Stepleton, Donald Dufour (1909-2003) Photograph Collection, 1927-2006 (bulk: 1927-1940s)

Held by The Filson Historical Society

Creator: Stepleton, Donald Dufour, 1909-2003

Title: Photograph Collection, 1927-2006 (bulk: 1927-1940s)

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Collections Department.

Size of Collection: 1 cu. ft

Location Number: 024PC15

 

Biographical Note

Donald “Don” Dufour Stepleton was born August 4, 1909, in Indiana. In 1910, Don and his parents, Paul Edward Stepleton (1875-1919) and Belle Dufour Stepleton (1883-1979), were living in Indianapolis, where Paul worked as a bookkeeper. Paul died in 1919. According to the 1920 census, Don was living with his mother Belle and his brothers, Kenneth and John, in the home of Belle’s sister, Julia Dufour, near Vevay. Don graduated from Vevay High School in 1927.

Don served in the U.S. Merchant Marine from 1928 to 1930. For the next two years he attended classes at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University and considered pursuing a career in journalism, but he quit school in 1932. For the next nine years he was often unemployed. He performed farm labor when and where he could; he rode the rails; he built sailboats and made two solo voyages down river. In 1941, Don worked as a construction foreman at the E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Co.’s powder plant near Charlestown, Indiana.

In September 1942, at age 33, Don enlisted in the U.S. Army. He trained in Texas, was deployed to North Africa, and arrived in Salerno at the start of the Italian campaign. For the next year, his primary duty was to set up and command forward observation and communication posts to serve the advancing Fifth Army. From August 1944 to August 1945, Don was stationed in Vada, a small Tuscan town on the Mediterranean coast. His official duty in Vada was to retrieve from the sea large model planes that the Army used in anti-aircraft training exercises. He spent much of his time in the company of Vada’s fishermen.

Back in the United States, Don took on several supervisor jobs at construction sites and industrial plants. He built a rammed earth house in Vevay, providing a residence for his mother and an apartment for himself. He worked as a bookkeeper and mechanic in a tractor shop. He managed the Trafelet farm for his cousin Lella following the death of Walter Trafelet. He made furniture and art pottery. He restored two Federalist-era houses, one of which he resided in with his wife Margaret, whom he married circa 1960. He built sailboats, fished, and ran an informal marina for small boats at the bottom of Ferry Street at Vevay. He served as justice of the peace for the town through the 1960s. He contributed a weekly column to the Vevay Reville-Enterprise.

In the late 1970s, Don and Margaret moved to Dunedin, Florida. He remained healthy and active until the week before his death at age 93. Donor Ellen Stepleton, Don’s niece, wrote of her uncle, “He attempted to disengage himself from the yoke of capitalism, or even money itself… He mourned humankind’s impact on the natural world. The environmental degradation of the Ohio Valley in general and Switzerland County in particular was profoundly distressing to him… He always lived simply and manifestly appreciated leisure.”

Source:

Ellen Stepleton biographical notes, 2019, Donald Dufour Stepleton papers, folder 1 [Mss. A S837]

 

Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of photographs documenting the life of Donald “Don” Dufour Stepleton (1909-2003), his family members, and his friends. Stepleton lived near the Ohio River in Switzerland County, Indiana, for much of his life. He took university classes in Chicago in the early 1930s, served in the U.S. Merchant Marine from 1928 to 1930 and in the U.S. Army during World War II, and retired to Florida in the late 1970s. Materials include printed and digitized photographs.

Folder 1 holds the names index for individuals represented in the photographs (see Note about arrangement and names index below).

Folders 2-53 contain photographs from seven albums dismantled by the donor of the collection, Don’s niece Ellen Stepleton. Photographs from the albums date from circa 1927-1990s, with the bulk from 1927-1940s. Most document people and places in Vada and Switzerland County, Indiana, and Chicago, Illinois; World War II training camps and locations in Northern Africa and Italy; and Merchant Marine voyages to ports in Europe and Africa.

Note about arrangement and names index:

The donor sleeved and foldered photographs removed from album pages. Other photographs could not be removed from album pages; the donor added page numbers to those pages before foldering them. Many prints and pages include Don’s captions; the donor copied all captions from album pages that photographs were removed from.

The donor created a names index to document individuals represented in each album. The index references the donor’s organization for the material: she stored photographs from each album in a box or binder, putting photographs and album pages in archival folders or sleeves. Her index references the album number (1-7) and either the page or folder number (each album’s page numbers and/or folder numbers begin at 1).

A processing archivist foldered all photographs and album pages, renumbered the folders sequentially, and retained the donor’s original locations in brackets in the folder list below and on each folder.

Folder 54 contains a small number of loose photographs. Most date from 1950-1953 and are of Don Stepleton, other men, and their boats on the Ohio River near Vevay. Two other photographs date from 2006, when Don’s niece and nephew, Ellen and James Stepleton, visited members of the Catarsi family in Vada, Italy, one of the places Don was stationed during World War II.

Related Collections:

Donald Dufour Stepleton Papers, 1901-2003 [Mss. A S837]

 

Folder List

Box 1

Folder 1: Names index

The donor created a names index to document individuals represented in each album. The index references the donor’s organization for the material: she stored photographs from each album in a box or binder, putting photographs and album pages in archival folders or sleeves. Her index references the album number (1-7) and either the page or folder number (each album’s page numbers and/or folder numbers begin at 1). That information is retained in brackets in the folder list below and on each folder.

Album 1

Folder 2: Notes and names index for Album 1

Folder 3: Early 1940s [pages 1-12]

Includes photographs of Vevay; Belle Stepleton; John Stepleton; Helen Stepleton; Kenneth Stepleton; Ralph Miller; Tracy Stott; Indian Creek; Crosley truck; cat; kayak; munitions plant living quarters in Charlestown, Indiana

Folder 4: Early 1940s [pages 13-26]

Includes photographs of Lella Trafelet; Belle Stepleton; cats; Ralph Miller; Kenneth Stepleton; Bakes farm; Walter Trafelet; canoe and sailboat; Harriet Reed Miller; Ralph Miller; Russell Pickett; Ramona Pickett; Helen Stepleton; catamaran; flooding of the Ohio River; Olive Trafelet; Paston farm; John Stepleton; Olive and Walter Trafelet farm; Pauline Stepleton; automobiles

Folder 5: Fort Harrison, Kansas, October 1942 [folder 1]

Folder 6: Fort Bliss, Texas, November 1942-April 1943 [folder 2]

Folder 7: Fort Bliss, Texas, November 1942-April 1943 [folder 3]

Folder 8: Fort Bliss, Texas, November 1942-April 1943 [folder 4]

Folder 9: Fort Bliss, Texas, November 1942-April 1943 [folder 5]

Folder 10: Fort Bliss, Texas, November 1942-April 1943 [folder 6]

Includes photograph of Carlsbad Cavern

Folder 11: Fort Bliss, Texas, November 1942-April 1943 [folder 7]

Folder 12: Fort Bliss, Texas, November 1942-April 1943 [folder 8]

Includes photographs of the Ysleta section of El Paso

Folder 13: New Orleans, Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama, circa January-May 1943 [folder 9]

Folder 14: Donald Stepleton’s Crosley truck, 1943 [folder 10]

Album 2

Folder 15: Notes and names index for Album 2

Folder 16: Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia, June or early July 1943 [folder 1]

Folder 17: North Africa, July-September 1943 [folder 2]

Folder 18: Italy, circa September 1943-August 1944 [folder 3]

Includes photograph with the caption, “Combat Joe (cook), Winkler, Bill Kellar of Paducah, Le Croix, Dog is called Snuffy, No one is sober.”

Folder 19: Central Italy, circa September 1943-August 1944 [folder 4]

Folder 20: Central Italy, circa September 1943-August 1944 [folder 5]

Folder 21: Central Italy, circa September 1943-August 1944 [folder 6]

Folder 22: Central Italy, circa September 1943-August 1944 [folder 7]

Folder 23: Central Italy, circa September 1943-August 1944 [folder 8]

Folder 24: Tuscany, July 1944-August 1945 [folder 9]

Folder 25: Vada, Tuscany, August 1944-August 1945 [folder 10]

Includes photographs of target planes used in anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) training

Folder 26: Vada, Tuscany, August 1944-August 1945 [folder 11]

Folder 27: Vada, Tuscany, August 1944-August 1945 [folder 12]

Includes photographs of the Italian diesel launch taken from La Spezia’s harbor by Don Stepleton and others; boats owned by the Catarsi family and rented out to Don

Folder 28: Vada, Tuscany, August 1944-August 1945 [folder 13]

Folder 29: Vada, Tuscany, August 1944-August 1945 [folder 14]

Includes photographs of local fishermen, including members of the Catarsi family

Folder 30: Vada, Tuscany, August 1944-August 1945 [folder 15]

Includes photographs of local women, families, and friends

Folder 31: Departure from Italy, August-September 1945 [folder 16]

Albums 3 and 4

Folder 32: Notes and names index for Albums 3 and 4

Folder 33: Circa 1928-early 1940s [folder 1]

Includes photographs of Olive Trafelet, Pauline Detraz Stepleton; Belle Stepleton; Walter Trafelet; Ben and Lella Dufour Bledsoe; Francis Mead and August Mead with Model T; 1937 flood on Market Street in Vevay; Don Stepleton on his horse Stormy; Lella Trafelet; Doris Danner; Hazel Danner; Helen Danner Stepleton; Jim Burton; Tracy Stott; Olive Trafelet; Helen Stepleton; Eleanor Burnside; Kenneth Stepleton

Folder 34: Circa 1937-mid 1950s [folder 2]

Includes photographs of dock and boats in Vevay; Crosley trucks; Duesenberg; Chrysler limousine; Olive Trafelet; Walter Trafelet holding Kenneth Robert Stepleton; some of Jim Sides’s children; Belle Stepleton; rammed earth house built by Don, exterior and interior; Kenneth Stepleton; Judy, Harriet, and Ralph Miller; J. D. Stepleton and residence in Centerville, Indiana

Folder 35: Circa 1927-1947 [folder 3]

Includes photographs of Don Stepleton’s Vevay High School senior class; Trafelet family farmhouse, built by Frank Dufour in the mid-1800s; catboat and catamaran, sails made from flour sacks; 1937 flood near Vevay; Belle Stepleton; construction of rammed earth house; Jim Sides and family; Jim Burton; fishing

Folder 36: Circa mid 1950s-early 1960s, 1990s [folder 4]

Includes photographs of houses on Market Street in Vevay; cats; George and Capt. John Heady; Don Stepleton; catboat; VW Microbus; Ralph Miller; Jim Sides; Frosty Brown; Charles Donner; Walter Trafelet; Jim Stepleton; John Stepleton; Belle Stepleton; Trafelet family farmhouse; August Mead

Folder 37: Belle Stepleton’s cat, circa 1950s [folder 5]

Folder 38: Dunedin, Florida, 1980s [folder 6]

Folder 39: Early 1950s [folder 7]

Includes photographs of Walter Trafelet; ferry road in Ghent, Kentucky

Folder 40: Photographic postcards of steamboats, ca. 1950s [folder 8]

Includes postcards of City of Cincinnati, Hattie Brown, Eva Everett

Album 5

Folder 41: Notes and name index for Album 5

Folder 42: Circa 1927-1930 [pages 1-20]

Includes photographs of Walter Trafelet; Clifty Falls; Vevay High School senior class; Francis Mead; Lewis Dupraz; August Mead; Don Stepleton; August Mead; Doris Dupraz; Pittsburgh; the Saguache; New York City; Jean Sullivan; Mary Louise Tardy; Belle Stepleton; C. C. Stepleton; Zachary Taylor Stepleton; the Exmoor; Will Fuller; Ralph Pelsor; Polly Detraz; Vevay; the West Ivis; Port Elizabeth, South Africa; the Western Knight; John Stepleton; Don’s horse Stormy; Beira, Mozambique; cat

Folder 43: Circa 1927-1930 [pages 21-42]

Includes photographs of Evelyn Courtney; Mary Louise Tardy; Vevay High School physics laboratory; Pauline Detraz; Vevay High School senior class of 1927; Don Stepleton; the Saguache; the Western Knight shipwreck; Don’s horse Stormy; Beira, Mozambique; Copenhagen, Denmark; the Cincha; harbor in Cape Town, South Africa; Jane Allen, James Scott, Margaret Ferguson, Edna Alice Turner at Vevay High School

Folder 44: Circa 1927-1930 [pages 43-62]

Includes photographs of Durban Beach, South Africa; Ohio River; August Mead; Margaret Ferguson; the Cincha; Jeanne and E. Prichard; king’s palace in Stockholm, Sweden; Martha Heide; Vevay; Port Elizabeth, South Africa; Don Stepleton; dogs; the Western Knight shipwreck; World’s Fair in Barcelona, Spain; Gibraltar; automobiles

Folder 45: Circa 1927-1930 [pages 63-84]

Includes photographs of Dakar, Senegal; August Mead; John Stepleton; Charlotte Sullivan and Ruth Miller; Trafelet house; Lella Trafelet; Tracy Stott; the S.A.M.; the Western Knight; Belle Stepleton; sailing; a whale boat; Don Stepleton; rescued dog; the Hertha; Port Elizabeth, South Africa; Mary Louise Tardy, J. Scott, M. C. Protsman

Album 6

Folder 46: Notes and name index for Album 6

Folder 47: Circa 1928-1935 [pages 1-19]

Includes photographs of catamaran; Chicago World’s Fair; cat; John Stepleton; Kenneth Stepleton; Mabel Crowell Stepleton; Belle Stepleton; Switzerland County; “one-time saloon and hotel – The Last First Chance – near the levee in Carrolton”; Mighty Haag Circus elephants; Dupraz house; Don Stepleton; Julia Dufour house; 7237 Yale Ave. in Chicago; Kenneth Bragg; Oren Lemmon; Henry Layne; Pete Rosenberger; Raymond Detraz, Jr.; Lewis Dupraz; Jane Allen; Buck Sides with dog and puppies; Joan Dufour; Chuck Bowen; Main Street in Vevay; Swiss Inn; marching band; Rudolf Brown and John Hines; Pothooks Webster; Byron Telley and Eddie Rosenberger; the Stepleton brothers

Folder 48: Circa 1928-1935 [pages 20-39]

Includes photographs of cats; Belle Stepleton; Don Stepleton; Mazie MacFarland in Chicago; Lella Trafelet; Saturday night at 7237 Yale; John Stepleton; August Mead; James Sides in his launch; Lewis Dupraz; Lincoln Park, Navy Pier, and Michigan Avenue in Chicago; aerial views of Chicago World’s Fair; “the Yards” (stockyards) and cattle pens; Dominik Bumblis; Joe Kubat; Gordon Matissi

Folder 49: Circa 1928-1935 [pages 40-55]

Includes photographs of Michael Deegan; Tom Minor, Sam Brown in Chicago; Kenneth Stepleton; Don Bettsinger; noon bridge game in Chicago; Belle Stepleton; “Flood in the Ohio Valley”; Vevay; Plum Creek Valley; Trafelet house; Emma Dean Allen; Jane Allen; Mary Welch; Don’s horse Stormy; horse-drawn carriages; August Mead; dog; snake

Folder 50: Circa 1928-1935 [pages 56-69]

Includes photographs of houseboats and sailboats on Ohio River at Vevay; Don Stepleton; Mary Jane Rosenberger; Dupraz; J. C. Scott; Terry Jennings; Jim Sides; traveling from “Vevay to Chicago – St. Louis – Little Rock – New Orleans – Indianapolis to Chicago”; Ralph Miller; Pauline Broadwell; Tracy Stott and Gilmore Stott

Album 7

Folder 51: Notes and name index for Album 7

Folder 52: Circa 1935-1939 [pages 1-21]

Includes photographs of Lella Trafelet; Don’s pier on Ohio River; bridges at Louisville, Kentucky; locks at the Falls of the Ohio; Don cooking; Carpalim; Brandenburg, Kentucky; Leavenworth, Indiana; men and boys fishing below the lock gates; Carpalim in tow of the Producers; Ralph Miller; Taterbug church and school; covered bridge

Folder 53: Circa 1928, 1935-1939 [pages 22-41]

Includes photographs of boats on the Ohio River; “The Annual Big Dipping” in the Ohio River; Ralph Miller; Lewis Dupraz; George Ellerbrook; Portland canal in Louisville; in tow of Arthur Hider; Blaggard in lock at Owensboro, Kentucky; cooking at Evansville, Indiana; Cave-in-Rock; Tobacco Landing; Don and John Stepleton; H. C. Collins in horse-drawn carriage; National Guard plane crashed in Walter Trafelet’s alfalfa field; Valkyrie in Copenhagen, Denmark; Island at Stockholm

Folder 54: Circa 1935-1941 [pages 42-63]

Includes photographs of Chrysler automobile; John Stepleton; Don Stepleton; Ralph Miller; jalopies; Buick; boats on the Ohio River; Paul Sullivan; Buck Craig; Herrin family; John Lock; Ancey Atkinson and Ed Trinkle; Kirby Danglade and M. C. P. Henry; Leila Lewis; cow and calf; Gabby Dow; horses; “Vevay to Kentucky to Cumberland Gap Pinnacles”; “Across the hills to Asheville and down into the Piedmont”; “Into the Shenandoah at Roanoke”; Cloverdale Milles; “Along the Blue Ridge”; Skyline Road; “To Washington and Annapolis”; “And across the Chesapeake”; “To Newark”; ammunition plant

Loose photographs

Folder 55: 1950-1953, 2006

Includes photographs of Jim Sides, Don Stepleton, and Raymound Gauder in Vevay, 1952; catamaran; Reid Hospital construction, Richmond, Indiana, 1950; Vincenzo Catarsi and a group of Vada fishermen, 2006

 

Subject Headings

Agriculture – Indiana.

Barcelona (Spain) – Description and travel.

Beira (Mozambique) – Description and travel.

Boats and boating.

Chicago (Ill.)

Copenhagen (Denmark) – Description and travel.

Depressions – 1929 – United States.

Dufour family.

Merchant marine – United States.

Merchant ships.

Military bases.

New York City (N.Y.) – Description and travel.

Ohio River.

Shipwrecks.

South Africa – Description and travel.

Stepleton family.

Stepleton, Belle Dufour, 1883-1979.

Stepleton, John, 1916-2000.

Stepleton, Kenneth, 1907-1982.

Stott, Isabella Tracy, 1911-1997.

Switzerland County (Ind.)

Trafelet family.

United States. Army.

Vevay (Ind.)

World War, 1939-1945.