HELEN KINGSBURY Correspondence

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Staff
Helen Kingsbury, PMSS Teacher, 1943-1947
Correspondence, 1942-1961

Helen Kingsbury, c. 1942. [kingsbury_h_029.jpg]

TAGS: Helen Kingsbury correspondence, Helen Kingsbury, Pine Mountain Settlement School, Massachusetts State College, Framingham State Teachers’ College, Parsonsfield Seminary, Anna A. Kloss, Fitchburg State Teachers’ College, home economics, Western Union telegrams, teaching contracts, William D. Webb, Burton Rogers, donation

HELEN KINGSBURY Correspondence, 1942-1961

[Note: Letters from PMSS staff in the PMSS Collections are carbon copies, typewritten, unsigned, and meant for the Office files. The original signed documents were sent to the correspondents. All letters from Helen Kingsbury are handwritten originals. The following list of contents is in chronological order and not necessarily in the order of the image numbers.]

1942 Application for PMSS Employment

001 August 4, 1942. Application for PMSS employment, page 1.
Helen Kingsbury…Sterling, Massachusetts
BORN: September 29, 1915
EDUCATION: North High School, Worcester, MA. Graduated 1933.
Mass. State College, Amherst, MA, Graduated 1938; B.S. Degree in Home Economics
Framingham State Teachers’ College 1939-40. Methods of Teaching.
Vocational Summer School, Fitchburg State Teachers’ College, Fitchburg, MA, 1941, 1942.EMPLOYMENT: Parsonsfield Seminary, Kagan Falls, ME – Teacher of Home Economics, Gen. Science, Jr. Business Training. March – June 1942
….
How did you become interested in Pine Mountain?
Miss Anna Kloss, Director of Women’s Division, Vocational Summer School, Fitchburg [MA] Teachers’ College, … suggested that I write for details of this particular position.

What line of work at Pine Mountain interests you? Teaching serving and cooking in classrooms….

What has been your training and experience for this particular work? My study at Massachusetts State College…and at Framingham Teachers’ College…; my experience at Parsonsfield Seminary….

State your experience with rural life. I have always lived on a diary farm in New England, like the out-of-doors; would enjoy meeting people from a different section of rural America.

001a August 4, 1942. Application for PMSS employment, page 2.
INTERESTS: Handicrafts; Have made articles for my own use, yarn stitchery, knitting, patchwork, rug braiding & hooking, refinishing furniture.

State briefly how you became interested in Pine Mountain and why you wish to become a member of the staff. Miss Kloss interested me in the work, and I think a year or two at Pine Mountain would be a valuable piece of experience — although I am chiefly interested in public school teaching.
….
Application ends with a list of three references.

003 NO IMAGE

004-004a July 23, 1942. Two-page typewritten letter to Arthur W. Dodd, PMSS Acting Director, from Helen Kingsbury in Sterling, MA. She introduces herself, telling how she heard of the Home Economics position at PMSS; her age and life on a farm; clubs she belonged to and her church; her interest in handicrafts and canning and cooking for her family; summer work; education; and teaching experience. She encloses a photo of herself taken in 1940; will send more recent ones.

005 July 23, 1942. To Dodd, from Anna A. Kloss, Supervisor, Household Arts, Massachusetts Department of Education, Boston, MA, who has asked Kingsbury to apply for the PMSS position. She describes Kingsbury qualifications; “[W]e can think of no other person who would have the desire and as much ability to undertake the work at Pine Mountain.” Kloss is sending a copy of this letter to Evelyn K. Wells, her friend, who has informed Kloss about the position.

008 July 27, 1942. To Kingsbury from [unsigned, apparently Dodd], Acting Director, acknowledging her July 23rd letter and enclosing a formal application blank. The school can “offer a salary of $70.00 per month, and maintenance…” He is sending Kingsbury additional information about the school.

007 July 29, 1942. To Dodd from Marion Alger, Secretary, Placement Service, Massachusetts State College, Amherst. In answer to Dodd’s telegram, she encloses a personal data sheet for Kingsbury [see 002] and list of her courses [002a]

002 N.D. Personal data sheet for Helen Kingsbury from the Massachusetts State College Placement Office, Amherst, Mass.
Degree; B.S., June 1938 in Home Economics.
Major Interests: Clothing Construction Work
Present Address; Sterling, Mass. ….
Personal Data*: … Pleasant, courteous, conscientious, reliable. … Has excellent mind, is [a] good thinker, has analytical type of mind and organizes material well. …. *This personal data is compiled from statements of faculty and employers who have first-hand knowledge of this young woman.
….
Working Experience After Graduation: Summer of 1938: Taught sewing at Sleighton Farm School for Girls, Darling, Pa. Fall of 1938: Dressmaking business of own, Sterling, Mass.

002a [On reverse side of 022.] A list of courses that Kingsbury had taken at Massachusetts State College, with credits.

011 July 31, 1942. Western Union telegram to Dodd from Kingsbury: “Still actively interested in position….”

009 August 1, 1942. Western Union telegram to Alice Cobb from Kingsbury, expressing her interest in the Home Economics teaching position.

010 August 3, 1942. Carbon copy of a Western Union telegram to Kingsbury from Dodd. “Am recommending your appointment today to Personnel Committee of Board.”

012 N.D. Carbon copy of a Western Union telegram to Kingsbury from Dodd: “We are favoring your application above others awaiting arrival references…..”

018 N.D. Handwritten note to William D. Webb from Cobb, who was informed by Evelyn Wells that Kingsbury’s appointment has been approved.

013 August 7, 1942. To Dodd from Kingsbury: “Will accept position at salary named.”

014 August 11, 1942. To Kingsbury from [unsigned], who is writing for Webb, who is replacing Dodd as acting director “during Mr. [Glyn] Morris’s absence for the duration of the war.” Kingsbury is then welcomed to the PMSS staff and is given clothing and travel suggestions.

1942-1943 At Pine Mountain

015 September 11, 1942. A contract between Kingsbury and PMSS from Webb, Acting Director, and signed by Kingsbury and Evelyn K. Wells, Chairman of Personnel Committee. It describes her position, salary, lodging, vacation, and weekends; for the school year September 1, 1942, through May 31, 1943. [Handwritten edits change the years to 1943 and 1944.]

016 April 16, 1943. A contract between Kingsbury and PMSS, covering the school year September 1, 1943, through May 31, 1944. Salary was increased from $70 to $75.00; her room was moved from West Wind to Far House.

1948 After Pine Mountain

017 January 20, 1948, To the Office of the Clerk, PMSS, from Kingsbury at Irvington House, Irvington on the Hudson, NY, asking to be sent “the statement covering Withholding Tax for Income Tax return” during her employment at PMSS from January 1 to May 24, 1947.

1951

019-019a April 24, 1951. Two-page letter to Burton Rogers, Director, from Kingsbury in Sterling, MA. “Perhaps you remember that I was teacher of Home economics at Pine Mountain settlement School when you were Student Counselor.” She asks if Rogers or Dodd could write a reference about her PMSS work so that she can return to teaching.

020 May 7, 1951. To Kingsbury from Rogers, enclosing the statement about her PMSS work. He suggests asking Dodd for one as well, and provides Dodd’s address in Ganado, AZ. Mentions Fern Hayes.

021 May 7, 1951. “To Whom It May Concern:” from Rogers, stating that:

Miss Helen Kingsbury was instructor in Home Economics at the High School of the Pine Mountain Settlement School, Inc., from September 1943 until June 1947.

Miss Kingsbury was a teacher who combined originality and imagination with patient hard work. She was completely devoted to her work and to her students, not sparing herself in this attachment to duty. She was a helpful member of the staff in every way.

I am pleased to recommend Miss Kingsbury strongly in her chosen field of teaching.

1956

022-022a June 16, 1956. Two-page letter to Rogers from Kingsbury at Worcester (MA) State Hospital, writing about her health issues. She asks if she can return to a position at Pine Mountain.

023 June 26, 1956. To Kingsbury from Dorothy Nace Tharpe in Worcester, MA, responding to her June 16 letter in Rogers’ absence. Tharpe writes that “we do not have any opening which would be of interest to you now and I can’t tell anything at all about next year this far ahead.” She then writes about Pine Mountain, mentioning Ruby Lanier, her vacation plans, and family.

024 July 20, 1956. To Kingsbury from Rogers, telling her that “Dorothy Tharpe was able to give you the answer which unfortunately had to be given…since we do not have any salary to employ teacher for special subjects.” He explains the new recreational-vocational program at PMSS.
He then updates her on PMSS staff, mentioning Miss Rood, Brit Wilder, the Hayes family.

1961

025-025a October 16, 1961. Note on a notecard to Rogers from Kingsbury, explaining that she has a hobby of renovating old clothes into children’s clothing and wishes to send some to PMSS.

026-026a October 20, 1961. Two-page letter to Kingsbury from Rogers. “Mary and I are so happy to hear from you again. All of our former associates are very keen in our memory, and we have wondered a great deal about those from whom we have not heard in recent years.”

Rogers commends Kingsbury on her hobby and describes the School’s policy for handling donated clothing. The School currently has 225 students in the first ten grades, and there are hardship cases among them. These children are assisted by the School in a discrete manner. Some gifts of clothing are sent to a neighboring mission and other sources. He welcomes her reconstructed articles and will see that they are “given special attention.” He updates her on “improvements in health and well-being” of the students, due to the cooperation between PMSS and the Harlan County School system. He encloses copies of his newsletter; tells her about his sons, wife, and health issues.

027-027a October 27, 1961. Note on a notecard to Rogers from Kingsbury in Sterling, MA. As a result of a small legacy from an aunt, she encloses a money order for the School’s ongoing work.

028 November 4, 1961. To Kingsbury from [truncated, apparently Rogers], thanking her for her “generous contribution” and hoping she will visit PMSS someday. He mentions Mr. and Mrs. [H.R.S.] Benjamin; Bill and Fern Hayes and children; Mrs. [Alice Joy] Keith; Miss [Edith] Cold; death of Henry Creech; Brit and Ella Wilder.