Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
PMSS Board of Trustees
DARWIN D. MARTIN (1865-1935)
Correspondence Guide

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TAGS: Guide to Darwin D. Martin correspondence, Pine Mountain Settlement School Board of Trustees, Board of Trustees correspondence

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Darwin D. Martin Correspondence Guide

1916 CORRESPONDENCE William E. Martin [brother] PMSS Visit
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
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.

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. 

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.

1926 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 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 Correspondence Part 1 (January 6 – July 20, 1928)
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. Includes personal letters to and from Angela Melville, Evelyn K. Wells, and Luigi Zande. Concern about Caney Creek High School article.

1928 Correspondence Part 2  (July 21 – September 26, 1928)
Letters between Martin and PMSS staff concerning a piano, fire extinguishers, pottery pitchers, fruit trees, used clothing, Ford truck, Luigi Zande, Ethel de Long Zande, the Cabin, Angela Melville, Edith Canterbury, Katherine Pettit, Laurel House, Evelyn Wells, S.C. Tozier, Big Log, Ruth Campbell, Elena de Long, and Christmas.

1928 Correspondence Part 3 (October 1 – December 28, 1928)
A large file containing over 100 records of BOT activity in 1933. Concern about Caney Creek High School article; 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 Lindbergh stamp, donation of Decker piano for Boy’s House living room, among many gifts and favors from Martin.

1929 BOT Correspondence Part 1 (January 18 – December 27, 1929)
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.

1929 Correspondence Part 1 (January 18 – June 25, 1929)
Subjects include: William Browning, creek straightening, Angela Melville, vocational training, curriculum, Reservoir, Henry Creech. Katherine Pettit, traveling in Eastern Kentucky, Mary Rockwell Hook, “Scrap House,” Open House, power line, fundraising, donations from Martin, fire insurance, recruiting new board members, Isaac’s Creek flood, Line Fork fire, Intermountain log train, Larkin Company orders, power line survey, goat-raising, Zande House insurance.

1929 Correspondence Part 2 (June 8 – December 21, 1929)
A continuation of Part 1 correspondence, covering William Browning, creek straightening, Angela Melville, vocational training, reservoir, Henry Creech, Katherine Pettit, Mary Rockwell Hook, Open House, Zande House furniture, donations from Trustee D.D. Martin, mules, student tests, Kentucky Utilities Company, power line survey, purchasing a diesel engine, fire extinguishers. Luigi Zande, Wisconsin Steel Company, Fairbanks Morse Company, Pierce Butler & Pierce.

1930 Correspondence Part 1 (January 18 – December 27, 1930)
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 Correspondence Part 2 (September 2 – December 31, 1930)
Correspondence of Martin, Director Hadley, and Katherine Pettit, concerning, bequests, Lincoln Memorial University, power plant, nightwatchmen, reservoir, Fairbanks Morse & Co., funds from bequests, endowment funds, Lazer Gas Engine Co., engineers, old clothes policy, Delco Corporation, Wisconsin Steel Company, extension centers deeds.

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, Endowment Fund, bequests, auditors, Boone C. Callahan, power plant, Advisory Board.

1932 Correspondence – Parts 1 & 2 [PRIVATE] – January 12 – November 18 1932.
[Part 1] Larkin Company, G.F. Mansell & Company, auditors, Miss Conn, bookkeeping, Voucher System, Fairbanks, Morse & Company, George E. Shoup, philanthropy, Mary Rockwell Hook, Glyn Morris, printing presses, White Leghorn hens, silo, Katherine Pettit, Pierce Butler and Pierce, Pine Mountain Health Association, thank-you letters, David M. Jones, furnaces, washing machines [Part 2] Glyn Morris, updates on PMSS activities, Oscar Kneller, Bertha Cold, Dr. Kenneth N. Gould, Charles N. Manning, purchasing a silo and laundry equipment, American International College, Katherine Pettit, Cecilia Cathcart Holton, water closets, Elizabeth Hench, Fairbanks Morse, bequests, PMSS General Endowment Fund, L.F. Mansell, PMSS finances.

1933 Correspondence
Privies are still on the agenda as are other maintenance and building issues. Ethel de Long Zande, Katherine Pettit, Mary Rockwell Hook,  Celia C. (Cathcart) Holton, Arthur Dodd, Evelyn Wells, Marie Taylor, Margaret Motter, Great Depression, Elizabeth Hench, W.C.T.U., Women’s Christian Temperance Union, rise of Hitler, persecution of the Jews in Germany, Banking Act of 1933, food shortages, AC power, DC power, Kentucky Utilities, water turbines, coal mining, PMSS coal mine, James Faulkner, Barbara Faulkner, Dr. Frank Newman, transportation.

1934 Correspondence 
Board of Trustees, BOT, Governance, Larkin Company Inc., Buffalo NY, Charles Kellogg, Abby W. Christensen, Alice Cobb, Caroline Dusenbury.

N.D. / MISC. Correspondence
Darwin D. Martin Correspondence Guide:  [IN PROGRESS]

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See Also:
GOVERNANCE
GOVERNANCE BOT Correspondence By Year Guide

Biographies:
DARWIN D. MARTIN Board
ANGELA MELVILLE Interim Associate Director
ETHEL DE LONG ZANDE Director
KATHERINE PETTIT Director
MARY ROCKWELL HOOK Architect
GLYN MORRIS Director

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