Gloria Jahoda Papers

Gloria Adelaide Love Jahoda was born October 6, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, to Adelaide and Chase Whitney Love. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English and Master of Arts in Anthropology, both from Northwestern University. While teaching at the University of Wisconsin she met her husband, Gerald Jahoda, whom she married in 1952. The two moved to Tallahassee, Florida, in 1963, where Gerald Jahoda taught library science at Florida State University. Though she began writing novels full-time in 1957, Jahoda’s nonfiction works received greater recognition, including The Other Florida (1967), The Road to Samarkand: Frederick Delius and His Music (1969), River of the Golden Ibis (1973), The Trail of Tears (1975), and Florida: A Bicentennial History (1976).

Jahoda was president of the Tallahassee Historical Society, an elected registrar of the Creek Nation, and nominated Woman of the Year by the Florida State University Women’s Club. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of West Florida in 1977. Jahoda remained an active community member until her death on January 13, 1980.

Frederick Delius was born on January 29, 1862, in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, the son of German immigrants Julius and Elise Delius. Displeased with Delius’s desire to compose music, Julius sent his son to manage an orange plantation in Florida in 1884. While in America, Delius discovered the music of African-American tenant farmers, which served as inspiration for his Florida suite, the opera Koanga, and the Appalachia suite. He taught in Jacksonville, Florida, and Danville, Virginia, before training at the Leipzig music conservatory. Delius married Helen Jelka Rosen in September of 1903. He lived in Germany, Norway, and France throughout his lifetime, with each country’s music further affecting his composition style. In his final years, poor health forced Delius to rely on his amanuensis, Eric Fenby, to transcribe his compositions. Delius died in France on June 10, 1934.