Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series: PHOTOGRAPHS
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Staff
CATHERINE RITTENHOUSE COLLECTION
Photographs 1914

CATHERINE RITTENHOUSE COLLECTION Photographs 1914

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TAGS: Catherine Rittenhouse Collection, photographs, Catherine Rittenhouse Sanford, Mary Dana, PMSS summer volunteers,  L.W. Sanford, Dora Reed Goodale, Ethel De Long, Mrs. C.V. Kennedy, Plymouth Congregational Church, donations

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Catherine Rittenhouse came to Pine Mountain Settlement School with her friend Mary Dana in 1914, one year after the founding of the school. Both were summer volunteer workers for approximately six weeks and were engaged in many activities as needed, including teaching.

While at Pine Mountain, Catherine recorded her work, her reflections, and the life of the school in both letters home and in photographic images. Following her death in 1958, her husband, Leroy W. Sanford, sent her early letters and her images to Pine Mountain Settlement School to be added to the archive.

CATHERINE RITTENHOUSE COLLECTION: Donation Correspondence 1958

Minneapolis, Minnesota
April 24, 1958

The recent death on March 22nd of my wife, Mrs. Catherine Rittenhouse Sanford, has prompted me to write you this letter.

In the summer of 1914, shortly before our marriage which occurred in 1915, Mrs. Sanford — then Miss Catherine Rittenhouse — and a close friend and distant relative of hers, Miss Mary Dana (who later became Mrs. C.V. Kennedy and is now deceased) spent about six weeks as voluntary workers at the Pine Mountain Settlement School which had been started shortly before that time. As you can well imagine, they worked under very primitive conditions doing some teaching and performing such other tasks as were necessary at the time.

Mrs. Sanford often spoke of the time she spent down there, which she regarded as one of the most interesting and rewarding experiences of her entire lifetime. She always followed the gradual development of the school with great interest and has sent small contributions from time to time at the Christmas season.

At the time of her death, my daughters and I suggested memorials to Plymouth Congregational Church of this city, of which my wife and I have been members for over forty years. Out of the amount received, I have requested the Church to forward to you the sum of $25 as a memorial to Mrs. Sanford.

I am enclosing a transcript which Mrs. Sanford made of the letters which she wrote to her parents while she was down there. She often spoke of Mr. William Creech who, as I understand it, was one of the founders of the school, and must have been a very interesting character. I trust you will find this of interest. In any event it is yours for such disposition as you see fit.

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A second short letter from Mr. Sanford arrived on June 3, 1958, accompanied by photographs taken by Catherine Rittenhouse and possibly other staff. He describes the second donation:

I have discovered something else which I am sure will be of interest to you and which I am enclosing herewith — namely, a collection of photographs which Mrs. Sanford took while she was down there in 1914 and which are sufficiently identified on the back so that I believe they will be of interest. As I remember it, Miss Pettit, Miss Read, and Miss de Long were all in charge of the various activities of the school in 1914. It is hard to realize that the children show in these pictures are now middle-aged adults.

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GALLERY

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See Also:
CATHERINE RITTENHOUSE COLLECTION Correspondence
CATHERINE RITTENHOUSE Staff – Biography

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Title	Catherine Rittenhouse Collection – Photographs
Alt. Title	Catherine Rittenhouse Sanford ; Catherine Rittenhouse ;
Identifier	PH: RITTENHOUSE COLLECTION
Creator	Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY
Alt. Creator	L.W. Stanford, Spouse
Subject Keyword	Catherine Rittenhouse ; Catherine Rittenhouse Sanford ; Pine Mountain Settlement School ; education ; Mary Dana ; volunteers ; L.W. Sanford ; Dora Reed Goodale ; Ethel De Long ; Miss R ; Miss L ; Mrs. C.V. Kennedy ; Plymouth Congregational Church ; memorials ; William Creech ; photographs ; donations ; Katherine Pettit ;
Subject LCSH	Sanford, Catherine Rittenhouse, — 1886-1958. Pine Mountain Settlement School (Pine Mountain, Ky.) — History. Harlan County (Ky.) — History. Education — Kentucky — Harlan County. Rural schools — Kentucky — History. Schools — Appalachian Region, Southern.
Date	Digital: 2007-06-26 ; Date of photographs: 1914 ;
Publisher	Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY
Contributor	n/a
Type	Collections ; text ; image ;
Format	Original and copies of photographs, documents, and correspondence in file folders in filing cabinet.
Source	Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Staff ; Photograph Series ;
Language	English
Relation	Is related to: Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections, Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Staff; Photograph Series ;
Coverage Temporal	1914 – 1958
Coverage Spatial	Pine Mountain, KY ; Harlan County, KY ; Minneapolis, MN ;
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	Mr. L.W. Sanford, husband of Catherine Rittenhouse Sanford (1958).
Description	Core documents, correspondence, writing, and photographs of Catherine Rittenhouse, a volunteer worker at Pine Mountain Settlement School for six weeks in 1914.
Acquisition	1958
Citation	Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers, Pine Mountain Settlement School, KY.
Processed By	Helen Hayes Wykle ; Ann Angel Eberhardt ;
Last Updated	2007-07-12 hhw ; 2013-10-13 hhw ; 2014-01-07 aae ; 2023-02-14 aae ;

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