Diploma of Graduation of Leonore S. Von der Lieth

Vaughn De Leath
Leonore S. Von der Lieth

This is the graduation diploma of Leonore S. Von der Lieth, later Vaughn DeLeath, from Pomona High School in California. It uses possibly leather binding, embossed gold lettering, and a chain keeping it closed. A photo of the inside is unavailable, since I received this photo from Mary Ann at the Mt. Pulaski Township Museum and did not take the photo myself.

Mt. Pulaski is a little casserole dish of a town in Mount Pulaski, IL. According to the Fourteenth Census, the township had a population of about 2,600 in 1920. The population has dwindled to and since stabilized around the 1,500 mark. This town has made DeLeath a key part of their community identity and heritage, in addition to the founding and settlement of the town, or the times when Abraham Lincoln passed through.

Unlike most of what is in the DeLeath section of the Mt. Pulaski Museum, this diploma is utterly unrelated to her music career. It may be one of the most personal things they own, a tantalizing glimpse into her life outside what might be written under her entry in a music encyclopedia. A plaque or label for this item might emphasize that not all women graduated high school in those days. It might also point out the use of her German name, before she changed it (probably) for her career.

Finally, it might highlight that the diploma is for a Californian school, where she spent much of her childhood, but it has found its way back to the town where she was born, and the town that seems to love her best.

Pomona High School

Mt. Pulaski Township Museum

Mt. Pulaski Township Museum

~1910

Pomona High School
Vaughn De Leath

Unknown

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Physical item

English

Diploma

Unavailable

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