Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 22: Friends and Visitors to PMSS
Series 09: Biography
Visitor
KATHERINE TRUE
Katherine [“Kay”] True
Dean of Girls. Berea Academy [Berea College]
Series: PHOTOGRAPHY
*About Katharine True as described by Marian Kingman to Mary Rogers in a letter accompanying the donation of the album.
Dear Mary,…
I must explain this album. Katherine True was Dean of Girls in the old Academy of Berea College (in which I taught my first 4 years here.) She retired to Pleasant Hill, Tenn. some years ago, and died this last year. Margaret Dizney who also is retired and living in Pleasant Hill, evidently had some responsibility in sorting Kay’s belongings, and so sent me this album. I think it belongs at Pine Mt., and if there is anything of value in it for the mountain room, you will know. These pictures may be duplicated in those already there — but, do whatever you wish with it.
I was so disappointed that I didn’t get to the Nativity Play — weather was just too uncertain, I’ll try again next year!
My greetings and love to you and Burton.
Marian [Kingman]
P.S. Don’t bother to answer or have anyone answer for you!”
Katherine was the sister of the noted botanist Rodney Howard True (1866-1940). She was born and raised in southern Wisconsin and was the daughter of the New Englanders, John M. and Mary Annie (Beede) True. The John M. True family were skilled farmers, but also placed considerable emphasis on the education of their children. All the siblings, Rodney, his brother Gordon, Katherine and her sister Eunice all graduated from the University of Wisconsin. All chose careers that kept them in academe. Both Katherine and Eunice taught at Berea College. Rodney True taught at the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Botany but also worked as a physiologist and historian for the Bureau of Plant Industry in the United States Department of Agriculture. His particular historical interests centered on the history of agriculture and the agricultural practices of Thomas Jefferson and André Michaux and the botany of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. His work with the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society, and the Agricultural History Society was not far from the interests of his siblings though Katherine’s interests centered on human resources. The strong interest in landscape and farm life seen in the True album pull from the same well of influence.
The note that accompanied the donation of the Katherine True Photograph Album underscores the close connection of Berea women with Pine Mountain Settlement School in the early years of the institution. The journey that Katherine True made with Enid Rutledge to the School and to the surrounding region in 1923, captures a landscape and an emerging economy that were beginning to shape the lives of the people in the remote areas of eastern Kentucky. The images in Katherine True’s Album are well composed and capture the area through the eye of a “passer-through”, rather than the eye of one who lived within the communities of interest.
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- Outside cover. pmss_tru106
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- Inside cover. “Some Shots of Mountain Trip by Katherine True & Enid Rutledge, June 14-28, 1923. Property of Katherine True.”
Marian Kingman, who for many years sat on the Pine Mountain Board of Trustees, was also a Berean and for many years taught in the Home Economics Department of the college.
The color shift of the emulsion on the prints is considerable and is the result of age and storage. No attempt was made to alter the original color of the photographs as was the case in other collections that have been digitized. The uniformity of the color shift throughout the album suggests that storage has been less than optimum through the years, but also gives the album a rich nostalgic aura.
When the images were modified they revealed detail that was lost in the original degraded photograph. For comparison, the modified photographs have also been added to the Katherine True pages. See XIX KATHERINE TRUE PHOTO ALBUM
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- pmss_tru108
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- pmss_tru109
Drawing of Line Fork Settlement [cabin] Gilley, Letcher County, Kentucky [on card] addressed to Katherine True
“My Dear Miss True,
It was mighty thoughtful of you to send the box of Christmas “goodies” to us. Thank you very, very much.
We have had a very nice Christmas on Line Fork this year — noticeably more quiet than the two other Christmases I’ve spent here altho to date I’ve had two gun shot cases to take care of!
I think I am really going by Berea – way in a week or two. Hope to see you. It has been interesting to see our girls who are back from Berea for the Holidays. Best wishes for a Happy New Year. Anne Ruth Medcalf, December 28th, 1923.
This brief correspondence suggests that True knew Anne Ruth Medcalf, who was a worker at Line Fork Settlement. The extension. of Pine Mountain was located just 6 miles east of the School.
SEE:
XIX KATHERINE TRUE PHOTO ALBUM I (full unmodified pages)
XIX KATHERINE TRUE PHOTO ALBUM II (single images, modified)
XIX KATHERINE TRUE PHOTO ALBUM III (single images unmodified)
