ADMIN GENERAL 1945-1947 Correspondence External D.A.R.

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 06: ADMINISTRATION GENERAL & FINANCIAL
1945-1947
Correspondence External
D.A.R.

01 Letter to Mrs. Zande from Mrs E.F. Goodson, State Chairman of Schools and Colleges, D.A.R. [DAR_corresp_1926_29_46-47_001.jpg]

TAGS: Daughters of the American Revolution, Women’s Christian Temperance Union, W.C.T.U., D.A.R. correspondence 1945-1947 D.A.R. Committee of Patriotic Education, D.A.R. Good Citizens Award and Scholarship, H.R.S. Benjamin

ADMIN GENERAL 1945-1947 Correspondence External D.A.R.

When Hindman Settlement School was founded by Katherine Pettit and May Stone in Knott County in 1902 it was substantially supported by funds from the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.). Many of the women who worked in early education and in the early settlement schools in the Appalachians could trace their ancestry to the American Revolution and to membership in the two organizations. Enthusiasm for both the W.C.T.U. and the D.A. R. waxed and waned over the years.

Katherine Pettit was a life-long advocate for the D.A.R. organization, but perhaps less for the W.C.T.U. She brought many of the educational values of the D.A.R. organization to Pine Mountain Settlement when she established the Pine Mountain Settlement School in 1913 with Ethel de Long [Zande]. Importantly, not everyone who followed Pettit believed that the early Founder’s pedigree and the D.A.R. stamp of approval was important to the mission of the new institution. Many other settlement school directors side-stepped any direct obligation or association with the D.A.R. organization. Yet, many women who came to Pine Mountain as workers subscribed to the values of the organization and, like early staff at HIndman, they pushed for association with the growing organization pointing to the large Colonial heritage of the families surrounding the School. Turner, Lewis, Hall, Brashear, Baker, Creech, and so many other have direct family lines that may be traced to the Founding Fathers and to the Daughters of the American Revolution,

The early institutions such as Hindman Settlement, Berry College, Crossnore School, Tamassee DAR School (Founded 1919 in SC), and others, carried this same family heritage association into their identity at their School. Many staff valued their work with the local populations of Appalachia as they shared ancestors and direct descendants of the early Colonists. Workers and women were bound by their patriotic heritage. Their shared origins had a particularly important meaning for many early workers at the School and was a point of pride in the surrounding community and in many students who attended the School. The strong bond reflected the D.A.R. Committee of Patriotic Education that was formed in 1903. In that year the organization began the process of adding institutions to their philanthropic and exclusionary organization. By 1934 there were 35 D.A.R Schools mostly located in the Appalachians and in the Deep South.

After 1934 the organization ceased to create new educational institutions and focused on the formation of three separate committees whose intent was to focus on three patriotic missions: Americanism, National Defense, and Education [D.A.R Approved Schools], generally having a population comprised of students who had familial association with the American Revolution and the Founders.

By the 1940s the following letters from Pine Mountain Director H.R.S. Benjamin to the organization, reflect the ambivalence of the Pine Mountain Settlement School to associate directly with the exclusive organization or to be constrained by its exclusionary student scholarship program. While early Pine Mountain was an active member of the organization and benefited from its philanthropy, the later years moved away from the organization. Generally, Pine Mountain showed their reluctance to accept scholarships for specific students from the organization, preferring instead to accept donations to fund their general School programs for all their students and not the chosen few. Following the departure of PMSS Director Katherine Pettit, the Pine Mountain Settlement School correspondence reveals a growing tendency to avoid any compromising affiliation with the D.A.R., but always remaining cordial and careful to find ways to work with the D.A.R. organization.

One difficult interaction occurred in the 1940s when a student was chosen to deliver a brief speech for the D.A.R. in Washington [Philadelphia?] in the late 1930s. The speech, written by the student, was heavily edited by Trustee Fanny Gratz, who had requested it. The Gratz copy was then edited by Director Glyn Morris who wished to avoid too much alignment with the D.A.R. agendas. This back and forth led to a deep divide between Morris and Gratz. To further add salt to the wound, the speech was edited again by Gratz on the train to Washington and that version was read by the student.

The back and forth eventually encouraged Morris’s departure to join the war effort as a Chaplain in 1942. The re-writing wrangle was never fully resolved and, when the war ended and Morris returned to seek resumption of his work at Pine Mountain in late 1944, there was a division and considerable indecision within the BOT regarding re-hire. Morris, unable to calm the storm, moved on to further his studies at Columbia University Teachers College, New York City, NY, obtaining his doctorate degree in education in 1951. Meanwhile, with the war’s end and the shifts and consolidation of schools and new educational mandates across the country, the Pine Mountain Settlement boarding school program faced severe challenges and the new Director, Benjamin, tried to pull all the loose ends together.

H.R.S. Benjamin became the Director in 1944. The D.A.R. continued its association with and strong support of Pine Mountain and lessons were learned all around. By 1945-1946, the pressures on the Boarding School were great and the D.A.R. did not find the strong endorsement desired by its organization. Both institutions looked for other ways to maintain a relationship, neither willing to give up their long history and neither eager to be restrained by it.

The following letters reflect some of the tensions of post-war restructuring on both the D.A.R. and the Pine Mountain Settlement School as they attempted to chart their future.

TRANSCRIPTION AND SUMMARIES: ADMIN GENERAL Correspondence 1945 D.A.R.

[Note: Letters from PMSS staff in the PMSS Collections are carbon copies, typewritten, unsigned, and meant for the Office files. The original signed documents were sent to the correspondents. Letters from others are typewritten originals unless specified otherwise. The following list of contents is in chronological order. Transcriptions may be slightly edited for clarity.]

1945

01 January 21, 1945. H.R.S Benjamin to Mrs. Earl Padgett, State Treasurer, Ohio DAR.

Dear Mrs. Padgett:
We have received your letter of January 27 verifying your acknowledgement of the two recent gifts and calling to our attention the gift from the Western Reserve Chapter.

The gift of ten dollars which you sent in August was received by us and according to our files acknowledged both to you and to the chapter treasurer, as we did not have her name at that time. It was sent in care of the regent. Mrs. J. Rodney Miller. Perhaps the letter never reached you. The mails sometimes play strange tricks on us — especially in these busy times….

Benjamin informs Padgett of a November letter from Mrs. Tizzard, state director asking about PMSS students’ need for scholarships. He responded that “We do not give scholarships outright as all’s students who wish to may earn their tuition by working here during the summer.” He suggests that the School use any monetary gift in other ways, such as a general or special fund.

02 January 22, 1945. May Stone on DAR of Kentucky letterhead to Miss Alice Cobb. Stone notes that there are five DAR-approved schools in Kentucky. She requests information from Pine Mountain (which was one of the approved schools) in order to write her annual report for the Kentucky DAR Conference. She asks for the following:

…Will you please write me any interesting items about Pine Mountain? Changes in your curriculum adjustments to war conditions. What new departments you may have made for the present school year, or whatever would interest the chapters. I shall have to boil each school’s report to about a half of a typed page. So they have to be in as few words as possible and cover only what is being done this school year.

Hoping to hear from you soon to receive notes from the annual report and also the short history of Pine Mountain by February 15. I am
Sincerely,
[Signed] May Stone
Please send me, as usual, a list of Kentucky DAR chapters with accounts of cash they have sent Pine Mt. and the total of gifts from chapters out of Ky. I need this too by February 15. This list should be from February 15 1944 to February 15 1945.

03 January 27, 1945. Mrs. Earl B. Padgett, [Nettie Padgett] State Treasurer, Ohio Society DAR (on Ohio DAR letterhead) to H.R.S. Benjamin, Director, Pine Mountain Settlement School.

Your letter of acknowledgment for contributions from two Ohio chapters has reached me today. They are correct, but in August 19th to be exact, $10 was sent by me to Washington from Western Reserve Chapter, Cleveland, to be forwarded to your school.

That makes $26 that I have sent so far from your School and more on the books now to go to Washington shortly.

The amounts that I have sent and am sending soon were marked as Scholarship for Ohio Chapters, particularly of the South-East District of the State for Martha Lewis. there is enough on hand now to complete the Scholarship.
The name and address of the treasurer of the Western Reserve Chapter is Mrs. Fred L. Asberli.[Address follows].
Yours Truly,
[Signed] Netti P. Padgett
Mrs. Earl B. Padgett, State Treasurer
Ohio Society D.A.R.

04 January 31, 1945. H.R.S Benjamin, Director, to Miss May Stone, Director of Hindman. He writes:

” In the absence of Miss [Alice] Cobb, the secretary, Miss Dorothy Nace, has prepared the material you requested. We find the total DAR gifts from the states other than Kentucky, to be $728.50 including one $25 War Bond. One Kentucky gift is recorded for the year. February 15th 1944 to above date, $5 from the Poage Chapter.

I hope the material in this summary is the kind of thing you need.
[Signed] HRS Benjamin.

05 February 1, 1945. Response to Padgett’s January 22, 1945, letter.

To Miss Stone [in pencil at top]
NEW DIRECTOR. In August Pine Mountain Settlement School welcomed a new director, Mr H. R. S. Benjamin. Mr. William D. Webb, who acted in the absence of Mr. Glyn Morris, Chaplin in the army, was called to a mission post in South Rhodesia, Africa. Mr. Benjamin has seen 20 years of school administration in Ningpo, China, preceded by four years of public school teaching in this country. He worked in China with the Northern Baptist Board and is well qualified for his present work, both by interest and experience.

SUMMER PROGRAM. The school was host this summer to a Kiwanis-sponsored camp for underprivileged children of Harlan and an American Friends Service Committee Work Camp, whose project was to improve the appearance and sanitary conditions of nearby schoolhouses because of the drought. Temporary irrigation facilities were constructed to save the beans and tomatoes for canning. 1345 half-gallons of beans and 665 half-gallons of tomatoes were preserved.

COMMUNITY AFFAIRS. A highly successful fair was held at the School on October 7. It was the only fair in Harlan County and about 500 friends of all ages gathered to enjoy a barbecue, speeches, exhibits, and ballad singing. The customary community Party at New Year’s drew nearly 300 neighbors who thoroughly enjoyed movies, games, and set-running.

CURRICULUM CHANGES. Again on the curriculum. Miss A. W. Christensen, who spends part of each year at Pine Mountain teaching folk dancing, is now a full-time crafts instructor, beginning with a weaving group of eight girls. She is also teaching mechanical drawing, a course previously dropped from the curriculum for lack of a teacher.

PLANS. The wartime teacher shortage has made elementary education suffer locally. Several schools are closed for want of any teacher, and adequately trained teachers are very rare. By arrangement with the county, Pine Mountain School will soon cooperate in the appointment of teachers and supervision of five or six nearby schools. It is hoped that this will raise the standard of education, even in these war years, and keep the children from wasting valuable time.

Also under discussion is a plan to add a sub-freshman group to the four-year program.. Because the school situation is so critical, many students enter the 9th grade very poorly prepared. The sub-freshman group will reinforce the 7th and 8th-grade work of community schools until such help is no longer needed. This group should supply a good reserve of students from the immediate vicinity who are adequately prepared to benefit from the work of the high school program. DAN

06 March 5, 1945. Mrs. Edwin B. Tizzard, Director, Southwest District, on Ohio DAR letterhead to Benjamin. She refers to Padgett’s letter concerning a scholarship donation of $106 from the Southwest District Chapters. She suggests that $67 is used for a scholarship and the rest used as PMSS sees fit.

07 March 27, 1945. Benjamin to Tizzard. “We are greatly gratified by the hearty response of the Ohio Chapters to your appeal for us.” He has already informed Padgett that there was not a need for a scholarship. He asks approval to use the money “to send two girls to take a three months’ dietetics course this summer” in order, once trained, to help the School’s dietitian. Copy to: Padgett.

08 May 17, 1945. Handwritten note from Henrietta P. Carwithen on Pennsylvania DAR letterhead to PMSS Interim Director William D. Webb. Carwitheu requests a list of “anticipated needs of Pine Mountain for the next two years” to include in a brochure of DAR Committee activities that will be sent to all Chapter Regents. Also requested are “cost a scholarship and list of articles for exhibition or sale.”

09 May 21, 1945. Mary Helen North, Chairman of 1934 Junior DAR Assembly Committee (on letterhead for Indianapolis DAR) to Webb. North informs Webb that, upon recommendation of Mrs. Carwithen, the Jr. DAR Assembly Committee voted to provide a $100 scholarship for PMSS for the coming year. It can be arranged to be spent in another way if needed. North requests PMSS material for her files and information about the recipient student.

10. May 23, 1945. Benjamin to North, expressing appreciation for DAR’s gift of a rotating scholarship for the coming year. He explains the School’s policy on scholarships and the reason the students do not need them. The money is better used for general or medical needs; Benjamin describes the Infirmary. He offered “case studies of several typical people, [their] background, needs, and ambitions” to provide the “personal touch” that DAR desires. He will also send literature about PMSS.

[Missing image] May 27, 1945. Carwithen to Webb, requesting direction on student scholarships and “articles” for exhibition or sale at the upcoming D.A.R. conference.

11 May 29, 1945. Benjamin to Carwithen, responding to her request for PMSS crafts and a list of the School’s needs, Benjamin is sending copies of Notes and an April appeal letter. He explains the School’s policy concerning scholarships. He also states that PMSS “no longer carries on a program of craft production for sale. The School appreciates Carwithen’s recommendation for the scholarship.

[Missing image] June 27, 1945. Padgett to Benjamin.

” Your letter of acknowledgment for contributions from two Ohio chapters has reached me today. They are correct, but in August 19. to be exactly accurate, $10.00 was sent by me to Washington from Western Reserve Chapter, Cleveland, to be forwarded to your school.
That makes $26.00 dollars that I have sent so far for your School and more on the books now to go to Washington shortly. The amounts that I have sent and am sending soon were marked as scholarships from Ohio chapters, particularly of the South-East District of the state for Martha Lewis. There is enough on hand now to complete the scholarship. The name and address of the treasurer of Western Reserve Chapter is: Mrs Fred L. Aeberli,Cleveland, OH.
Yours truly… Nettie P. Padgett, State Treasurer, Ohio Society D.A.R.”

12 August 14, 1945. Dolores B. Hill (Mrs. Herbert R. Hill) in Indianapolis, Indiana, to “Principal,” asking if the school needs gifts of used clothing. She is Chairman of the Approved Schools Committee of Caroline Scott Harrison Chapter of the DAR.

13 August 18, 1945. Benjamin to Hill thanking her for her August 14 letter and explaining how PMSS students “re-convert” old clothing and towels and sheets into usable items. He mentions a booklet the School is publishing for the “centennial celebration of the births of the Creeches who gave the land for the school.” He offers a copy to DAR, stating

“this will not be just of interest to friends of this school but to any one who is interested in a vivid picture of early pioneer living — a manner of life from which the people here are not yet far removed.”

14 September 10, 1945. Mrs. Harrie S. Mueller in Whichita, Kansas, to Benjamin, requesting a copy of the School’s catalog and other information to use in a program for her DAR chapter about the DAR-approved schools. She also asked if Benjamin could provide items made at PMSS to exhibit or sell.

15 September 14, 1945. Benjamin to Mueller, sending her the school literature she requested, but stating that “We are not producing craft products for sale. Our student body is too small to do much of that kind of thing besides the regular farm, shop, and house work.” Benjamin suggested that Mueller sell a PMSS brochure celebrating the 100th Creech anniversary, offering a 25% discount — “an authentic piece of Americana.” He also offers to lend “some large photographs to display at your meeting…which show the surrounding country as well as the work of the school.” The Conifer, written by the 1944 graduates, has selections showing the students’ feelings about the school.

16 October 28, 1945. North to Benjamin, requesting information for the State Chairmen of Jr. Membership, indicating that DAR helped PMSS provide medical and dental care for the children.

17 November 9, 1945. Dorothy Nace, PMSS secretary, to North, announcing a new PMSS doctor, Elizabeth Thrall Henderson, M.D., replacing the Tuckers [Dr. Emma and Dr. Francis Tucker]. Her husband is teaching science and math.

“Dr. Henderson is small, red-haired, unassuming and humorous, but she has proven very effective in handling of several unusual cases this fall. Miss [Grace M.] Rood, our able nurse, is still in charge of our small hospital.”

The Fund for a new hospital wing began on Centennial Day. Nace encloses the Centennial program and a booklet, “One Man’s Cravin,’” suggesting that any purchases of the booklet by DAR will go to the hospital fund.

18-18a December 11, 1945. Benjamin to Mrs. T.C. Willis, in Washington, DC, 18 thanking her clarifying the intentions of the Thirteen Colonies DAR for the $27 gift. He explains PMSS’s scholarship policy. “Pine Mountain has gradually changed from elementary school to a four-year high school. “The county tuition is paid from county funds for all day students. (That is done because this is the only available high school for neighborhood children.” Benjamin also explains how PMSS uses money in the PMSS Scholarship Fund: to maintain the presence of the student summer workers. 18a Benjamin cannot provide “the name of any one person who will receive the money.” The School looks forward to DAR’s Christmas box.

1946

19-19a-19b June 28, 1946. Three-page handwritten page letter from Miss Susan E. Lyman (on a letterhead for “Mrs. William Gregory” in Attleboro, Mass.) to Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin, 19 expressing appreciation for hosting during their visit to PMSS in March. She tells of having visited other DAR-approved mountain schools after leaving PMSS. 19a The DAR State Regent will include a letter from her describing her trip in the Massachusetts DAR Newsletter. Also, she was asked to tell about the schools she visited on an American Legion broadcast in Boston. 19b She mentions that Miss Cobb gave a talk about PMSS at a chapter meeting.

20 July 1, 1946. Benjamin to “Mrs. William Gregory,” sending PMSS literature to help with planning her talks. He suggests mentioning that PMSS is raising money for the Creech Centennial Fund that would pay for a small modern hospital unit. He lists “smaller needs,” such as a printing press, typewriters for classes, and a chlorinator for the reservoir. He thanks her for the gift of $5.00. “About 30 students remain (for the summer) the house-cleaning, canning, painting and field work so necessary…to prepare for the coming year.”

21 November 5, 1946. Edith P. Willard, Chairman Approved Schools, Ft. St. Joseph Chapter, DAR, Buchanan, Michigan, to “Superintendent” at PMSS. Willard asks for name of 10-12 students “who aren’t likely to have any individual attention at Holiday time” and details about what they need, so that the chapter can send a “Christmas box.”

22 November 11, 1946. Benjamin to Mrs. Willard, expressing appreciation for her chapter’s interest in sending Christmas gifts to Pine Mountain students. There will be a “group of about 24 here during the two weeks Christmas vacation because there is so much work which must be done in barn, kitchen, and dormitories.” He suggests items that would be most useful. “We have found that the most satisfactory thing is to give each {student] gifts that are about alike.”

23-23a. November 14, 1946. Two-page handwritten letter from Miss Susan E. Lyman in New York City to PMSS Director. …[T]he Mary Washington Colonial Chapter of New York City has voted to donate a scholarship at Pine Mountain this year.” She asked for information about the selected student to report the information at their next meeting and also to write to the student directly. Lyman mentions a chapter meeting at which Miss Cobb talked about PMSS work.

24 November 19, 1946. Benjamin to Lyman, expressing appreciation for the Chapter’s plan to donate a scholarship. He explains “the way in which we handle scholarships here,” Because of the student work program at PMSS, “the school does not feel that it is wise to choose any student for a scholarship…when others are working [their expenses] out. We prefer to use the money…for the general fund” to insure the students are cared for. He gives examples of how two of the students’ lives were improved by attending PMSS.

1947

25 June 20, 1947. Opal Lee Cochran, Treasurer, Esther Reed Chapter DAR of Spokane, Washington, to “Superintendent,” requesting information about PMSS.

26 June 24, 1947. Benjamin to Cochran, answering questions in her June 20th letter: price of scholarships, what scholarships cover, the ages and grades of the students, gifts of clothing, other gifts, handiwork for sale.