Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 00: ARCHIVE
ARCHIVE 2025 Past Digital Additions
Aerial view of Pine Mountain Settlement School. Arthur W. Dodd Album. [dodd_A_005_mod.jpg]
TAGS: PMSS Collections, PMSS Archive, past digital additions 2025, website updates, new publications on the PMSS Collections website
ARCHIVE 2025 Past Digital Additions
This ARCHIVE 2025 Past Digital Additions page is used to store former months of pages that had been updated or newly published on the PINE MOUNTAIN SETTLEMENT SCHOOL COLLECTIONS website in 2025. The list is in reverse chronological order.
Go to: WHAT’S NEW Latest Digital Additions for the most recent entries.
For older entries go to:
ARCHIVE 2024 Past Digital Additions
ARCHIVE 2023 Past Digital Additions
ARCHIVE 2022 Past Digital Additions
ARCHIVE 2020-2021 Past Digital Additions
ARCHIVE 2025 Past Digital Additions
DECEMBER 2025
12/29 MABEL and NANCY MULLINS Correspondence – Letters concerning sisters who were highly successful students in the early years of PMSS’s boarding school and went on to graduate from Berea College (Mabel) and Lincoln Memorial University (Nancy). Later, Mabel had a prestigious career as an Army nurse in WWII.
12/24 [UPDATED] RUBY YOCUM THATCHER Photograph Album 1950-1953 – Photographs (singles and full pages) from a 1950-1953 album, collected by a staff member during the time she was a teacher at the School.
12/3 [UPDATED] Summaries of a Trustee’s correspondence with Pine Mountain Settlement School staff have been added to the following pages:
DARWIN D. MARTIN 1932 Correspondence Part 1 [PRIVATE]
DARWIN D. MARTIN 1932 Correspondence Part 2 [PRIVATE]
OCTOBER 2025
10/21 [UPDATED] DARWIN D. MARTIN 1931 Correspondence – Summaries have been added to this page of Trustee Martin’s letters with PMSS Directors Hubert Hadley and Glyn Morris, and other staff.
10/18 [UPDATED] DARWIN D. MARTIN 1930 Correspondence Part 2 (September 2 – December 31, 1930) – Summaries have been added to this page of Trustee Martin’s letters with Director Hubert Hadley, tracking administrative activities for the year including the electrical plant and finances.
10/4 ADMIN GENERAL 1925-1927 Correspondence – Creech Cabin – Summaries and images of the letters of PMSS Co-directors Pettit and Zande concerning Creech Cabin (Aunt Sal’s Cabin), fundraising, and letters of recommendation. Colorful anecdotes and personal accounts in these letters reveal glimpses into the co-directors’ lives.
10/1 [UPDATED] Summaries of a Trustee’s correspondence with Pine Mountain Settlement School staff were added to the following pages containing images of his 1929 letters:
DARWIN D. MARTIN 1929 Correspondence Part 1 (January 18 – December 27, 1929) – The letters between Martin and Katherine Pettit, Angela Melville, and Mary Rockwell Hook discuss the power line, fundraising, donations to PMSS from Martin, fire insurance, recruiting new board members, Isaac Creek flood, Line Fork fire, Intermountain log train, Larkin Company orders, survey, goat-raising, Zande House insurance.
DARWIN D. MARTIN 1929 Correspondence Part 2 ( June 8 – December 21, 1929) – Summaries and images of correspondence with Angela Melville and Katherine Pettit concerning the School’s operations, including creek straightening, the reservoir, power line survey, Zande House furniture, Open House,and much more.
SEPTEMBER 2025
9/30 CHRISTOPHER ROGERS Student – Biography of the full and varied life of “Kit” Rogers, who was deeply dedicated to the School. He was the son of Burton Rogers (Teacher, Director, 1942-1973) and Mary Rogers (Environmental Education Leader, 1942-1993). Written by his brother, Peter Rogers, and niece, Caroline Rogers Jones.
9/26 BUILT ENVIRONMENT Barn Corn Crib Repair Photographs – Color photographs of improvements to the corn crib located on the farm at Pine Mountain Settlement School.
9/17 [UPDATED] Summaries of a Trustee’s correspondence with Pine Mountain Settlement School staff were added to the following pages containing images of his 1928 letters:
DARWIN D. MARTIN 1928 Correspondence Part 1 (January 6 – July 20, 1928)
DARWIN D. MARTIN 1928 Correspondence Part 2 (July 21 – September 26, 1928)
DARWIN D. MARTIN 1928 Correspondence Part 3 (October 1 – December 28, 1928)
The letters primarily cover room furnishings sent to PMSS by Martin (PMSS Trustee and head of the Larkin Company); dealing with Delco Light Company and Kentucky Utilities Company concerning electrical power to the School, and Angela Melville’s fundraising tour.
AUGUST 2025
8/28 [UPDATED] DARWIN D. MARTIN Correspondence Guide – Updates to a chronological list of links to letters between PMSS staff and Martin, PMSS Trustee and consultant and a leading executive with Larkin Company in Buffalo, NY.
8/27 DARWIN D. MARTIN 1921 Correspondence – Images and summaries of 1921 correspondence of a leading executive with Larkin Company in Buffalo, NY, and a generous Trustee of PMSS. The letters are primarily between Martin and Director Ethel Zande, concerning acquiring a dog and ordering supplies and clothing for the School from the Larkin Company.
8/24 [UPDATED] GOVERNANCE BOT 1949 Correspondence – Summary of a letter from Arthur Dodd, a PMSS teacher, to Director Benjamin concerning one-year leave and resignation after 17 years of service.
8/23 [UPDATED] GOVERNANCE BOT 1948 Correspondence – Summary of a memo from Evelyn Wells to Board chairman and secretary, concerning delivery of records accumulated during her term as secretary.
8/22 [UPDATED] GOVERNANCE BOT 1945 Correspondence – Summaries of letters among PMSS Board members, staff, director, and others, such as H.R.S. Benjamin, Evelyn K. Wells, Burton Rogers, and J.S. Crutchfield, National Information Board, and auditors.
8/21 [UPDATED] GOVERNANCE BOT 1943 Correspondence – Summaries of letters among PMSS Trustees concerning the hiring of William Webb as acting director and funding for Line Fork, PMSS’s extension center.
8/21 [UPDATED] GOVERNANCE BOT 1942 Correspondence – Summaries of letters among PMSS trustees, director, and staff concerning Morris’s leave for WWII duty and search for an acting director.
8/20 GOVERNANCE BOT 1941 Correspondence – Images and summaries of letters to Board members from a Trustee’s wife, criticizing Director Morris’s new developments at the School.
8/19 GOVERNANCE BOT 1940 Correspondence – Images and a summary of a three-page letter of advice from Trustee Angela Melville to the Director Glyn Morris.
8/18 GOVERNANCE BOT 1936 Correspondence – Images and summaries of PMSS Board letters with a focus on gifts for a recreational building and the Chapel organ.
8/17 GOVERNANCE BOT 1935 Correspondence – Images and summaries of PMSS Board of Directors’ letters, providing insight into the operations of the School’s governing body. These 1935 letters reflect the Board’s concerns about Director Pettit’s suggestion that Berea College take over management of PMSS.
8/11 GOVERNANCE BOT 1929 Correspondence – Image and summary of a letter of recommendation for Glyn Morris, who later served as director of the School.
8/9 THOMAS BOYD Board – Biography of a lifelong scholar and advocate who represented Berea College on the PMSS Board from 1982 until 2002. As a Berea professor (1977-2006), he impressed upon hundreds of young people the importance of social equality and sustainable living to the betterment of their world.
8/8 PUBLICATIONS RELATED 1956 Economic Data on Eastern Kentucky Coal Field – Images of a 32-page economic report on the coal field of eastern Kentucky in 1956 with key economic data for the period. The subject matter relates primarily to population shifts, major fields of economic activity, the pattern of employment wages and per capita income, and bank deposits in showing developments within the area.
JULY 2025
7/26 Dr. EMMA and Dr. FRANCIS TUCKER Correspondence 1947 – Brief summaries and images of correspondence of wife-and-husband physicians who worked full-time and then summers at PMSS (1942-1951). Also, pages have been published for the following years: 1942, 1943, 1948.
7/25 GOVERNANCE 1988 By-Laws of PMSS – Transcription and images of the 1988 By-Laws of Pine Mountain Settlement School, containing institutional guidelines established by the Board. Subjects include policies for PMSS and Berea College relationship, Directors, Honorary Trustees, Board of Trustees officers, Executive Committee, Advisory Council, and by-law amendments.
7/23 GOVERNANCE 1913 de Long BOT Report May 24 – Transcription of one of the School’s earliest directors’ reports, covering staff activities and salaries, interaction with Berea College, sawmill, reservoir, land survey, and other campus updates.
7/20 ETHEL DE LONG ZANDE Talk 1916 “The School as a Community Center” – A transcription has been added to this page of the PMSS co-director’s talk. It was given at the Conference of Charities and Correction and later published in the conference’s “Proceedings.”
7/16 GOVERNANCE 1913 Pettit and de Long BOT Report July 9 – Transcription of one of the School’s earliest directors’ reports, covering gifts from donors, fundraising efforts, and campus updates.
7/14 GOVERNANCE 1913 de Long BOT Report October 31 – Transcription of a letter of updates during the first months of the School, apparently sent to PMSS Board Members. (Similar to an October 6, 1913, report.)
7/12 HENRY C. CREECH 1930-1934 Letters – Images and summaries of the letters of William Creech’s son, featuring his complaints to the Board about Director Glyn Morris, 1930-1934.
7/12 E. J. CARR PLANT CENTER Slide Cataloging Project – A topical list of general and specific subjects of the slides included in a botanical collection donated to PMSS in 1984 by Ellwood J. Carr, botanist and naturalist (1910-2005).
7/11 ARTS and CRAFTS Woodworking – Images and a description of the Woodworking Department at PMSS from the 1940s to the present and its popularity as industrial training for the students, as well as an enjoyable pastime for the community.
7/10 BEN BEGLEY Correspondence – Summaries and images of letters of a naturalist who served many years as a teacher and director of the PMSS Environmental Education program, 1986-2014.
7/10 Dr. EMMA and Dr. FRANCIS TUCKER Correspondence 1945 – Images and brief summaries of correspondence of wife-and-husband physicians about ending full-time work at PMSS and volunteering in summers.
7/09 ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION Brochure 1 – Images and transcription of a brochure introducing the PMSS Environmental Education, with sketches by Mary Rogers, an EE Founder. See also: ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION Brochure 2
7/07 ELIZABETH HENCH Correspondence 1921 – Images and transcriptions of letters between Trustee Elizabeth C. Hench and Co-Director Ethel de Long Zande about the School’s cows and work on mailings to raise funds for the cows.
7/02 LAND USE 2004 Water Management Planning – Transcriptions and images of the Five-Year Update Forms for Wellhead and Public Spring Protection Plans submitted by Pine Mountain Settlement.
JUNE 2025
6/27 FRANCES JEWELL McVEY Visitor – Biography of a writer, educator, and PMSS friend. Author of the 1934 magazine article,”The Blossom Woman,” a tribute to the accomplishments of Katherine Pettit.
6/26 ESTHER AND FRED BURKHARD Photographs PMSS People – A series of photographs taken by the Burkhards and other PMSS teachers in c. 1937-1940, depicting students, workers, and community members at work and at play.
6/25 ADMIN GENERAL 1945-1947 Correspondence External D.A.R. – Images and summaries of letters among PMSS staff and various heads of Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) chapters reflecting some of the tensions of post-war restructuring of D.A.R. and PMSS as they attempted to chart their future.
6/22 ADMIN GENERAL 1925-26, 1929 Correspondence External D.A.R. – Images and summaries of letters among PMSS staff and various heads of Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) chapters concerning fundraising, donations, and events.
6/21 GLENN ARGETSINGER 1929 Education Report – Transcription and images of a summary of an Antioch student teacher’s survey of seventh grade students using intelligence and achievement tests. The report was written by Angela Melville, PMSS Associate Director, for the Board of Trustees. It describes the survey’s purpose, procedure, indications, and significance, and recommends remedial actions. Attached to the report, and also transcribed, was a memorandum from Angela Melville, offering her recommendations for re-organization of the School.
6/19 ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION 2015 PMSS EE Classes Before Revised Standards – Transcription and images of seven EE catalog pages. listing the extensive selection of Environmental Education classes before standards were revised.
6/18 CHARLES SHERMAN HAIGHT, Sr. Board – Biography of one of the earliest PMSS Board Member (1915). He was also an Admiralty Expert, Specialist on International Relations in Shipping, founder of a boys school, and Founder of Seamen’s Church Institute of New York and New Jersey.
6/15 GOVERNANCE 1913 Directors Annual Reports to BOT – Transcriptions have been added to this published page of reports to the PMSS Board of Trustees. They updated the board on the planning and construction of PMSS and were written by Co-directors Katherine Pettit and Ethel de Long.
6/03 HENRY MIXTER PENNIMAN Visitor – Biography of a Berea College professor who, in 1899, led a Berea group of nineteen and their drivers and guides on a horseback trip to Harlan County, Kentucky. The group ventured deep into the southeastern mountains of Kentucky to explore Appalachian culture. Among them were the well-known sociologist/geographer Ellen Churchill Semple,and Katherine Pettit before she was co-founder and co-director of PMSS.
6/01 ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION Case Statement “Nature/Culture” – Images of a 25-page paper proposing adaptations of the Environmental Education program, with handwritten annotations, c. 1987-1988.
MAY 2025
5/28 CELIA CATHCART Family Remembrance 1984 – Biography of a PMSS worker and trustee in the early years of PMSS, written in 1984 by her sons, Richard H. Holton and William C. Holton. See Also: CELIA CATHCART Staff Trustee – Biography.
5/26 DEAR FRIEND LETTERS 1913 December 6 – Transcription of a fundraising letter by PMSS Co-director Ethel de Long, describing the early days of establishing the School. (Images of the correspondence are missing.)
5/25 DEAR FRIEND LETTERS 1914 November 14 – Images, contents, and transcriptions of a “Dear Friend” fundraising letter, covering new PMSS houses, sawmill, roads, farm tasks, Mary Rockwell Hook, donors, finances, etc.
5/24 DEAR FRIEND LETTERS 1912 October Hindman KY – A fundraising letter from Ethel de Long, Hindman Settlement School principal who later co-founded PMSS, describing the need for a school at Pine Mountain and the community that yearned for it.
5/24 ROBERT PHILLIPS Student – Biography of a fourth grade student who was placed in the Little School at Pine Mountain Settlement School, but attended the school for only one year, 1935-1936.
5/23 ROBERT PHILLIPS Correspondence and Student Records – Images and summaries of papers and correspondence in the student files of a PMSS student of one year, September 1936 until September 1937.
5/19 HELEN F. LITTLE Reports – Line Fork – Transcriptions of reports to Katherine Pettit, Director, from a teacher at PMSS’s extension, Line Fork Settlement, May through October 1925. New information has been added to Helen F. Little’s biography based on her letters and reports.
5/18 HELEN F. LITTLE Correspondence II – Summaries and images of letters of a worker at PMSS’s extension, Line Fork Settlement, dated June 18, 1925 – January 2, 1926. The letters and reports between Little and PMSS Director Pettit and others provide an inside look at how Line Fork operates.
5/16 HELEN F. LITTLE Correspondence I – Summaries and images of letters of a worker at PMSS’s extension, Line Fork Settlement, dated January 20, 1925 through June 9, 1925, including Little’s application for a teaching position at the School.
5/12 ALLEN LONG Student Records – Images and summaries of records of a PMSS student (dated 1947-1948) who later served as president of the PMSS Board of Trustees from c. 2007 until 2014. [Certain records are considered private material and are not publicly displayed.]
5/10 MUSIC Ballads – Favorites at Pine Mountain Settlement School – Images of typewritten lyrics and full transcriptions of 13 of the School’s favorite ballads, including Pretty Polly, I Wonder As I Wander, and Barbara Allen.
5/4 PHOTOGRAPHS Miscellaneous Early PMSS Architecture from Negatives – Prints of campus buildings from negatives in the PMSS Collection, Including West Wind, Draper Building, School House II, Girls Industrial Building, Office, Laurel House II, and Chapel, c. 1940.
5/3 NOTES – 1997 Spring – Transcription and images of a PMSS publication featuring members of Founder William Creech’s family who have helped PMSS realize his hopes and dreams for the School.
5/2 NOTES – 1997 Summer and Fall – Transcriptions and images of 1997 Summer and Fall issues of the PMSS publication, covering Environmental Education Program, Intervention, community activities, renovation of Draper Building, and development of the PMSS Archives.
5/1 PUBLICATIONS RELATED 1963-64 “Progress of the Harlan County Schools” – Transcription and images of a Harlan County (KY) Board of Education report, including tables of financial statistics, lists of achievements, and plans for the 1960s.
APRIL 2025
4/27 DARWIN D. MARTIN 1934 Correspondence – Images and summaries of the correspondence of PMSS Board Chairman Darwin D. Martin with Glyn Morris and other PMSS staff during a difficult year.
4/26 PUBLICATIONS RELATED 1964 FNS “Yarb Lore in the Kentucky Mountains” – Images and transcription of an article about medicinal plants in a 1964 Quarterly Frontier Nursing Service Bulletin, written by Mary Breckinridge, founder of FNS and a PMSS friend.
4/25 GLADYS HILL Writing 1941 “Teaching Cooperation at Pine Mountain” – Images and transcription of an article in Consumers’ Cooperation, July 1941, by Gladys Hill, a Pine Mountain Settlement School teacher of cooperation and the consumer co-op store.
4/11 ABBY WINCH CHRISTENSEN Guide has been added to provide links to pages for Christensen’s biography, correspondence, and art. Abby Winch Christensen was a multi-talented PMSS worker (1924-1949), who taught folk dancing, weaving, and mechanical drawing. Work on the correspondence of Abby Winch Christensen continues in an attempt to fully transcribe the rich history of her relationship with Pine Mountain Settlement School.
MARCH 2025
FEBRUARY 2025
2/17-2/25 Three pages have been completed concerning works by Percy MacKaye (1875-1956), a poet and dramatist. He visited Pine Mountain Settlement School in 1921 while on a research tour of the Appalachians to gather material for his writings.
PERCY MacKAYE and MARION MacKAYE VISITORS 1921 “God, Humanity
and the Mountains“ – Survey Graphic article by the MacKayes, published 1949.
PERCY MACKAYE VISITOR Appalachian Play Reviews – Reviews of plays by MacKaye in various publications, 1920s. Also, a review of a play by Hatcher Hughes.
PERCY MACKAYE VISITOR “Untamed America” – Article by MacKaye, published 1924.
2/12 NOTES Index – The project of transcribing each existing issue of the “Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School” from 1919 through 2024 has been completed. Missing NOTES will be added as they are located or donated to the Collection.
