Robert and Elanor Lumianski papers

Collection

Identifier: UA-17.382

Staff Only

Scope and Content

This collection contains the papers of Robert and Elanor Lumianski. Included in the collection are reports by Robert Lumianski his time with the MSU University of Nigeria Project (1962-1964). Also include are reports and correspondence his time with the Peace Corps Masters of Arts in Education program held in Nigeria (1965 and 1968). The participants participated in the Peace Corp in Nigeria as teachers and at the same time earn credits toward their master's degree. The collection includes materials from courses taught by Lumianski in American Thought and Language.

Also included in the collection are materials from Elanor Lumianski including her notebook for learning Igbo and photographs she took while in Nigeria. Subjects of the photographs include people, friends, scenes, and the University of Nigeria Campus. Of note are the pictures of Nigerian people, villages, dancing, including juju dancing.

Dates

Creation: 1962 - 1973

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from this collection must be obtained from University Archives & Historical Collections, Michigan State University.

Biographical Note

Robert M. Lumianski was born on January 26, 1905 in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Education and his Master of Arts in English from the University of South Carolina in 1928. Prior to coming to East Lansing, Lumianski was the principal at Lake George (N.Y.) High School, Dean of Students and Professor of English at the National Farm Junior College, and served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force from 1942-1946 in Cryptographic Intelligence, Air Transport Command.

Lumianski joined the faculty at Michigan State College (now Michigan State University) in 1946. He served as instructor (1946-1950), assistant professor (1951-1959), associate professor (1960-1964), and professor (1965-1973) in the Department of Written and Spoken English (1946-1950), the Department of Communication Skills (1951-1961) and the Department of American Thought and Language (1962-1973). He retired from MSU in 1973.

Lumianski obtained a Ph.D. in English from Michigan State University in 1955.

From August 1962 to July 1964, Lumianski participated in the MSU Nigeria Program. In 1967, Lumianski was assigned to the Nigeria Peace Corps project for the entire calendar year.

Elanor Arden Parrott Lumianski was born on November 1, 1909 in Lake George, New York. She attended a five year nursing course at Skidmore College graduating in 1932. In 1934, she earned a Public Health Nursing Certificate from Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and went on to became a Family Health Counselor with the Kellogg Foundation in Michigan. She met Robert Lumianski at Lake George, New York and they married on July 6, 1935. Elanor worked as a public health nurse for Ingham County, Michigan from 1949-1962. She also went to Nigeria with Robert as part of the USAID and Peace Corps projects. After retirement the Lumianskis lived in Lake George, New York and Leawood, Kansas. Elanor Lumianski passed away on December 26, 2006.