PUBLICATIONS PMSS EPHEMERA Donor Appeal c.1913-1914

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 17: PUBLICATIONS PMSS
Series 17a: EPHEMERA PUBLICATIONS
Early Donor Appeal
c.1913-1914

PUBLICATIONS PMSS EPHEMERA Donor Appeal c.1913-1914

“The Pine Mountain Settlement School in the Making.” c. 1914. [flyer_pine_mtn_donors_003_edited-1]

PUBLICATIONS PMSS EPHEMERA Donor Appeal c.1913-1914


TAGS: PMSS ephemera, donor appeals, Board of Trustees, logging, endorsements, governance, General Advisory Board, Katherine Pettit, Mrs. J.R. Morton, Local Advisory Board, Executive Committee, Calvin Noyes Kendall, Percy H. Boynton


The following flyer appears to be one of the first appeals from the newly established Pine Mountain Settlement School which was widely distributed to potential donors. The donor appeal provides specific needs information for philanthropic donors to the new institution in the remote mountains of eastern Kentucky as well as specific endorsements. Importantly, it also provides information on the governance of the School. For example, it describes the GENERAL ADVISORY BOARD which in the foundational years consisted of 12 members, including Katherine Pettit, the primary founder, and Mrs. J.R. Morton, the School’s first President of the Board of Trustees.

Of note is the statement on the flyer that

Seven trustees chosen from the General Advisory Board give the school its legal status, according to the laws of the state of Kentucky.

Though undated, the flyer suggests a date falling somewhere in the first three years of the School, probably c.1914.

Contents: PUBLICATIONS PMSS EPHEMERA Donor Appeal c.1913-1914

General Advisory Board

Mrs. J.R Morton, President Lexington, Ky.
Mr. Samuel M. Wilson, Vice President Lexington, Ky.
Miss Elizabeth Hench, Secretary Indianapolis, Ind.
Mr. Charles N. Manning, Treasurer Lexington, Ky.
Mr. Calvin N. Kendall Trenton, N.J.
Miss Elizabeth Moore St. Louis, Mo.
Miss Katherine Pettit Pine Mountain, Ky.
Miss Viola Sullivan Winchester, Mass.
Miss Ethel de Long Pine Mountain, Kentucky
Dr. Willis H. Butler Old South Church Boston
Miss Mary Rockwell [Architect] Kansas City, Mo.
Mr. Francis Taylor Philadelphia, Penn.

Local Advisory Board

In addition to the General Advisory Board a LOCAL ADVISORY BOARD is described consisting of individuals chosen from the local Community.

Mr. Henry Creech Pine Mountain, Ky.
Mr. Lloyd Turner Pine Mountain, Ky.
Mr. Kenneth Nolan Pine Mountain, Ky.

Executive Committee

The EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE comprised of Katherine Pettit, Ethel de Long, and Charles N. Manning from Lexington round out the oversight of the new institution.

Miss Katherine Pettit Pine Mountain, Ky.
Miss Ethel de Long [Zande] Pine Mountain, Ky.
Mr. Charles N. Manning Pine Mountain, Ky.

Endorsements: PUBLICATIONS PMSS EPHEMERA Donor Appeal c.1913-1914

Following the description of the School’s governance are two endorsements of importance to an understanding of the early School’s mission and objectives.

STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
TRENTON

                                                                                              December 5, 1913

Miss Ethel de Long,
      Pine Mountain Settlement School
         Pine Mountain, Kentucky

My dear Miss de Long:

     I have read with a great deal of interest “Uncle William” Creech’s reasons for the establishment of a school at Pine Mountain. I have rarely seen so pathetic and so convincing a statement as to the need of education. I wish that his letter might find a wide circulation not only for the purpose of stirring up greater interest in what you are attempting to do at Pine Mountain but also to affect other communities which need the same kind of “preachment” as expressed in “Uncle William’s” letter.

     I am glad to hear of the progress that you are making with the Pine Mountain School. You have a unique opportunity in the mountains; because so little has been done for education there. You are therefore not hampered by traditions. You are making use of the opportunity by establishing a school that will use the life of the community for educative material. You are planning work in both industrial and agricultural lines, which is so much needed in the mountains as well as elsewhere.

     I am glad to observe, too, that you have taken up the whole subject of recreation as a part of your educational activities. You are abundantly justified in this part of your work because of low standards that prevail with reference to the social and recreational side of life.

     I am quite sure that as your work becomes better known more and more people will be interested in it and for two reasons. First, you are establishing a school of the right sort, not merely for people in the mountains, but for schools in country districts elsewhere. As such it is one of the most promising educational experiments, in my judgment, in the country.

     In the second place, the people in the region in which you are working are the purest American stock that is to be found anywhere in the country. If I am reliably informed, they number as many persons as were in the Thirteen colonies at the close of the American Revolution. It would be interesting to see how such people can be developed by means of educational institutions. From this point of view there is no such opportunity for a school anywhere in the country as yours presents.

     Permit me to say that I know of no two women who are better qualified to carry on this work than yourself and Miss Pettit, not only because of your experience but because of your unusual understanding of the kind of education that should be given in the community you are serving.

     Because of my faith in the management of the school, and also because of the unique possibilities that the school presents, I was glad to serve on the General Advisory Board.

                                                                     Very truly yours, 
                                                                    C.N. Kendall [Calvin Noyes Kendall]
                                                                   Commissioner of Education 


UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

                                                                                                 November the 3rd, 1913

Dear Miss de Long:

     After I had come to the mountains in September, I found, vivid as your presentation of the facts had been, that I had only a faint conception as to what the whole problem of education down there meant. I gained my first idea when I reached Harlan, miles before arriving at Pine Mountain. I gained new light as I saw the wonderful location of the new school, heard the plan expounded by Miss Pettit, interviewed your chief patrons, Uncle William and Uncle John, and discussed the whole situation with Christopher Columbus as we covered the forty-five miles across the country to Hindman. There where I saw what had been accomplished during the years of activity at the school you are leaving, I was still more deeply affected. I have talked about the whole situation with the utmost enthusiasm to all who would listen, and I shall continue to do so as often as I can get a hearer. 

                                                                           Sincerely,
                                                                           Percy H. Boynton
                                                                           Dean of the College of Arts 
                                                                               and Literature.


GALLERY: PUBLICATIONS PMSS EPHEMERA Donor Appeal c.1913-1914


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