ORIE LATHAM HATCHER Consultant

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Consultant
Series 21: RYGI RURAL YOUTH GUIDANCE INSTITUTE
Orie Latham Hatcher, RYGI Consultant 1935-?
Orie Latham Hatcher (1868-1946)

ORIE LATHAM HATCHER Consultant

06_2446 Senior Boys, 1935. Oscar Peace, Hubert Cornett, George Malicoat, Ben Turner. [098_IX_students_06_2446_001.jpg]

ORIE LATHAM HATCHER Consultant

President of the Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth, 1930s-1940s
Consultant for the Rural Youth Guidance Institutes, 1935-?


TAGS: Dr. Orie Latham Hatcher, PMSS Rural Youth Guidance Institute, Glyn Morris, social service, Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth, Eleanor Roosevelt, World War II, Southern Women’s Alliance, women’s education, Virginia Bureau of Vocations for Women, Southern Women’s Educational Alliance


Orie Latham Hatcher, the Director of the Southern Women’s Alliance, worked with Glyn Morris to establish similar programs at the Pine Mountain Settlement School. The result was a long-running program in Harlan County, Kentucky called the Rural Youth Guidance Institute in 1935. During her lifetime, Orie Latham Hatcher made extraordinary contributions as an English scholar and a pioneer in vocational guidance. Among those contributions was her assistance in creating the first-ever Guidance Institute, a vocational guidance program for rural youth that was begun at the Pine Mountain Settlement School in 1935 by Hatcher and  Glyn Morris,

ORIE LATHAM HATCHER: Her Education

Born in 1868, Miss Hatcher had a quick intelligence and grew up in an environment that encouraged intellectual pursuits and social service. Her father, Dr. William Eldridge Hatcher, was a well-known and highly respected pastor of the Grace Street Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia. Her mother, Oranie Hatcher, wrote books, pamphlets and articles, mostly focused on religion, and was trustee of Hartshorn Memorial College, a Richmond, Virginia institution for the exclusive education of African-American women.

At the young age of fifteen Hatcher was the youngest graduate of the Richmond Female Institute. She stayed on to teach at the Institute until the fall of 1885, when, assisted by a wealthy northerner who recognized her potential, she began attending Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. The unusual idea of a southern woman attending a northern school was shocking to those who knew the Hatcher family, according to Women Who Changed Things by Linda S. Peavy and Ursula Smith:

The proposal created shock waves in the community and it is said that one Richmond resident told Dr. Hatcher he would rather see his daughter in hell than at a Yankee college. Supposedly, Dr. Hatcher replied, “Well, you send yours to hell but mine is going to Vassar!” 

After a struggle to catch up with the more advanced northern courses, Miss Hatcher received an A.B. degree at Vassar in 1888. She taught at the Richmond Female Institute for a year before going on to earn a doctorate in English Literature from the University of Chicago in 1903.

The next move in Orie Hatcher’s academic career was to Bryn Mawr (Pennsylvania) College where she worked as a reader in English, and by 1912 an associate professor of comparative and Elizabethan literature. There she began establishing and organizing education-related projects, such as the founding of the Department of Comparative Literature and organizing the Virginia Association of Colleges and Schools for Girls, a group that encouraged individual girls’ schools to cooperate in forming higher educational standards for girls and improving their educational opportunities.

ORIE LATHAM HATCHER: Women’s Education

In 1914, Miss Hatcher decided to move from the field of literary scholarship and into projects that focused on women’s education. She was the first president of the Virginia Bureau of Vocations for Women in Richmond and helped found the Richmond School of Social Work and Public Health to provide professional training for women in areas that were socially acceptable at the time. 

ORIE LATHAM HATCHER: Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth

The Virginia Bureau of Vocations for Women was changed to Southern Women’s Educational Alliance in 1921, then sixteen years later to the Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth. As the name changes suggest, the organization, under Hatcher’s devoted leadership, had shifted away from its early focus on increasing vocational opportunities for educated southern women and rural high school girls to its later activities in vocational guidance for rural youth across the nation and working with educational organizations.

To publicize the work of the Alliance, the organization often used radio broadcasts, including students interviewing Hatcher and a dialogue in 1938 between Hatcher and Eleanor Roosevelt on the future of rural youth.

Hatcher’s interests evolved along with the organization that she managed until her death. She chaired committees on rural youth in many of the educational groups that were associated with the Alliance. She wrote a number of books on the subject, including “A Mountain School” and “Guiding Rural Boys and Girls.” In 1932 the White House Conference of Child Health and Protection published a volume that included Hatcher’s views on vocational guidance for rural youth and in 1937 Hatcher spent the day with Elanor Roosevelt. 

ORIE LATHAM HATCHER: PMSS Rural Youth Guidance Institute

It was in 1935 that Hatcher’s attention turned to the Rural Youth Guidance Institute begun by Glyn Morris at Pine Mountain Settlement School. Morris reached out to Hatcher through mutual contacts and in Glyn Morris’s report to the PMSS Board of Trustees, which summarized his ten years as director of the School, he named Dr. Orie Latham Hatcher (on pages 13-14) as having helped the School prepare for changes that would be brought by World War II.

[In addition to student community service]…another growth in our extension services…is the Pine Mountain Youth Guidance Institute…. Agencies of many kinds are at work on youth problems, but unless they work together, unless they have common aims, their energy is dissipated. The Guidance Institute offers one means for bringing these agencies together….

…The Institute had its small beginnings in August 1935 when it was limited to members of the Pine Mountain Settlement School staff. At that time we met together with Dr. Latham Hatcher, President of the Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth, to plan ways whereby our own School resources might be brought more in line with the guidance point of view….

Dr. Hatcher’s efforts to broaden opportunities for women and rural youth are felt to this day by the thousands of individuals whose futures were brightened by her life’s work.

**********

Dr. Orie Latham Hatcher was born in Petersburg, Virginia, on December 10, 1868, to William Eldridge Hatcher and Oranie Virginia “Jennie” (Snead) Hatcher. She was the third child of nine children, four of whom died in infancy. Hatcher died at age 77 of pneumonia after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage on April 1, 1946. She was buried in a family plot at Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery in Virginia.


SEE the recently (2020) completed biographical information provided by the Virginia Commonwealth University on Orie Latham Hatcher and her contributions to the Social Welfare History Project Richmond School of Social Economy – Beginnings. October 1916 – July 1917.

Hatcher, Orie Latham

 See Also:
RYGI RURAL YOUTH GUIDANCE INSTITUTE
RYGI RURAL YOUTH GUIDANCE INSTITUTE Guide
GLYN MORRIS Director


Title

Orie Latham Hatcher

Alt. Title

Dr. Orie Latham Hatcher, O. Latham Hatcher ; O.L. Hatcher ; Latham Hatcher ;

Identifier

https://pinemountainsettlement.net/?page_id=15094

Creator

Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY

Alt. Creator

Ann Angel Eberhardt ; Helen Hayes Wykle ;

Subject Keyword

Dr. Orie Latham Hatcher ; O. Latham Hatcher ; O.L. Hatcher ; Latham Hatcher ; Pine Mountain Settlement School ; English scholars ; vocational guidance ; Youth Guidance Institute ; rural youth ; Glyn Morris ; social service ; Dr. William Eldridge Hatcher ; pastors ; Grace Street Baptist Church ; Hartshorn Memorial College ; Richmond Female Institute ; Vassar College ; Women Who Changed Things ; Linda S. Peavy ; Ursula Smith ; University of Chicago ; Bryn Mawr College ; Elizabethan literature ; comparative literature ; Virginia Association of Colleges and Schools for Girls ; women’s education ; Virginia Bureau of Vocations for Women ; Richmond School of Social Work and Public Health ; Virginia Bureau of Vocations for Women ; Southern Women’s Educational Alliance ; Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth ; Eleanor Roosevelt ; White House Conference of Child Health and Protection ; World War II ; extension services ; Oranie Virginia (Snead) Hatcher ; Hollywood Cemetery ; Pine Mountain, KY ; Harlan County, KY ; Richmond, VA ; Poughkeepsie, NY ; Chicago, IL ; Bryn Mawr, PA ;

Subject LCSH

Hatcher, Orie Latham, — December 10, 1868 – April 1, 1946.
Pine Mountain Settlement School (Pine Mountain, Ky.) — History.
Harlan County (Ky.) — History.
Education — Kentucky — Harlan County.
Rural schools — Kentucky — History.
Schools — Appalachian Region, Southern.
Vocational guidance — Southern States — Biography.
Women –United States — Biography.

Date

2014-09-13

Publisher

Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY

Contributor

n/a

Type

Collections ; text ; image ;

Format

Original and copies of documents and correspondence in file folders in filing cabinet

Source

Series 22: Friends and Visitors Related to PMSS

Language

English

Relation

Is related to: Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections, Series 22: Friends and Visitors Related to PMSS.

Coverage Temporal

1868 – 1946

Coverage Spatial

Pine Mountain, KY ; Harlan County, KY ; Richmond, VA ; Poughkeepsie, NY ; Chicago, IL ; Bryn Mawr, PA ;

Rights

Any display, publication, or public use must credit the Pine Mountain Settlement School. Copyright retained by the creators of certain items in the collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Donor

n/a

Description

Core documents, correspondence, writings, and administrative papers of Orie Latham Hatcher ; clippings, photographs, books by or about Orie Latham Hatcher ;

Acquisition

n/d

Citation

“[Identification of Item],” [Collection Name] [Series Number, if applicable]. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.

Processed By

Helen Hayes Wykle ; Ann Angel Eberhardt ;

Last Updated

2014-09-13 ; 2017-06-30 hhw ; 2022-07-02 hhw ;

Bibliography

Sources

“Find A Grave Index,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVK5-YC5N : accessed 3 September 2015), Orie Latham Hatcher, 1946; Burial, Richmond, Richmond City, Virginia, United States of America, Hollywood Cemetery; citing record ID 51663712, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

“Guide to the Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth records, 1887-1963 and undated, bulk 1914-1946.” Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth Records, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/agry/ (accessed 2015-002). Internet resource.

James, Edward T, Janet W. James, and Paul S. Boyer. Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971. Print.

“Olie Latham Hatcher.” Hatcher Family Genealogy Association. http://hatcherfamilyassn.com/getperson.php?personID=I38924&tree=WmTheIm (accessed 2015-09-03). Internet resource.

Peavy, Linda S, and Ursula Smith. Women Who Changed Things. New York: Scribner, 1983. Print.

Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers, Series 22: Friends and Visitors Related to PMSS. Pine Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. Internet resource.

Strang, Ruth M, and O L. Hatcher. Child Development and Guidance in Rural Schools. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1943. Print.

“United States Census, 1940,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VTMN-49S : accessed 3 September 2015), Latham Hatcher, Lee Ward, Richmond, Richmond City, Richmond City, Virginia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 118-152, sheet 10B, family 415, NARA digital publication T627 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012), roll 4324.

Selected Bibliography

WRITTEN BY O. LATHAM HATCHER

Cox, Cordelia, and O L. Hatcher. Handicaps of Elementary School Girls in Specially Underprivileged Rural Communities. Richmond, Va: Southern Woman’s Educational Alliance, 1930. Print.

Hatcher, O L. John Fletcher: A Study in Dramatic Method. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Chicago. Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1905. Print.

Hatcher, O L. A Book for Shakespeare Plays and Pageants: A Treasury of Elizabethan and Shakespearean Detail for Producers, Stage Managers, Actors, Artists, and Students. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1916. Print.

Hatcher, O L. Occupations for Women: A Study Made for the Southern Woman’s Educational Alliance. Richmond, Va: Southern Woman’s Educational Alliance, 1927. Print.

Hatcher, O L. Rural Girls in the City for Work: A Study Made for the Southern Woman’s Educational Alliance. Richmond: Garrett & Massie, Inc, 1930. Print.

Hatcher, O L, and Emery N. Ferriss. Guiding Rural Boys and Girls: Flexible Guidance Programs for Use by Rural Schools and Related Agencies. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co, 1930. Print.

Hatcher, O L. A Mountain School: A Study Made by the Southern Woman’s Educational Alliance and Konnarock Training School. Richmond: Garrett & Massie, Inc, 1930. Print.

ABOUT O. LATHAM HATCHER

Cattell, James M. K. “Hatcher, Dr. O(rie) Latham: 401-402 Grace-American Building, Richmond, Va.” Leaders in Education, a Biographical Directory. (1932). Print.

Friedman, Belinda B. Orie Latham Hatcher and the Southern Woman’s Educational Alliance. Duke University, Ph.D. Thesis, 1981. Print.

“Hatcher, Orie Latham.” American Women: the Official Who’s Who Among the Women of the Nation, 1935-1936. (1935). Print.

Johnson, Amy L. Orie Latham Hatcher and Her Special Work: Increasing Choices for Southern Women and Rural Youth. James Madison University, B.A. Dissertation 1992. Print.

Jones, Marjorie C. Orie Latham Hatcher: Portrait of a Rural Reformer. 1985. Print.

Patterson, Ada. “Helps Others to Help Themselves.” The Continent, Vol. 50, (20 November 1919), page 1402-5. Philadelphia: Our Continent Pub. Co. Print.  [Includes a photograph of Orie Latham Hatcher.]

Peavy, Linda S, and Ursula Smith. Women Who Changed Things. New York: Scribner, 1983. Print.

Virginia Commonwealth University.Social Welfare History Project Richmond School of Social Economy – Beginnings. October 1916 – July 1917.  […] conference which held its session at the bureau of Vocations, appointed Miss O. L. Hatcher, Rev. H. C. D.…

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