Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 05: ADMINISTRATION – Board of Trustees
DARWIN D. MARTIN (1865-1935)
Correspondence Guide
On the question of “water-closets” and the mountain “privy” at the 1933 BOT meeting. Darwin D. Martin 1932 Correspondence. [P1050731.jpg]
Darwin D. Martin Correspondence Guide
Darwin D. Martin Correspondence Guide by Year
1916 Correspondence
Correspondence with William E. Martin at PMSS. Darwin D. Martin’s brother, William E. Martin, vividly describes his first visit to Harlan County and Pine Mountain Settlement School in 1916. Topics include early reflections on Ethel de Long, Katherine Pettit, Uncle William Creech, Aunt Sally Creech, Luigi Zande, Settlement Schools, rural education, Southern Appalachians, Buffalo NY, Frank Lloyd Wright, Atlanta GA, and Oak Park IL, Chicago IL. Reference to Pine Mountain architecture such as Old Laurel House, Big Log, Far House, Sawmill, and Little House in the Woods is referenced. Travel by trains in the Southern Appalachians, catamounts, hospitality, health, dentistry, children, schools, Wellesley College, Smith College, John Lewis, politics, and President Woodrow Wilson are also touched on.
1917 Correspondence
1918 Correspondence
1919 Correspondence
1920 Correspondence [No correspondence located]
1921 Correspondence [No correspondence located]
1922 Correspondence [No correspondence located]
1923 Correspondence [No correspondence located]
1924 Correspondence
Correspondence with Ethel de Long Zande and Evelyn K. Wells regarding the School’s orders from his company for boots, awnings, kitchen equipment, and toys; his advice on PMSS insurance; and his donation of books, Bibles, and flowers to the remote School in Harlan County, KY.
1924 BOT Correspondence
1925 Correspondence
Correspondence with Ethel de Long Zande concerning orders for School needs, the Road, insurance, and prospective donors. An introductory narrative examines the similarity of his dreams with those of Aunt Sal and Uncle William Creech and the mutual admiration and ambitions of Martin and Ethel de Long Zande.
1925 BOT Correspondence
1926 BOT Correspondence
Correspondence with Ethel de Long Zande, Evelyn K. Wells, and PMSS Secretary. Largely focused on supplies for the School and funding for the proposed Road [Laden Trail] across Pine Mountain. A lengthy exchange involves an attempt by Martin to find a place for a young girl he has met in Buffalo, NY, who is struggling with health issues and needs a location where she can recuperate and be supported. The exchange casts much light on Martin’s commitment to education and Ethel de Long Zande’s adamant protection of the Pine Mountain Settlement mission to serve the local area and to keep the population “White” and free of contaminating social influences. The exchange also reflects on the political, social, racial, economic, and other cultural differences, and captures the early institutional perspective regarding “difference”. The isolation of the mountains of the Central Appalachians and of Pine Mountain Settlement during the first quarter of the Twentieth Century provides a rich opportunity for scholars and others to confirm or re-think stereotypes and their supposed origins.
1927 BOT Correspondence Part 1
Correspondence with Ethel de Long Zande, Katherine Pettit, and Evelyn K. Wells regarding orders for School needs, student labor, donations, gifts, by-laws, liabilities, Frank Lloyd Wright, mailing lists, printshop, postal service, C.N. Manning, fundraising, flooding, L. & N. train service, Columbus Creech, filing cabinets, auditors, laundry machinery.
1927 BOT Correspondence Part 2
Correspondence with Ethel de Long Zande, Katherine Pettit, and other staff regarding a Ford dump truck, the reservoir, Delco generator, moonlight schools, upright piano, beechnuts, stoves, fire extinguishers, coal mine, Elizabeth Hench, Fair of the Iron Horse, American Laundry Machinery Company, Luigi Zande, forest fires, Martha Berry Schools.
1928 BOT Correspondence 1
Darwin D.Martin sends Mrs. Zande a letter with a Lindbergh airmail stamp; donates an upright piano, fire extinguishers; pitchers from an Ohio pottery, encyclopedias, and a Ford truck; advises on growing fruit trees and is concerned about Caney Creek High School. Includes personal letters to and from Angela Melville, Evelyn K. Wells, and Luigi Zande. [Consolidate the two pages for 1928.]
1928 BOT Correspondence 2
A large file containing over 100 records of BOT activity in 1933. Notes on 1927 Christmas; donation of Ford truck by Martin; updates from Ethel de Long Zande on her cancer treatment, followed by various discussions of administrative leadership after her death in April of breast cancer. Many letters address the re-assignment of administrative and fiduciary responsibilities with Angel Melville appointed as Interim Associate Director to oversee changes at the School. Electrical generator issues and repairs, and multiple farm management exchanges with Katherine Pettit also dominate the correspondence. The first Lindberg stamp, donation of Decker piano for Boy’s House living room, among many gifts and favors from Martin.
1929 Correspondence
An unsigned letter to Martin, dated July 12, 1929, reports on advice received from Mr. Browning, State University farm engineer, regarding his best scenario for Isaac’s Creek straightening. [Combine this with BOT CORRESPONDENCE 1929 — change heading to read “BOT Correspondence.Remove duplicates”
1929 BOT Correspondence
1930 Correspondence
Discussions about William Creech Memorial Fountain, appropriate memorial design, land deed for Medical Settlement, straightening of Isaac’s Creek, May Day, Pageants, potato crop, agriculture practice, foodways, Celia Cathcart Holton, the Road, Laden Trail
1930 BOT Correspondence
1931 Correspondence
Boy’s House, Mary Rockwell Hook, Hubert Hadley, Dr. Alfreda Withington, surrounding road conditions, The Road, Laden Trail, Katherine Pettit, Evelyn K. Wells, Dr. Louisa Martin, Pine Mountain movies, the School reservoir, Pleasant Hill Academy, visitors, finances.
1931 BOT Correspondence
1932 Correspondence
Mary Rockwell Hook, Glyn Morris, printing presses, White Leghorn hens, Oscar Kneller, Bertha Cold, water closets, mountain privies, silos, dairy, Katherine Pettit, Alec Day, coal miners, mine accidents,
1932 BOT Correspondence [MOVE FILES TO Separate 1932]
1933 Correspondence
1933 BOT Correspondence
Privies are still on the agenda as are other maintenance and building issues.
000 Darwin D. Martin Correspondence Guide: N.D. / MISC. CORRESPONDENCE
[IN PROGRESS]
SEE
DARWIN D. MARTIN Biography
SEE ALSO
ANGELA MELVILLE Interim Associate Director
ETHEL DE LONG ZANDE Director
KATHERINE PETTIT Director
MARY ROCKWELL HOOK Architect
GLYN MORRIS Director
