books collection.
Related materials: Archives and Special Collections also holds the Benjamin B. Talley papers, HMC-0241.
Acquisition note: The collection was presented to the Archives, as part of the Benjamin B. Talley papers, by Benjamin B. Talley and wife Virginia Talley between 1980 and 2004. A deed of gift was signed in 1986. The Manila D. Talley papers were established as a separate collection in 2016.
Processing information: This collection was described by Gwen Sieja in 2016.
Container list:
| Box/Folder | Description | Date |
| 1/1 | General correspondence | undated, 1939-1958 |
| 1/2 | Correspondence with Laura Ingalls. This file contains copies of correspondence between aviator Laura Ingalls and Manila Talley. The letters concern the flying activities of Laura Ingalls and Manila Talley, their friendship, and personal matters. There is also correspondence between Walter Walsh and General Talley concerning Manila Talley’s friendship with Laura Ingalls | 1941 April-May, 1990 |
| 1/3 | Letter of reference for Manila Davis from A.M. Berry, Sheriff of Braxton County, Sutton,West Virginia | 1925 September 4 |
| 1/4 | New England Conservatory Alumni Newsletter | undated |
| 1/5 | 350th Field Artillery Band concert program | 1919 |
| 1/6 | Travel diaries: Southwest U.S. to Portland, and Seattle to Yakutat (2 small notebooks) | 1938-1940 |
| 1/7 | Yakutat: diaries and letters | 1940 |
| 1/8 | Travel diaries: Morocco, Cairo, Karachi, Bangkok (two small notebooks) | 1956, 1958 |
| 1/9 | Materials from time living in North Africa | 1955-1957 |
| 1/10 | Travel materials: postcards airline menu | undated, 1957 |
| 1/11 | Handwritten appointment calendars | 1952-1955 |
| 1/12 | Medical records | 1940-1956 |
| 1/13 | Financial records | 1932-1959 |
| 1/14 | Driver’s License – State of Oregon | 1941 June 15 |
| 1/15 | Membership cards | 1957-1973 |
| 1/16 | Memorial records from Manila Talley’s funeral | 1973 December 20 |
| 1/17 | Artifacts | undated, 1934 |
| 1/18 | Civil Air Patrol: This file contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous records concerning Manila Talley’s career as a pilot and membership in the Civil Air Patrol | undated, 1954-1967 |
| 1/19 | Certificate for completion of Army Air Forces Training program at Godman Field, Fort Knox, Kentucky as a member of the Civil Air Patrol, Kentucky Wing 53 | 1946 August 25 |
| 1/20 | USAF Extension Course Institute: Correspondence, student progress chart, progress reports, and institute newsletters | 1954-1961 |
| 1/21 | USAF Extension Course Institute: Course 1 – Questions missed and certificates of completion | 1954, 1955 |
| 1/22 | USAF Extension Course Institute: Course NE02 (Power and Policy) – answer sheets, questions missed, and certificates of completion | 1955-1957 |
| 1/23 | USAF Extension Course Institute: Course 3 (Command and Staff College) – form letter, answer sheets, list of volumes and credit hours, and certificate of completion | undated, 1961, 1962 |
| 1/24 | Air War College, Air University, United States Air Force, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama – Correspondence | undated, 1963-1967 |
| 1/25 | Air War College, Air University: Papers submitted to the faculty for completion of course work and letters of certification for books read | 1964-1966 |
| 1/26 | Pilots organizations: newsletters, programs, and miscellaneous items. Organizations represented include: The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association; The Ninety-Nines, Inc. (International Organization of Women Pilots); Aero Club of Washington (D. C.); OX-5 Club of Pennsylvania; National Aviation Club; National Aviation Education Council; and the National Pilot’s Association | undated, 1952-1962 |
| 1/27 | Business cards of Manila Talley | undated |
| Box 2 | Historical Research Index Card File This file contains Manila Talley’s research notes on Russian and Alaskan history, organized alphabetically. Subjects include animals, aurora borealis, Bering, bells, cities, cloth, Cossacks, exile, eclipse, food, furs, grass, the Klondike, liquor, merchants, minerals, prisons, perfume, revolution, ships and ship building, timber, water, weddings, and others | undated |