Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Staff, Students
Boone Callahan Correspondence
1928-1936 (Part I) 
Images 01 through 29

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TAGS: Boone Callahan, correspondence, Berea College, Katherine Pettit, Bradley Polytechnic Institute, Peoria IL, Laurel House bell, frame for memorial photograph of Mrs. Zande, Evelyn K. Wells, Angela Melville, teaching contract, postcard, Mrs. Boone Callahan, Glyn Morris

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BOONE CALLAHAN CORRESPONDENCE 1928-1936 Part I

Student, 1920s; PMSS Maintenance Man & Teacher, 1927-1943

CONTENTS: 1928

[Note: All letters from PMSS staff are carbon copies, typewritten, unsigned and meant for the Office files. All other letters are handwritten. The following list of contents is in chronological order and not necessarily in order of the image numbers.]

(1) January 12, 1928. To “Boone” in Berea, KY, from KP (Katherine Pettit) Responding to Boone’s letter, she is “glad to have my old friend Eliza Fields’ boy. … I knew his aunt Eliza when she was a little girl.” Mentions Boone’s attending a polytechnic school and ask him to “bring Ninnie and the children to see us.”

(2) March 26, 1928.To Boone at Berea College from KP, who sends him literature; enjoyed his visit. Writes about the bell for the dining room that the School is buying with Boone’s donation. “We wrote to Mrs. [Mary Rockwell] Hook in Kansas City asking her to select one for us and she has just sent us a most beautiful old bell that she brought from Italy some years ago. It is from the town of Assizi (sic) and is two or three hundred years old. …”

(3) July 17, 1928. To Boone from EKW (Evelyn K. Wells), who asks Boone if he would make a frame for Mrs. [Ethel de Long] Zande’s photograph, as a memorial to her by the “M.G.A. girls.” Zande describes how it should be made.

(4) (5) (6) July 22, 1928. Three-page letter to Miss Wells from Boone. (4) Agrees to make a walnut frame for a photograph of Mrs. Zande for Library. (5) Advises against adding an inlay if she wants simplicity; describes his “idea of the proper frame.” (6) Asks for the photograph; will “make the frame as a contribution to the memorial.”

(7) July 25, 1928. To Boone from [unsigned, likely Wells]. Who is “delighted” that Boone will make the frame; she will tell Mr. [Luigi] Zande when she visits him in Wilmington. Gives reasons for wanting basswood. Dillard Metcalf to make frame for photograph of Ethel for Zande House following her death.

GALLERY: 1928

CONTENTS: 1929-1930

(8) December 2, 1929. To Boone from AM [Angela Melville], who asks Boone and his wife to come to PMSS “at once.” Sends a check for expenses and gives travel advice.

(9) June 20, 1930, To Registrar, Bradley Polytechnic Institute in Peoria, IL, from HH [Hubert Hadley, Director]. Requests Boone’s transcript and that of Berea College if they have it.

(83) July 2, 1930. To Anna Jewett Lefevre, Registrar, Bradley Polytechnic Institute, Peoria, IL from HH [Hubert Hadley, PMSS Director]. Concerning the service fee sent to Callahan of $1 which the registrar requests for the transcript, HH explains that it is needed for PMSS’s employee files for Callahan.

(82) July 10, 1930. Transcript from Office of the Registrar, Bradley Polytechnic Institute, Peoria, IL, certifying credits gained by Mr. Boone Callahan during the year 1928-29. Accepted a total of 17 units at PMSS High School for three years and Berea Academy of one year. Shows College subjects, total of 33 semester hours and grades.

(79) July 10, 1930. To Mr. Hubert Hadley, PMSS, Pine Mountain, KY, “at his own request” from Anna Jewett Lefevre, Registrar. Page 2 of a Berea College transcript for Mr. Callahan for Summer 1927. “Advanced Standing; Berea College, 1926-27; 1927-28.” Lists each class and its semester hours, totaling 68.

(80) July 25, 1930. Statement of Credits for Boone Callahan’s subjects and units earned from September 1926 to June 1928, showing entrance credits from Berea Academy (subjects, 17 total units) and Berea College Credits (subjects, 72 total semester hours, grades). 

(81) Reverse side of Statement of Credits (80), showing Marking System, Explanation of Credits and Discipline.

GALLERY: 1929-1930 

CONTENTS: 1931

(10) June 1, 1931. Contract for Boone C. Callahan, signed by Evelyn K. Wells & Boone. Boone is engaged by PMSS “as teacher of manual training, in charge of repairs and upkeep of buildings, power plant, etc., at a salary of $100.00 a month, living for himself and wife, and a month’s vacation in every twelve months with pay. (Laundry $1.00 a month apiece.) … He expects to give his summers to study for his degree.” He will begin work after summer school.

(14) Front side of postcard with color drawing of Bradley Polytechnic Institute, Peoria, ILL. (15) July 2, 1931. Postcard To Mr. Morris from B.C. Callahan in Peoria, IL, welcoming him and his wife to PMSS; will arrive after July 24 when the term ends.

(13) July 10, 1931. To Boone in Peoria, IL, from GAM, Director, who thanks Boone for his postcard from the institute; mentions Boone’s arrival on July 24.

(11) June 13, 1931. To Mrs. Boone Callahan in Cornelius, KY, from IA [Miss I. Aimes], Secretary, who is forwarding Boone’s mail to her, since she doesn’t have a mailing address for Boone. Norma Lewis and Lucy Schroeder came to PMSS to take Nellie back with them for the weekend.

(12) June 17, 1931. To Mr. Callahan in Cornelius, KY, from IA [Miss I. Aimes], Secretary, who is forwarding a letter to Miss Wells from Gordon Atkins and the secretary’s reply, a copy of which is enclosed. Mr. and Mrs. Glyn Morris have arrived. Mentions Mrs. Malcolm Wells and Miss Conn.

(16) October 2, 1931. To Mr. Callahan from Glyn Morris, who asks him to excuse Reid Johnson who came in late last night after “going over the mountain with the doctor.”

(17) October 2, 1931. To Mr. Callahan from Glyn Morris, who asks him to send the following to his office: Reid Johnson, Charles Vaughn and Arthur Sullivan.

GALLERY: 1931 

CONTENTS: 1932

callahan_b__002, callahan_b__003 April 25, 1932. Letter to Mr. T.J. Conner from Boone: The second radiator section for the heating plan that Conner sold the School is also broken. Requests another replacement.

(18) June 15, 1932. [No salutation]. Note listing “Jobs done since 6-15-1932.”
(19) June 15, 1932. [Unsigned]. Note listing “Jobs, (continued).”

(20) July 1, 1932. Contract (on PMSS letterhead) for Boone C. Callahan, [unsigned]. Boone is engaged by PMSS “as teacher of Manual Training, in charge of repairs and upkeep of buildings, power plant, etc., at a salary of $100.00 a month, living for himself and wife and baby, and a month’s vacation in every twelve months with pay. (Laundry $1.00 a month apiece.) 

callahan_b__001 DUPLICATE OF (20)

callahan_b__004 [n.d.] Printed form with handwritten signature. Total Abstinence Pledge from alcoholic drinks, tobacco, and profanity; signed by “Boone Callahan.“

GALLERY: 1933

CONTENTS: 1934 – 1935

(22) September 1, 1934. Two-sided note to Mrs. Morris from Mrs. Callahan, who asks, “For what reason are we being charged for supplies for Old Log?” She describes the items she pays for herself. (23) Notation on reverse side in different handwriting: “Spoke to Mrs. C. Sat. …Sept. 1 re: contents of this letter.”

(21) August 30, 1935. Memorandum from Glyn A. Morris (“Callahan” is handwritten on top left of page.) Morris confirms in the memo that, since Mr. Callahan’s jig saw is in use “constantly for school work,” that the school should buy it. However, Callahan “strongly insisted that he keep this machine and the school not pay him for it.” 

(24) October 2, 1935. Two-page letter to Mr. Morris from Mrs. Callahan, who writes, “We owe the school some and I wonder if you would let me do something to pay our debt. Mr. Callahan hasn’t been well and it worries him so to owe anyone.” (25) “Please do not mention this to Mr. Callahan till you have seen me.” 

GALLERY: 1934-1935 

CONTENTS: 1936

(26) January 28, 1936. Copy of Memorandum on PMSS letterhead, [unsigned], announcing that the nightwatchman’s schedule is to be changed so that he can “clean and fire up well the furnaces” in several buildings. 

(27) January 28 1936. To Mr. Callahan from Morris. “I want to talk to you about this, but just as a matter of record I am having these memoranda made.”

(28) February 8, 1936. To Mrs. Callahan from [unsigned], telling her that the school is under quarantine due to an epidemic of Spinal Meningitis in Harlan County.

(29) February 8, 1936.To Mr. Morris from Mrs. Callahan, who appreciates the warning and asks if her two children should have shots.

GALLERY: 1936

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NEXT: 
BOONE CALLAHAN Correspondence II (1936-1941)
BOONE CALLAHAN Correspondence III (1941-1954)

See Also:
BOONE CALLAHAN Student Staff – Biography

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