University of Arizona

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Lou Blachly Papers

Louis Bradley Blachly (1890-1965) was an employee of the U.S. War Department and Foreign Economic Administration, from 1941 to 1949, working in Columbia, S.C., Washington, D.C., North Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Later, he was author of natural history books and articles, and local historian with the Pioneers Foundation in New Mexico. His maternal grandfather, Dan Beach Bradley, was a medical missionary to Bangkok, Siam (now Thailand) from 1835 to 1846.

The collection includes correspondence, reports, manuscripts, diaries, photographs, poetry, souvenir ephemera, and newspapers. General family history includes typescripts of biographical notes, correspondence, and remembrances by various members of both the Bradley and Blachly families. Photocopied materials of Dan Beach Bradley's mission work in Thailand include a typescript of his journal describing medical practices. Correspondence is both between missions and the King of Siam. Photographs depict the family, their house, village scenes, temples, and the royalty.

Some of the items in the collection are in French, German, and Thai.