GOVERNANCE Directors Annual Reports to BOT 1939

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 05: GOVERNANCE – BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Series 07: DIRECTORS

Director’s Annual Report to BOT 1939
Glyn Morris, PMSS Director, 1931-1942

GOVERNANCE 1939 Director's Reports and Letters to BOT

Laurel House I, showing roof-line. [mccullough_II_067a]

GOVERNANCE Director’s Annual Reports to BOT 1939

From Glyn Morris to the PMSS Board of Trustees, October 21, 1939


TAGS: Governance, director’s annual reports to BOT 1939, Glyn Morris, Katherine Pettit memorial, gifts, Mary Rockwell Hook, guest house suggestions, Dorothy Elsmith, Youth Guidance Institute, State Employment Service, Junior Placement Service, camp for underprivileged children, medical clinics, Infirmary, new staff, Fair Day, ‘The Pink Ribbon’ play, foodways 


[NOTE: Trustees’ letters and reports that are not an official part of the Annual Reports may be found on pages for the individual trustees’ correspondence.]

CONTENTS: GOVERNANCE Director’s Annual Report to BOT 1939

[001] October 21, 1939. To the Board of Trustees of the Pine Mountain Settlement School from Glyn Morris, Director. Report since the annual Board meeting held at PMSS last April 8th. On October 1, the Chapel service was dedicated to Miss Katherine Pettit,  and marked the formal recognition of the tablet placed there in her memory by the Board of Trustees. Laurel House fire exits from sleeping porches have been improved. The Stage, in memory of Capt. William Cooper McKemy, has been completed, funded by Dr. Edgar Dawson.

[002] Page 2. The Board has previously discussed the need for a guest house and “safer living quarters for the girls now living in Laurel House.” Mrs. [Mary Rockwell] Hook circulated a letter to the Board, suggesting a building program that included changing Open House into a temporary guest house. Morris quotes from Mrs. [Dorothy Olcott] Elsmith’s letter, announcing her gift of $5,000 annually for two years to PMSS to remodel…

[003] Page 3. …Big Log into a guest house. Elsmith expressed a “major need” for a girls’ fireproof dormitory; the “guest house is of secondary importance and an unjustifiable project for any general appeal.” Morris encloses the “Findings of the Youth Guidance Institute” held at PMSS in August.

[004] Page 4. Morris was pleased with the cooperation between local people and “outsiders” at the Institute; and indicates the helpfulness of the Institute.

[005] Page 5. “Harlan leaders have made application to the State Employment Service for a Junior Consultation and Placement Service….” Visitors included a camp for under-privileged children; 5-day conference of 50 young people under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church. Morris gives the 1938 and 1939 statistics for the medical work at PMSS, including bed days at the Infirmary, office calls, home calls, maternity cases, dental clinics, smallpox vaccinations, diphtheria and typhoid shots, physical exams, and total attendance at clinics (1,651).

[006] Page 6. The medical statistics indicate “a considerable increase in the service rendered Pine Mountain” through Dr. Wilmer S. Lehman. He succeeded Dr. Howard H. Ingling a year ago. Morris describes the doctor’s clinics, and his work building up the Health Association to 210 paid members.

[007] Page 7. Morris describes the backgrounds of new staff: Mr. and Mrs. Carl Areson (mechanics and housemother), Mr. Bradford Newcomb (English, music), Miss Vera Hackman (Laurel House, English, dramatics), Mrs. Elizabeth Lyman (office procedure, personal finance, Miss [Grace] Rood’s assistant with community work).

Elsmith’s Fair Day Narrative

[008] Page 8. Mrs. Elsmith, a board member, visited and helped with Community Day (Fair Day). She wrote the following account of the event.
[009] Page 9. Mrs. Elsmith’s Fair Day narrative. Preparations, attendees, displays, dancing (Durham Reel and Circassian Circle);
[010] Page 10. Mrs. Elsmith’s Fair Day narrative, continued. Ballad-singing by Abner Boggs, “Singing” Willie Nolan, and children. The play, “The Pink Ribbon,” was performed. sheep- and hog-calling (led by Old Aunt Till, joined by four-year-old Barbara Wilder);
[011] Page 11. Mrs. Elsmith’s Fair Day narrative, continued. She tells of people she talked with; the five-cent lunch; open buildings. “…Harlan County had no county fair….stock like this has never been collected and exhibited before. It was another instance of Pine Mountain’s leadership in the community.” Evening dinner and folk dancing for 200 neighboring school children in Laurel House;
[012] Page 12, and [013] Page 13. Mrs. Elsmith’s Fair Day narrative, continued. She ends by quoting from the ballad, “Heigh ho! Come to the fair,” sung under the leadership of Mr. Newcomb. Morris writes, “Because we are seeking to take a larger part in the life of Harlan County, we are glad for any indication of what Pine Mountain means to County citizens.” He gives other examples of the School’s effects on the community.

GALLERY: Director’s Annual Report to BOT 1939 (13 pages)


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See Also:
DIRECTORS Guide
– Chronological Listing
FARM 1939 COMMUNITY Fair Day

GOVERNANCE

GOVERNANCE BOT Alphabetical Guide 1913 to Present
GOVERNANCE BOT Chronological Guide 1913 to Present