“Whooo Did It?” Halloween at Smith College

Halloween at Smith is a much anticipated and complex holiday event.  Someone in the Class of 1920 received this hand-made Halloween card on her door:

Whooo Did It?? Halloween card

What does it mean?  The pumpkin doesn’t look at all happy; the cat is just watching, as is the owl.  Who, or what,  is the young woman running away from?  Will the witch bat her over the head with the broom?

Student letters are filled with references to Halloween activities on campus.  One hundred years ago, Gertrude Barry, Class of 1910 wrote to her mother about Halloween events:

“Last night the Sophs entertained the house for Hallowe’en.  We all went in fancy dress to dinner and then left town on a special car for the Country Club club-house in Florence.  The house is rustic and was trimmed with corn-stalks and pumpkin lanterns gave the only light…for refreshments we had cider, dough-nuts cookies & apples.  Our programs were little black witches.  But the costumes were more fun–an old-fashioned gentleman and lady…Little Riding Hood…Martha took off one of the faculty, a dapper young man who has just grown a mustache (she was killing in a Prince Albert coat),…gypsies…Roman youth…and a Smith Girl as seen by the newspapers.”

Halloween at 14 Green Street, 1896

In 1895, Grace Wiard, Class of 1897 writes to her mother that she was preparing to be the pilgrim Priscilla, explains all the details of procurring/making her dress, and includes in her letter a hand-drawing of it.  Her costume was a success, as she writes, “When I took my seat at the table the first thing Miss Peck said to me was ‘How do you do, Priscilla?’ so you see, I was guessable.” [editor's note: Ludella Peck was professor of elocution, 1882-1913]

The Smith houses were turned into Halloween ’scare sites’ with ghost stories being told in dimly lit basements, and other strange happenings taking place there.  Elizabeth Crocker Lawrence, Class of 1883, writes in 1880 that a ’spiritual seance’ took place in the Hubbard House parlor, with a ‘huge white spirit’ visiting them at 11 o’clock.  Alumnae Gymnasium was decorated for a Supernatural Party with lighted jack-o-lanterns, skeletons, toads and snakes cut out of black paper waving at you “from all the walls and spectral hands pointing your way.”

Halloween Group, 1897

Halloween still affords an opportunity for students to dress in costume and enjoy foodstuffs:

Halloween 150 Elm Street, 1986

150 Elm Street Cake, 1991

What will this year’s Halloween events bring to the Archives?  We’re looking forward to seeing/hearing/reading about them.

To learn more about past Halloween celebrations at Smith, plan to visit the College Archives!

Father’s Weekend to Family Weekend

This weekend we celebrate the gathering of Smith student families on campus in what is billed as “Family Weekend”.   The first such weekend occurred in May of 1951 and was designated “Father’s Day.”  The Smith College Associated News described the day under the banner “Our Hearts Belong to Daddy!–Smith Program for Pops: An All-Play-No-Work-Day” for dads.   The day scheduled trips through Physical Plant (something EVERY Dad would want to view), various sporting activities against their daughters, such as tennis, baseball and as in this case, volleyball:

Father's Day Competition, 1953

as well as time to sit in on classes; and meet and greet faculty members.  Over the years, the program expanded.  It included entertainment by the Glee Club and a faculty play.   While Father’s Weekends were in general meant as a time of playfulness, there were serious moments to some of them.   In 1968, the student organization RACE (Response through Action, Commitment and Education) asked father’s  and daughters to contemplate the civil rights movement and take action toward improving race relations.  Fliers were posted on campus and a discussion session was offered.

By 1974, the name shifted to Parent’s Weekend,  and mothers were invited to join in the festivities.   The nomenclature changed once again when in 1992 Parent’s Weekend became Family Weekend reflecting the changing nature of ‘family’ in the U.S.  Activities were offered including an inter-faith chapel service with a family choir, forums for parents, forums by parents for students, a Debate Club contest, dance performances, as well as  a boat race called the “Foot of the Paradise.”  Other changes happened as well: the weekend shifted from being held at the end of April/early May, to being held in late October.  Because it was a transition year, 1994 had 2 Family Weekends: one in April and another in November.

This weekend parents can join in the life of a Smithie by attending open classes, taking tours of campus, watching athletic events, theatrical productions, and taking in the Pops Concert by the Glee Club.  Whatever its title, this is one weekend where everyone can enjoy Smith.  Welcome families!

To learn more about the history of Family Weekend, please visit the Smith College Archives, Level A, Alumnae Gymnasium.

Movies Shown at Smith

It all starts with a donation…

Last week the Center for Media Production donated the projectionist list of35mm films shown at Smith for 1962-1967 and 1976-1977.  The lists contain both educational films and popular motion pictures.  Here’s a partial listing of the films that were shown during the 1976/1977 academic year:

Projectionist's List 1976/1977 acadmic year

In the early 1930s the Smith Alumnae Quarterly noted that Smith installed a projection booth in Sage Hall for showing films “…of an unusual and experimental nature, that for commercial reasons are not available to the public in an ordinary motion picture theater.” [SAQ Feb 1931].

William Aylotte Orton, professor of economics, 1922-1952

William Orton, professor of economics and sociology was the leading faculty member in this project.  His interests in motion pictures was from both an economic and social & cultural perspective.  His interests in how people communicated with one another helped form his ideas and opinions about radio broadcasting and the motion picture industries–topics on which he wrote quite extensively.  He encouraged the ‘little theater’ movement, and if alive today, would be happy with all the small, independent theaters that are operating in the Pioneer Valley.  To learn more about William Orton, please see the finding aid to his papers in the College Archives at:

http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/smitharchives/manosca63.html

The Vanderbilt Film Symposium, 1961

Vanderbilt Film Symposium brochure cover, 1961

Film as art and communication continued to interest the Smith community.  In January and April 1961, the College sponsored the Vanderbilt Film Symposium and showed films such as Citizen Kane (1941) by Orson Wells, Night Mail (1936) by Basil Wright, Brief Encounter (1946) by David Lean, the Bicycle Thief (1949) by Vitttorio da Sica and talks were given by Arthur L. Mayer, film producer and Robert Gessner, of New York University, the country’s first professor of film. At the spring festival ‘new cinema’ and ‘cinema as art’ were the focus, with Maya Deren, and Jonas Mekas participating in the discussions.  John Cassavetes, “Shadows” about interracial friendships and relationships in New York City was a highlight, as were Kurosawa’s “Ikiru”, Polanski’s “Two Men and a Wardrobe” and Sydney Meyer’s “The Savage Eye.”

Did the Vanderbilt Film Symposium “…introduce the Smith community to the rationale of film study…”?  Later that year, Arthur L. Mayer attempted to interest Smith in his curricula of film studies, but it does not appear to have taken hold at the time.

Today’s Film Studies department at Smith College offers interdisciplianry courses in the history, theory and production of films.  It is cross-listed with many courses in other departments.

The projection and use of movies in both the academic and social settings of Smith have had a interesting career.  In a future blog we’ll talk about movies that used the Smith campus as their settings–sometimes with intriguing results.

To learn more about movies and film at Smith, come to the College Archives!

Eve Curie and the “Magic of Radium”

Over the years Smith Clubs have been creative in their ways of raising funds to support various scholarship programs and/or annual campaign drives of the College.  On January 22, 1940, the Philadelphia Smith Club sponsored a lecture by Eve Curie, the daughter of Nobel Prize winner, Madame Marie Curie, who was awarded an honorary degree at Smith College in 1921.

Program of Curie talk sponsored by the Philadelphia Smith Club, January 1940

The lecture by Eve Curie was held at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.  Dr. George E. Pfahler, a pioneer in radiology, and a Professor at the Medical School at the University of Pennsylvania,  introduced her.  According to the minutes of the Club, the idea to ask Curie to speak came during a discussion of money-making ventures.  Emma LaBarre Miller, class of 1914 (Mrs. James Jaminson Waygood) introduced the idea of Eve Curie speaking.   A year’s worth of planning and selling tickets to the event culminated in her talk “the Magic of Radium” to a sell-out crowd.

Over 80 couples and singles contributed towards the event as “Patrons and Patronesses”.  Some of Philadelphia’s leading names turned out for the event including, Biddles, Chews, duPonts, Strawbridges, VanDusens, and luminaries in the world of health also supported the program.  The goal of ’selling out the Academy’ was completed by a team of  27 Philadelphia Smith Club women.  Through their efforts the Philadelphia Smith Club cleared over $1,500 for the event.  The money went to the Club’s Scholarship Fund to support 2 students from the Philadelphia area attending Smith.

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!