DARWIN D. MARTIN 1932 Correspondence

PineMountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Series 05: GOVERNANCE Board of Trustees
Darwin D. Martin (BOT 1920-1933)

DARWIN D. MARTIN 1932 Correspondence

Darwin D. Martin House, Buffalo, NY. West side view and porte cochere. Jack Boucher – Historic American Buildings Survey HABS NY,15-BUF,5-7 [Wikipedia]

TAGS: Darwin D. Martin 1932 Correspondence, PMSS Board of Trustees, Mary Rockwell Hook, Glyn Morris, printing presses, White Leghorn hens, Oscar Kneller, Bertha Cold, water closets, silo, Katherine Pettit, Alec Day

DARWIN D. MARTIN 1932 CORRESPONDENCE provides images and contents of the 1932 letters to and from Darwin D. Martin, a member of the Board of Trustees at Pine Mountain Settlement School, 1920-1933, and a generous contributor to and consultant for the School. He was an executive of the Larkin Co. in Buffalo, New York.

CONTENTS: Darwin D. Martin 1932 Correspondence

[P1050727] January 12, 1932. Carbon copy of typewritten letter to Mrs. [Mary Rockwell] Hook in Kansas City, MO, from Glyn Morris, PMSS Director. Morris thanks Hook for her 12/27 letter. He tells her that the author of the article he sent to Hook was Bruce Crawford, editor of a gazette and 3 small newspapers around Norton, VA, who was shot at by Sheriff Blair’s man in Harlan Co. and who knows Sherwood Anderson. Martin agrees that a monthly bulletin would be a “fine record of events at the School.” Miss French’s photographs were successful; The School needs to add oranges to the Infirmary diet & asks about donations.

[P1050730] February 3, 1932. Carbon copy of typewritten letter to Martin in Buffalo, NY, from Morris. Morris purchased a small hand printing press from The Kelsey Press & encloses printing samples. “I had a small press when a boy and know a little bit about it and am trying to teach three of the boys here as a beginning in our course in printing.” Morris gives examples of the lower costs of using the press.

[P1050734] May 13, 1932. Carbon copy of typewritten letter to Martin from [undesignated]. Although Miss Pettit disagrees, Morris prefers White Leghorn hens instead of Rhode Island Reds and states his reasons.

[P1050733] July 4, 1932. Carbon copy of typewritten letter to Martin from [undesignated]. Has returned from vacation at Tom’s River; Dr. Lehman, the secretary, was operated on for appendicitis by Dr. [Kenneth N.] Gould; asks Martin’s opinion of purchasing used laundry equipment and provides the price and terms. Praises the work of [Oscar] Kneller, the farmer, and that of Miss [Bertha] Cold, the Dietician’s storage of butter and eggs.

[P1050732] August 9, 1932. Typewritten letter to Morris from Martin. Martin requests a copy of the payroll and an “estimate of water consumption per capita to be for water closets.” Encourages Morris to see Miss Pettit.

[P1050735 & P1050736] August 17, 1932, pages 1 & 2. Typewritten letter to Morris from Martin. Martin quotes from Mr. Manning’s letter of August 15, giving reluctant approval to Morris’s wish to build a silo. Although against Miss Pettit’s opinion, Martin feels “warranted in confirming my offer… to underwrite one-half of any loss incurred by the silo this year.” Martin also addresses Morris’s proposal to obtain a Model T Ford engine to operate the ensilage cutter. “Whatever the outcome, the cost will be justified in making history for our school…If the silo is a success, it is going to mean a great deal to the mountains….” Martin hopes that Morris’s interview with Pettit on their behalf will “convert her.”

[P1050731] August 17, 1932. Typewritten letter to Morris from Martin. Martin writes “The indoor water closets are entirely a question by themselves. Suffer privies to be so now.” He suggests this as a topic for 1933 Board Meeting. “Meanwhile, to make the – Kentucky of North Carolina type – privy equal to the requirements of your community is a task worthy of your steel.” Dr. Gould, the Board, Advisors and all visitors are in agreement with Morris, “but there is an awful lot to be said against them. Does any mountain school have them? Can you line up Dr. Worthington on your side?” (Copy to Miss Pettit, Miss Hench, Mrs. Holton, Mr. Manning.)

[P1050728 & P1050729] December 10, 1932, pages 1 & 2. Handwritten letter to Morris from Hook. Hook requests a bill for the four hearth brooms sent to her; encloses check for the brooms and suggests that Morris buy oranges, lemons or grapefruit with the extra money. “Was sad to hear of the death of Alec Day.”