We hit 1,000!

A milestone marker was passed on June 10, 2009–and we were too busy to report it!  On that date we hit our 1,000th initial reference inquiry from the records of the College Archives [not including in-person requests].  Between July 1, 2008 and June 10, 2009, the staff of the College Archives (2 people FT) fielded inquiries from off-site researchers who contact us via email, telephone, and even by letter, although those requests are coming fewer and far between.

The 1,000th inquiry you might ask?  It was a request from the School for Social Work for copies of syllabi from 10 classes that were offered in 2001.   That’s just one of the types of inquiries we get annually.

As of the end of the work day today, we’re sitting at #1017.  More to come before we set the number back to zero on July 1, 2009…

Diploma Circle at Smith College

Smith undergraduates end their academic career in Northampton with one final tradition: the Diploma Circle.

Diploma Circle at Smith College, 1984

When they walk across the front stage and shake hands with the College president during the Commencement ceremony, graduating seniors are not given their own diplomas.  Instead, they receive a classmate’s.  In order to leave with the correct diploma, the entire senior class gathers in concentric circles on the lawn of King-Scales houses. On a signal, they start to pass the diplomas around until the right one finally lands in their hands.  Usually, this is met with a  joyful look similar to this image from 1944:

Student opening her diploma, 1944

Evidence in the College Archives suggests that the Diploma Circle has been around since at least 1911, possibly earlier.  It has seen many names in that time, including: the “Magic Circle” and the “Great Ring.”  Whatever the name,  when the student steps out of the Circle with her diploma in hand, she knows she is officially a  Smith alumna!

*1984 Diploma Circle image by Gabriel Cooney

The staff of the College Archives wishes all of the Senior Class our best in your next journey, whatever it may be.  We hope you’ll return to the Archives anytime you’re on campus in the future!!

All the best from Nanci, Debbie, Leslie & Susan

Goodbye, dear friend, Betty Horner

Elizabeth Horner, 1916-2009, Myra M. Sampson emerita professor of Biological Sciences

It is with much sadness we say goodbye to our dear friend Betty Horner, who died on April 29, 2009.  I met Betty during one of my first weeks at Smith.  She came over to introduce herself, and to drop off some items from her office.

Betty came to Smith College in 1938, as a young scientist from Douglass College in New Jersey, pursuing the master’s program while working in the laboratories at Burton Hall.  She later received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1948.  Betty always joked that she came to Smith ‘along with the 1938 Hurricane!’  One of her many contributions to the College Archives collection includes slides of that event (among other things).

Betty spent her entire academic career at Smith, sharing her absolute love of science and inquiry with many a generation of young women.  She persevered as a professional at a time when women were not always welcomed into the scientific academy.  She once told me of her mother’s dislike of her pursuing a career.  “But that didn’t stop me” she noted.  Nothing ever dampened her enthusiasm or spirit for her work.  Betty served on numerous department and College committees, and retired as an emerita professor in 1986.   However, she never really ‘retired’ from her work, and until her health intervened last year, could be seen working in her office at Sabin-Reed Hall.

In recent conversations she told me that “I want to come back in another life as an archivist.  You have such a wonderful job!”  A self-proclaimed pack-rat, the College Archives collection has been greatly enhanced by her contributions–in many forms, as have other units of the Library, including the Mortimer Rare Book Room, where Betty has donated wonderful 19th century volumes on natural history, according to Martin Antonetti, curator of rare books.

Because of her warmth and openess to explorations of all kinds, Betty has legions of friends from all over the world, and in many generations who will miss her greatly.  The College Archives will do its best to honor her work and life achievements by preserving her papers for the future.

Photograph by Dick Fish, 1986

Marian Anderson

Program of Marian Anderson Lincoln Memorial Concert, April 9, 1939

Thursday, April 9, 2009 marks the 70th anniversary of contralto Marian Anderson’s concert at the Lincoln Memorial.  This concert is remembered for many reasons: her voice; the songs.  The fact that the Daughters of the American Revolution refused her request to sing at Constitution Hall, the largest venue in Washington, DC.  In response, Eleanor Roosevelt withdrew her membership in the DAR, and President Roosevelt, along with other supporters, sponsored a concert on the Mall where 75,000 people came to hear her sing.

There is a Smith connection.  In March 1939 Agnes Morthenthau Newborg, Class of 1914, wrote to President William A. Neilson about a meeting at the Smith Club of New York City, where it was suggested that the College confer an honorary degree on Anderson, in “…protest to the DAR over their undemocratic treatment of Marian Anderson.”  She writes that “…It would be appropriate to have so liberal a gesture made by the College at the close of your distinguished career and in keeping with your liberal tradition.”

Letter to William A. Neilson from Agnes Morgenthau Newborg, Class of 1914

Letter to Neilson from Newborg, p.2

Letter to Neilson from Newborg, pg 3

Neilson writes back to Newborg that the Trustees Committee on Honorary Degrees has already met and finalized the degree recipients, but that he would “…be glad to lay it before the committee for consideration another year.”  One of the sponsors of the concert was William A. Neilson, and the program shown at the top of this blog is a form of thank you note from Anderson.  His name is listed among Washington luminaries and politicians as a sponsor on the back of the program.

Anderson gave the first concert of the1939-1940 Smith College Concert Series on November 22, 1939 at John M. Greene Hall.  This was her 2nd appearance at Smith College.  She returned to John M. Greene Hall to give a concert in 1950.

1950 Marian Anderson concert in John M. Greene Hall

In between, the Board of Trustees honored Anderson with a Doctorate of Music (Mus.D)  in 1944.  President Herbert John Davis read the following citation at the Commencement ceremony:

“Marian Anderson: An American woman of unselfish devotion, who through the splendor of her voice and nobility of her art, has awakended and fortified in the hearts of countless thousands a deeper understanding of that humanity in which we are all one.”

Anderson continued a long and distinguished singing career, both here and abroad.  For most people, the breadth of her career is not as well known as that Easter Sunday concert on the Mall in 1939.   She died in 1993 at the age of 96.

Further information about Marian Anderson can be found in the Werner Josten Performing Arts Library, Smith College, including her autobiography and many recordings of her work.   Additional information about her Smith honorary degree, and other visits to the Smith campus can be found in the Smith College Archives.

Migration isn’t just for the birds

A recent CBS Sunday Morning episode by New York Times technology correspondent David Pogue discusses the notion of ‘data rot’–where electronic information (audio, video, data files) is lost because of the breakdown of the physical host it is recorded to;  the lack of appropriate software and hardware to read the data; and by the overwhelming inability to ‘migrate’ data to new and current formats.  The episode is interesting AND there are archivists in it!

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4836762n%3fsource=search_video

He also has the piece in a different format and with interesting commentary on his “Circuits” column of this week at:

http://www.nytimes.com

The Smith College Archives has over 275 reel-to-reel tapes, the earliest documenting the College’s 75th anniversary events in 1950, through a Rally Day speech delivered in 1992.  There are another 694 cassette tapes documenting all types of programs at Smith: Last Chapel speeches, Alumnae College programs, conferences, musical concerts, oral history interviews, and more.  We are entering a pilot project to digitize 26 of the earliest reel-to-reel tapes–to see what we can still hear from them.  Our hope is that the data hasn’t rotted–although we are also practical-minded about it and realize the chances are high that some data has been lost.  As we have the funding available, we’ll continue to work to ‘migrate’ the information through reformatting.

So, ‘migration’ isn’t just for the animal world–it’s for the electronic world too!

St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick's Day Postcard

Saint Patrick’s Day used to be quite the day of fun and play on the Smith College campus thanks to the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Founded in 1890, the Ancient Order of Hibernians (A.O.H.) was a secret society of students devoted to “the maintenance of devilish wit and the promotion of hellish spirit in the college.”

It was a spoof of the real Ancient Order of Hibernians, a fraternal order of Irish Catholics. The main event of A.O.H. was its annual Saint Patrick’s Day parade. Members would dress up in costumes and parade around campus making noise and celebrating Saint Patrick, the patron saint of A.O.H.

AOH Parade on campus

The main qualification for membership in A.O.H. was a sense of humor. Each year the group was comprised of 48 members, 12 members from each class except first years, with new members joining in the fall of each year. The initiation of students into A.O.H. varied. In 1901, Katherine Berry, Class of 1902, wrote about the initiation of four students:

“Their initiation in part was to prove that they descend from his saintship [Saint Patrick]. So the girls painted a picture of him — Stuck it at the top of a ladder, then climbed down it, illustrating their “direct descent”! Quite clever, wasn’t it?”

Eleanor Little, Class of 1907, wrote to her mother about initiation into A.O.H. in 1906:

“Now to-day all the newly initiated members have to act as the servants of the old members and be at their beck and call all day. It is very funny to see grave Seniors helping Sophomores in their various duties. Yesterday morning all the new members had to go to the Bulletin Board Room, kneel before a committee of the old members and take the oath of the society. Naturally it was rather amusing to onlookers.”

Members of AOH with costumes

Members were given special names and sworn into A.O.H. by saying “I swear eternal hatred to the Orange and everlastin’ loyalty to the Green, so help me St. Pat.” The Orangemen, also known as O.O., were the rival secret society of the A.O.H. The Orangemen were a spoof of the Protestant fraternal organization. Little, in her letter home also noted on this rivalry:

“Rebecca is furious because she is an Orangeman and her room-mate has just been taken into the A.O.H.”

'Sacred Book' defaced by Orangemen, 1938

The groups vied against one another for members and attempted to steal each others sacred book. The Archives does not have any of the Orangemen sacred books, but we do have one of the A.O.H. from 1938-1966. It shows that in 1938 and in 1944, the Orangemen were successful in nabbing the book. It has “Orangemen” in orange paint written throughout and insults about A.O.H. members such as:

“Stinko, Odorono Putrido, Retcho, Leuchorio, Belcho- to the A.O.H.O., and may all your children have acne”!

Mock Wedding of AOH members

In addition to the rivalry with the Orangemen and their annual Saint Patrick’s Day parade, A.O.H. gave different performances over the years. In 1896, a mock wedding was held.

On June 10, 1898, Fanny Garrison, Class of 1901, wrote about the A.O.H. appearing at a tennis tournament:

“A good many were attracted by one of the entries. “Misses O’Brien and Murphy, A.O.H.” Now there are no such girls and besides “A.O.H.” has a fascination…it is advising the members to be on hand at 2, to applaud the “illigant playing of the Misses O’Brien and Murphy.” And at two they did appear with their green badges and green everywhere. Nor was their Irish brogue wanting. But the players themselves were the gem of the occasion. One…had on a green shirt-waist and a short stiff duck-skirt which stuck out beautifully. [The other] was in white with a plentiful supply of green ribbons to produce the desired effect. Both had green ribbons on their hair, green bows on their racquets, and to crown all, – hanging at their sides by green ribbons were palm-leaf fans! While they were waiting for the balls, they would calmly fan themselves and talk Irish to each other, while the members of the club looked on approvingly and shouted advice to them…”

Despite the good times of the A.O.H., President Herbert Davis abolished all secret societies in 1948. While official activities ended, the A.O.H. sacred book shows that activities continued until the mid-1960s.

AOH Members, undated

If you’re interested in learning more about the A.O.H. or their rival secret society the Orangemen, come by the Archives!

Staff Appreciation

The infastructure of an academic residential community like Smith has a large number of people who don’t usually get to see themselves on the College website; quoted in College publications, or tapped for radio pieces on National Public Radio.  They do hold jobs of importance, however, in keeping the pursuits of the academy and campus running as smoothly as possible.  The Smith College Archives blog will periodically celebrate some of these individuals from the past.

Today we celebrate two men who held a dear place in the hearts of students because of their jobs:

John Quirk, 1883

John Quirk was the first mailman for the College, who also worked as a janitor and nightwatchman.  He served the College from 1878-1895.  On the back of this cabinet card photograph (above) the owner writes, “Mr. Quirk–’A Man of Letters’  so called because he was our mailman and brought up in one bag to College Hall all the mail of the College.”   The mail was delivered to College Hall and then distributed at the ‘post office’ room near the circular stairs on the first floor, now part of the Student Financial Services Office.  A member of the Class of 1880 described him as “reliable as the College clock… He was a big man with reddish or sandy hair…a distinct Irish brogue, and a characteristic combination of dignity and good humor, and an object of general affection.  When you needed to know about anything, you could always ‘ask Mr. Quirk.’”

The man to replace Quirk also became a Smith institution.  John Doleman was first seen by President Seelye when he was part of the construction crew that built Lilly Hall, the College’s first science building.  He served the College for 30 years as the watchman and on his death in 1923, President William A. Neilson proclaimed, “…no single personality connected with the College has been known more widely than our faithful watchman.  He looked after our institution with skill and zeal.  He knew more people than anyone in the College.  He was known by more people.  Thousands of alumna count him among their real memories of the College.”

John Doleman, College Watchman, 1893-1923

Rosamond Kimball, Class of 1909 recalled how John Doleman would come to the houses and tell ghost stories at Halloween.  He is also attributed with telling ghost stories in the tower of College Hall on nights with a full-moon.  His best claim to fame with the students, however, was his undercover work to nab a peeping tom on campus.  According to Kimball, John Doleman dressed up in a ruffled skirt and large hat, and walked the campus at night, hoping to lure the peeping tom out from his hiding place.  Apparently the trick worked as Doleman tackled the man and knocked him out cold!  He was so well loved, that there is a  plaque in his honor on the side of College Hall, (facing Pierce Hall) from his many student friends.

The images of both men appear in student photograph albums that are located in the College Archives, which attest to their popularity and integral part of student life.  Today, there are men and women like Quirk and Doleman who take pride in their association with Smith.  Many of these individuals have  spent years in this community.   Periodic blog entries will share their stories, as we know them.

Valentine’s Day Deliveries at Smith

This Saturday Smith students may use their Facebook pages to send virtual flowers or water balloons or glasses of wine to one another in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Similar gifts were sent to and from Smith students in the late 1930s, but it was the Northampton post office and local telegraph employees who were responsible for those real deliveries.

In fact there were so many deliveries on February 14th that Valentine’s Day in Northampton was the busiest day of the year for local telegraph office employees. The Northampton post office was also overrun. Typically its canceling machine handled 10,000 letters on a single day; just before Valentine’s Day in 1937 the post office was canceling 19,000 letters per day! The local Hampshire Gazette newspaper reported that “the number of special deliveries increased from the average of 75 for daily business to 332 on Saturday and 16 on Sunday [Valentine's Day itself].”

What were Smith students receiving and sending? Unusual deliveries were noted in press releases sent out by the Smith College Press Board detailing various types of valentines. In 1938 the gifts included ducks, goldfish, a ham sandwich, and even a few flowers and boxes of chocolates.

A long, cold winter in 2008-2009

Winter time at a New England educational institution can be bucolic, bustling, bristling, or simply plain brrrrr-y.   Smith women take the winter in stride.  Sometimes its worth reporting how.  Cabin-fever must have gotten to the women in 1891.  A famous ’snowball fight’ took place at the end of January and was reported in the National Police Gazette as a battle between the “Sophies and the Freshies.”

Smith College 'famous snowball fight', 1891

Clara M. Greenough, a member of the Class of 1894 recalled the snowball fight where ready-made snowballs froze the night before and ‘…became cannon balls” and were used by the Sophomores ‘…to unpleasant effect…The air was filled with taunts and screams and squeals’ until the battlefield was surrounded not only by students, but by faculty and townspeople, curious about the ruckus.  After the battle was over, the sophomores were victorious.  When this woodcut was published, Grace Landen (Rickey), Class of 1893, noted that  someone [President Seelye], put his foot down and “this was the end of snowball fights” at Smith.

Smith women take to winter in less competitive ways as well.  This photograph is of the 1906 snowshoeing club, as they clomp around Paradise Pond.  Remember, these are the days of cat-gut and wooden snow shoes.  Some folks still use them!

Smith College Snow Shoe Club, 1906

Snowshoeing continues to be a popular winter sport here in New England.  These young women were out in the skirts and shoes in 1895:

Cora and Clara on snowshoes, 1895

Skating on Paradise Pond is also a great way to enjoy the outdoors. Just the other week when frigid artic temperatures hit Northampton, a cleared space appeared on the Pond, and all would-be NHL All-Stars, Olympic figure skaters, and their families were out on the ice.

Skaters on Paradise Pond in 1888

Student and townspeople skating on Paradise Pond, 1914

Smith women are creative in the ways they fight cabin fever.  Not everyone embraces the outdoors, but they can find pleasure in creating snow sculpture, and snow angels; in drinking lots of hot tea and hot chocolate, as well as making plans to head to someplace warm for March break!

May you find the perfect way to relieve cabin fever this winter.  Just remember Puxatawney Phil says there’s 6 more weeks of it to come!

Martin Luther King, Jr. at Smith

The morning of Sunday, April 16, 1961 a plane landed at Bradley Field (now Bradley International Airport), and a passenger from Atlanta, GA disembarked for a destination a bit further north.  Just a few hours later, the preacher and activist, Martin Luther King Jr., ascended the pulpit at Helen Hills Hills Chapel and gave a version of his sermon titled, “The Dimensions of a Complete Life.”   Afterward, King had lunch and met with students in an informal reception at Cushing House to answer more questions.

The story of King’s visit begins in 1959 with correspondence between Lawrence DeBoer, Richard P.  Unsworth, and David King, the chaplains of Williams, Smith and Amherst colleges.  Capitalizing on student interest in his social activism and charismatic preaching abilities, all three were keen to have King come speak on their campus.  Correspondence in the Student Religious Organization Association records documents the conversation between King’s office and the chaplains.  The Smith student newspaper, the Sophian described Dr. King as “possibly the most sought after speaker in the United States today.” [April 13, 1961] After numerous attempts, April 16-17, 1961 was confirmed as the weekend date for his trip to western Massachusetts.

King arrived at Smith the morning of April 16th, then traveled to Williamstown to preach and visit with the students at Williams.  He returned to Amherst the next morning, where students welcomed him on the Amherst College campus.  His visit resonated with so many students, that the chaplain’s wanted King to return to the Valley the following year.  In his May 3, 1961 reply, he stated, “…Since many colleges have been writing me that I have not had an opportunity to serve, I feel something of a moral obligation to accept some of them before returning to schools that I have already visited…In light of the foregoing, I will have to reluctantly decline your invitation for next year.”  King returned to the Valley in October 1963 to preach in the Gettell Ampitheater at Mount Holyoke College.  Seven years after his first visit to the Valley, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

If you were present at the chapel service, or were part of the discussion after lunch and have memories of Dr. King’s visit to share, the Smith College Archives would be happy to learn more from you!