Isabel Myers Brinckerhoff papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Restrictions:

This collection has been minimally processed and is open for research.

Terms of access:

This collection contains some in-copyright material. Visit our Permissions and Publishing page for more information about use of Special Collections materials. The library can provide copyright information upon request, but users are responsible for making their own determination about lawful use of collections materials. InC: In Copyright – https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/

Preferred citation:

MSS 16940, Isabel Myers Brinckerhoff papers, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Summary

Extent:
0.8 Cubic Feet Two letter-sized file boxes
Creator:
Juhl, Isabel Myers Brinckerhoff, 1897-1895
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

MSS 16940, Isabel Myers Brinckerhoff papers, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains eleven diaries written by Isabel Myers Brinckerhoff between 1916 and 1935, accompanied by four folders of loose ephemera, letters, clippings, and manuscripts. The materials document approximately twenty years of Brinckerhoff's life from her time as a student at Christian College through early marriage, her relocation to California, motherhood, divorce, and later relationships. The first four diaries document Isabel's college years from 1916 to 1919; the final seven diaries document her life in the Los Angeles area. However, Isabel spent 1931 in Reno, Nevada, and 1932 and 1933 in Oakland, California, before returning to L.A. later in 1933, where she remained through 1935.

The diaries contain manuscript entries with tipped or pasted materials, including letters, news clippings, photographs, dried flowers, college ephemera, household budgets, manuscript poetry, and notes. Early volumes focus on college life, friendships, courtship, and musical study; later volumes document married life, domestic responsibilities, relocation, parenting, and the dissolution of her marriage. Diaries from the 1930s include extensive material on romantic relationships, daily life, and Brinckerhoff's accounts of domestic abuse. Loose materials include business and calling cards; receipts; event tickets; household ephemera; personal correspondence from family members, her husband, daughter, and later romantic partners; news clippings on social events; poetry; literature on community activities; and descriptions of family matters. Of particular note, in the manuscripts and typescripts folder, is a detailed list of Brinckerhoff's accounts of domestic abuse with her later partner, Roy Hall.

This material contains references to domestic violence. The purpose of this note is to give users the opportunity to decide whether they need or want to view these materials, or at least, to mentally or emotionally prepare themselves to view the materials.

Biographical / historical:

Isabel Mildred Myers Juhl, poet and pianist, was born in Kansass on May 6, 1897, and spent her early adulthood in Missouri, Kansas, California, and Nevada. Raised principally in Fort Scott, Kansas, she later attended Christian College in Columbia, Missouri between 1916 and 1918, recording her academic and social experiences in her diaries. She married Philip "Sunny" Brinckerhoff in July 1918 and subsequently relocated to Hollywood, California, where the couple lived with his family and later had a daughter, Joyce. Following her divorce from Philip in Reno in 1931, she lived in Oakland and Los Angeles. She remarried Roy Hall in 1936 and had a son,Ron, with him. She remarried again to Curt Juhl in 1940 taking his last name. She died on January 23, 1985. She is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Los Angeles, California.

References

"Isabel Mildred Myers Juhl." Find-a-Grave. Accessed February 16, 2026. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7737200/isabel_mildred_myers-juhl

"Collection of Diaries and Assorted Materials of Isabel Brinckerhoff (1916–1935)." Biblio. Accessed February 16, 2026. https://www.biblio.com/book/collection-diaries-assorted-materials-isabel-brinckerhoff/d/1582968654

Acquisition information:
This collection was purchased from Marginalia by the Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia on 19 December 2025.
Physical description:
Good
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard