Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: Biography
Series 05: Board of Trustees
Series 10: Built Environment
Mary Rockwell Hook Correspondence 1934
Published 2015-03-25 hw
Updated 2021-09-25 aae

001 January 17, 1934. To “Mrs. Hook” (Mrs. Inghram D. Hook”),  Kansas City, Mo., from Glyn Morris, Director, who describes the School’s need for a new building. “Since we have started our course in Mechanics, and have made a general move towards a more vocational school, we find that there is an increasing need for another building, one particularly to house the mechanics and metal departments, the printing department, and space for chemistry and physics laboratories.” He details the current situation, ideas for the location of the new building, its size, and possible building materials. He asks for Hook’s advice and cost estimate. “We have just received special gifts amounting to $2,000 which might be used to make a start.”

002a-002b January 1934. [002a] Hand-drawn floor plan for the “Industrial Center for Pine Mt. School” with areas for metal, printing mechanics, and pottery, storage, car shed, and open working spaces. “Separate units to be fitted into a plan capable of expansion in both directions.” [002b] Hand-drawn view of side of building, with descriptions.

003a-003g January 26, 1934. Seven-page letter to “Mr. Morris” from “Mary Rockwell Hook.” [003a-c] Relates her ideas concerning location of the building. “The location always makes its own demands about the shape of buildings.” Suggests that she and Morris make several trial sketches. [003d] Hook tells about joining with the federal government’s “projects for putting women to work. I got into it & found it so absorbing that I couldn’t get out.” [003e] Hook also has become the owner of two apartment houses and a farm to repair and rent. She suggests that Morris meet with Mrs. Emily Toll Hopkins, head of the Episcopal School for Girls in Valle Crucis, NC. [003f-g] Hook will send Morris a sketch “just to start a discussion. You may feel you want it all in a big building but I think that is an expensive undertaking & we are much surer to get smaller units.”

004 February 9, 1934. To “Gentlemen” at Mountain Life and Work, Berea, KY, from Morris, requesting a special delivery of the 1933 summer edition.

006 March 24, 1934. To Hook from Morris, who tells her that Board members “are of the opinion that perhaps the Industrial Unit should all be housed under one roof.” Miss (Katherine) Pettit prefers the location to be “on the terrace between the office and the Boys Industrial Building” which Morris feels is preferable to low, damp Sawmill Hollow. The School has received legacies totaling about $4,000, so construction may begin this summer or fall. He describes the current inadequate housing for the print shop, and auto-mechanics. Morris asks Hook to submit plans and describes what is needed.

May – August 1934

005a-005b May 7, (no year, evidently 1934). Two-sided letter to “Mr. Morris” from “Mary R. Hook,” asking about progress on the proposed building. She hopes that Morris is “going to let the boys help build the shops in an informal location.”

007 May 10, 1934. To Hook from Morris, thanking her for her May 7th letter. He thinks that Sawmill Hollow will be selected for the site; needs her plans before beginning.

008 July 2, 1934. To Hook from Morris, who encloses a rough sketch of the building and describes how each floor would be used; asks for her plans.

009 July 16, 1934. To Hook from Morris, who asks Hook if she can recommend someone in the Kansas City area who may take in a “young mountain girl” for six months of a year. He explains the “delicate” situation and why this move is necessary.

010 July 28, 1934. To Hook from (unsigned), thanking her for her $62 contribution to the Zande House furnace. It was installed last winter and “now Zande House may be lived in the whole year through.”

011a-011b July 31, (no year). Two-sided letter to Morris from Hook, who asks for more details about the girl he mentioned in his July 16th letter. She tells of plans to attend the board meeting.

014 August 6, 1934. To Hook from (unsigned, likely Morris). “The girl of whom I wrote you has been placed. Thank you for your efforts on her behalf.”

013 August 30, 1934. PMSS receipt of a $62 check from Mary Rockwell Hook as contribution to the Zande House Furnace Fund.

September – December 1934

012a-012d September 20 (no year). Four-page letter to Morris from Hook. [012a-b] She will be bringing Miss Ruth Hook and Mr. and Mrs. Wilson O’Connell with her when she visits PMSS for the board meeting. [012c-d] Gives details of her travel plans. Invites the trustees, and Mr. and Mrs. Morris to supper at Open House, “so we can sit around together by the fire afterwards.” Asks if she can have food prepared by the Laurel House kitchen or hire girls to cook it at Open House. She will buy food in Corbin.

015 October 8, 1934. To Hook from (unsigned, likely Morris), who asks to meet with her on November 12 in Kansas City. Answers Hook’s questions (via Miss (Dorothy) Bolles) about the size of the auto mechanics shop and the “skinned poles.”

016 October 17, 1934. To Hook from (unsigned, likely Morris), who asks for her opinion about having an eight-week summer camp at PMSS for high school age boys and girls from outside the mountains. He describes how it would be run. The income would be appealing but the drawback is that “our own students would be working for most of the day while the young people from the outside would be carrying on a much more interesting and far less monotonous program….”

017 N.D. A flyer about classes for women and girls “to open up new ways of earning a living…” and to act as a placement bureau. Lists the classes offered. Notation in Hook’s handwriting in top margin: “My new (?) – just (?).”

018a-18d November 19 (no year). Four-page letter to “Mrs. Morris (& Mr. Morris)” from Mary R. Hook, who [018a] lists the three talks Morris gave during his Kansas City visit; encloses clippings from the K.C. Star. She also encloses a $5.00 contribution from Mrs. Margaret Ostertag, interior decorator. [018b] Ostertag had visited PMSS with Hook in 1920; “She started the flower garden on the hill by Laurel House.” Hook suggests putting a date on Aunt Sal’s cabin – possibly 1784. “The 1934 model might go beyond that, tucked up into the trees on the side hill. I w’d like to call it the ‘Lindy Lewis Cottage.’” [018c] “Then the 1944 model (house) can continue beyond as the part of Pole House Hill — 1943 — 1964 — etc. But it must always be built by the students. On Pole House Hill, I think I’d like to put a guest house & have that run by the students in connection with their ‘practice house.’” [018d] Asks whether K.C. friends could be donors for the 1934 model house as a result of Mr. Morris’s visit. “I’d like to have that a K.C. product.” Request eight big trees (skinned) for the cottage, which she then describes.

019a-019b November 21, 1934. To Hook from Barbara Faulkner on PMSS stationery, asking Mr. Morris whether or not Mrs. James A. Read ordered a handwoven coverlet or a blanket. (Hook responds by writing in the margins of the same page.) [019b] Reverse side of letter with brief notation in Hook’s handwriting.

021 November 27, 1934. To Hook from (unsigned, evidently Morris), expressing “gratitude for making my trip to Kansas City such a happy one….” Reports that PMSS received a $2,000 donation from the Annie Longfellow Thorpe estate, which may possibly go toward the new building. Tells about taking “a group of girls to a college in Tennessee to sing folk songs and to dance…..Their experiences and reactions would fill a book.”

022 November 27, 1934. To Hook from (unsigned, likely Morris.) “Copies to Mr. (Darwin D.) Martin and Miss Pettit.” Morris agrees that the moving pictures need to be edited; explains what he’s already done with them. He also wants to add Christmas programs, particularly the Nativity play. Asks about how to handle funds for the model cottage, but needs to build the Industrial building first. Suggests that the girl students in home management might be interested in Hook’s plans.

023 December 11, 1934. To Hook from (unsigned, likely Morris), who asks Hook if he may use the names of her friends for the PMSS mailing list. Miss (Evelyn K.) Wells is writing a letter for old workers. “With a $6000 accounts payable staring us in the face right now, you can see that the matter is very urgent.”

020a-020f N.D. Six pages of a “List of Kansas City, Mo., people invited to meet Mr. Glyn Morris on November 11, 1934.” in Hook’s handwriting.

024 December 11, 1934. To Hook from (unsigned, likely Morris), thanking her for the revised mailing list and $5.00 donation from Mrs. Bertram Rockwell. He has ordered the coverlet from Mrs. Reed.

---