Keywords
Collection #
Collection Name Collection #
Author Date
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Frank N. Pilling Collection

MSA SC 5600
Dates1940-1982
Mediumbooks
RestrictionsNo restrictions
Storage02/45/08/62
Description
Three bound volumes containing the observations and social commentary of Frank N. Pilling. The works include: Social Essays; Nature Essays; and Each Man is an Island.

History
Frank N. (Francis Nelson) Pilling was born in Baltimore, October 17, 1908. He was educated at the Boys Latin School and graduated from The Johns Hopkins University in 1930. Pilling was part of a generation greatly influenced by two catastrophic events in American history - the Depression of the 1930s and World War II. During the 1930s, Pilling worked briefly as a high school English teacher and later as a social worker with the Baltimore Emergency Relief Commission. Between 1937 and 1941, he concentrated on what he described as a "self-financed study and writing in human organization and human relations." When the war began, Pilling worked for a time at the Glenn L. Martin Co. in Baltimore before enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1942. In 1943, Pilling was ordered to England, and during the Atlantic crossing, his ship was torpedoed and sunk. Pilling was rescued at sea and was so affected by the event, he formed a life-long friendship with Albert Hocken, captain of the British rescue ship.

Eventually Pilling was posted in London and assigned to public relations work, mainly to establish a collegial relationship between British and American service people. He organized dinner- discussion groups in London with prominent British speakers and was a member of the organizing committee for the British and American Forces Dining Club. Leaving London, he was posted to Washington where he did publicity work for the Bureau of Ships public relations section.

Pilling returned to civilian life and resumed his personal writings. Government, history, politics, and social issues were favorite subjects. For a time, he concentrated on the construction of a house in Maine where he summered with his wife, Muriel L. Pilling. Mrs. Pilling compiled and privately printed her husband's essays and observations after his death.


Collection Inventory
Series 1: Miscellaneous
Microfilm Inventory

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