Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Staff
Olive Coolidge, Nurse Assistant, 1941-1942
Olive Coolidge [1920-2008]
Olive Coolidge, c.1941. [coolidge_edited image00142-1.jpg]
TAGS: Olive Coolidge, Grace M. Rood, nurse assistant, Pine Mountain Settlement School worker, 1941-1942, Infirmary, Hill House, health care at PMSS, Wellesley College, letter of application for a PMSS position, sociology students, Robert Butman, Marcia Butman, Richard Coolidge, Olive Dame Campbell, John C. Campbell Folk School, publicity training, secretarial training, environmental awareness, Nantucket, MA,
OLIVE COOLIDGE Staff
Nurse Assistant September 1941- February 1942
Olive Coolidge had just graduated from Wellesley College in Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Arts degree and was looking for an interesting position. Her aunt, Olive Dame Campbell nudged her toward Pine Mountain Settlement School in Harlan County , Kentucky. With some trepidation, she wrote a letter of application to PMSS Director Glyn Morris, dated June 22, 1941. In college her studies in sociology and publicity work had already prepared her for work as student head of the Wellesley College Press Board, which managed most of the Wellesley news releases, and at the Boston Herald where she was charged with processing college correspondence. She had also worked with children while in charge of sailing at a camp in Hawley, Pennsylvania, for two summers. She mailed her appplication for the Pine Mountain Settlement School worker position and waited.
As a relative of Olive Dame Campbell, the wife of John C, Campbell the founder of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina, Olive Coolidge was familiar with the Southern Appalachian region through studies and visits with her great-aunt and uncle, the Campbells. Olive Dame Campbell (Mrs. John C. Campbell), for whom Olive was named, and Miss Helen Dingman, a teacher at Berea College and in Harlan County for a brief time, were often found in the circle of Appalachian advocates. Both women were well-known for their pioneering work to professionalize social service in Appalachia and particularly in eastern Kentucky. Olive Dame Campbell, also was a close correspondent with Glyn Morris, and she introduced her grand niece Olive Coolidge, to Morris and wrote her reference for consideration of Olive for the job opening that Pine Mountain Settlement School had recently circulated.
in 1925, Mrs. Campbell, the founder of the John C. Campbell Folk School , was focused on improving the quality of life of the mountain people and preserving their health and well-being and their craft heritage in Appalachia. She had been a voice for the Appalachian region for many years. When her husband, John C. Campbell suddenly died of a heart attack, following their journey to Denmark to study the “Folk School” ethos, Olive Dame remembered that trip and her husband’s enthusiasm for an American Folk School in Appalachia. Olive Dame Campbell borrowed a Pine Mountain worker, Marguerite Butler, to accompany her to Denmark to study again at the leading Danish FolK School center. Over 95 years later, the John C. Campbell Folk School, located in Brasstown, North Carolina, continues its mission of “transforming lives through living and learning together, ” a vision similar to that of Pine Mountain. While based on two different settlement models, the two schools are remarkably similar and share many foundational values. It is not surprising, as many foundational influences came via Marguerite Butler who began her career at Pine Mountain in its earliest years and then assisted Olive Dame Campbell in the founding of the John C. Campbell Folk School. She then stayed on at Brasstown, NC following her marriage to the School’s Danish farmer George Bidstrup.
JOB PROSPECTS AND DUTIES
Olive Coolidge’s publicity experience certainly caught the eye of Pine Mountain’s Director, Glyn Morris’s as he foresaw a probable need for an enlarged publicity program at the School and Olive Coolidge looked promising. He was also familiar with the remarkable work of Olive’s aunt at John C. Campbell Folk School and the need to retain a sound working relationship with similar progressive schools. Further, Morris was contemplating joining the war effort as a Chaplin and, in fact, departed in early 1942 to join the war.
Olive Coolidge’s studies and experiences did not exactly match the current position that Pine Mountain needed so desperately to fill, that of an assistant to Grace Rood, a nurse in the School’s Infirmary, but she brought other talents. However, as the School had increased its services to the community, Rood’s workload had become difficult for one person to manage and that was where Olive first landed, as assistant to Nurse Rood, when she was approved to come to the School. [See, especially, the short stories written by the PMSS nurse Grace M. Rood, late in her life.] The School did not have the money to hire a second trained nurse but did have enough to hire an assistant at $25 a month. Morris encouraged Olive’s application, assuring her that the work would be interesting and “of benefit not only to our school and the community but…would give you excellent experience” and also held out the possibility of working with publicity.
The “Work Analysis for Untrained Work at Hospital,” a synopsis of the copy sent to Coolidge, describes the position as follows:
AIM: To help in simple nursing procedures so that the nurse may have more time for teaching. To help also with bookkeeping, ordering of supplies, mending, etc. To relieve at the hospital in the absence of the nurse in order to supervise the students and to have a person present with mature judgment, who will give confidence to any patient. …
NURSING PROCEDURES: If work has not had the Red Cross course in Nurse Aide, every effort will be made to give her as much knowledge as the student workers have. This includes bed-making, bed baths, simple treatments, assistance at deliveries, helping with accident cases.
General Housework – This is usuallly all taken care of during the work period in the morning, but the worker must be willing in the case of an emergency to pitch in and wash clothes, dishes, etc.
Supplies – This includes the ordering of weekley supplies as soaps, etc. , caring for the linens, checking on their condition, mending, or supervising the mending.
Bookkeeping – Keeping up the routine daily and weekly bills and etc.
If time and interest permit, worker may attend some of the doctor’s clinics.
Besides the regular routine duties, there are many things of interest which a person may do, from making studies of medical work in the mountains to simpler studies of family life. There are many opportunities for learning about people, how the people in the mountains are born, live and die.
[See: 173 Olive Coolidge Correspondence. [image00173-scaled.jpg]
RECOMMENDATIONS
All of Olive’s references described her in highly favorable terms. A former supervisor wrote to Morris: “She is a splendid person with a healthy social conscience and an extraordinary interest in people.” Another wrote, “Alive to new ideas, situations and points of view.” Also, “I found her cooperative, full of zest for the task at hand and a good leader… [and] worked easily with people older than she.” Her Aunt Olive Dame Campbell also wrote of her fondness for her niece and praised Olive’s abilities and training in her letter of recommendation.
After a review of Olive’s application, references’ responses and credentials, Morris and the School’s trustees agreed that Olive would be able to handle the job. According to an official memorandum, she was hired “for the school year of 1941-1942 as an assistant to the school nurse {Grace M. Rood] at $25 a month plus maintenance and laundry. She was entitled to two weeks’ vacation with pay during the Christmas holidays.”
OLIVE COOLIDGE At Pine Mountain
Although working full-time as a nurse’s helper, Olive found time to serve on the staff of The Pine Cone, a school and community newsletter published monthly by PMSS students. Working on publicity for The Pine Cone, she was able to draw upon her previous studies and experiences in publishing and publicity.
Olive’s letters and notes to Morris during her employment indicate that she was dedicated to helping Miss Rood and was concerned when she (Olive) had to end her position earlier than planned. Grace Rood, a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, had extensive experience and a very long tenure at Pine Mountain. She was instrumental in steering many students into nursing careers and inspiring them with her work ethic. A look at Grace Rood Stories that graphically describes Rood’s work and time at Pine Mountain gives some sense of her amazing impact on the lives of the people in the community and at the School … and on Olive.
Olive stayed much longer than she first expected but while visiting her family on her Christmas vacation in 1941, Olive wrote to Morris on January 6, 1942, that she had contracted the “grippe” and was not able to return to Pine Mountain until February. At that time she also wrote, “I do not feel I can stay through to June at Pine Mountain. I do plan to be married earlier and so would like to be here for most of the spring.” … but, as she indicated she left before the June date for a more important one … Robert Butman, her future husband.
The correspondence with Robert Butman and Olive’s family makes up a large portion of her record. Her grand-niece, Marcia Butman, has generously shared digital copies of this intimate portrait of Olive Coolidge. It is largely a correspondence of two sweethearts as they struggled with the emotional rollercoaster of love and planning for careers and marriage in a world that was marching rapidly toward WWII. The letters graphically capture the early 1940’s.
OLIVE COOLIDGE BUTMAN After Pine Mountain
On August 28, 1942, Olive married Robert Butman, whom she had known since third grade. They had three children: a daughter, Marcia Butman, a teacher and writer, and two sons, Dr. Bradford Butman, an environmental scientist, and John Butman, a creative director in the performing arts and owner of Butman Co., Boston. .
In 1968, Olive earned her master’s degree in education from Tufts University, Medford, MA. She joined the Littleton (MA) Public School system as a guidance counselor, and, from 1968 to 1984, helped students and supported teachers at the Shaker Lane Elementary School in Littleton.
Her obituary describes her as a “lifelong summer resident of Nantucket…and ardent conservationist.” As a lover of the outdoors, she enjoyed ice skating on the Concord’s rivers, skiing at Pukatasset and sailing, hiking and camping with family and friends. Her ability to “bring people together around family, political and social causes” was considered exceptional.
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Olive Dame Coolidge, known since childhood as “Oggy” and as “Coolly” by her PMSS co-workers, was born on January 26, 1920, in Medford, Massachusetts, joining her only sibling, William Bradford Coolidge, who was born four years earlier. Her parents were Ruth Dame Coolidge and Richard Bradford Coolidge, a lawyer, who traced his family line to William Bradford, long-serving governor of the Plymouth colony.
After a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease, Olive Coolidge died on May 23, 2008, in Lexington, MA, at the age of 88.
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Title |
Olive Coolidge |
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Alt. Title |
Olive D. Coolidge ; Olive Dame Coolidge ; Mrs.Olive Dame Coolidge Butman ; Mrs. Robert Butman ; Olive “Oggy” Coolidge ; Olive “Coolly” Collidge ; |
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Identifier |
https://pinemountainsettlement.net/?page_id=71551 |
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Creator |
Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY |
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Alt. Creator |
Ann Angel Eberhardt ; Helen Hayes Wykle ; |
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Subject Keyword |
Olive D. Coolidge ; Olive Dame Coolidge ; Mrs.Olive Dame Coolidge Butman ; Mrs. Robert Butman ; Olive “Oggy” Coolidge ; Pine Mountain Settlement School ; Olive Dame Campbell ; John C. Campbell Folk Schoo ; Helen Dingman ; Grace Rood ; nurses ; Infirmary ; The Pine Cone ; publicity ; grippe ; |
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Subject LCSH |
Coolidge, Olive Dame, — January 26, 1920 – May 23, 2008. |
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Date |
2020-06-29 aae ; 2024-02-10 hhw ; 2024-02-24 hhw ; |
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Publisher |
Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY |
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Contributor |
n/a |
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Type |
Collections ; text ; image ; |
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Format |
Original and copies of documents and correspondence in file folders in filing cabinet |
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Source |
Series 09: Biography – Staff/Personnel |
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Language |
English |
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Relation |
Is related to: Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections, Series 09: Biography – Staff/Personnel. |
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Coverage Temporal |
1920 – 2008 |
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Coverage Spatial |
Pine Mountain, KY ; Harlan County, KY ; Medford, MA ; Nantucket, MA ; Brasstown, NC ; Lexington, MA ; Littleton, MA ; Berea, KY ; |
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Rights |
Any display, publication, or public use must credit the Pine Mountain Settlement School. Copyright retained by the creators of certain items in the collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. |
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Donor |
n/a |
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Description |
Core documents, correspondence, writings, and administrative papers of Olive Dame Coolidge ; clippings, photographs, books by or about Olive Dame Coolidge ; |
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Acquisition |
n/d |
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Citation |
“[Identification of Item],” [Collection Name] [Series Number, if applicable]. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. |
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Processed By |
Helen Hayes Wykle ; Ann Angel Eberhardt ; |
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Last Updated |
2020-08-28 aae ; 2024-02-05 hhw ; 2024-02-13 hhw ; |
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Bibliography |
Sources “Olive Coolidge,” Series 09: Biography. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. Internet resource. “United States Census, 1930,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQP6-F16 : accessed 29 June 2020), Olive D Coolidge in household of Richard B Corbridge (sic), Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002. Internet resource. “Olive Coolidge Butman died Friday, May 23, 2008, at Pine Knoll Nursing Center in Lexington.” Obituary, Wicked Local Concord: The Concord (MA) Journal. Internet resource. “Olive ‘Oggy’ Butman.” Obituary, The Boston Globe. Internet resource. “United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK5R-6T79 : accessed 30 June 2020), Mrs Olive Dame Coolidge Butman, Massachusetts, United States; from “Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 – Today),” database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing Lexington Minuteman, born-digital text. Internet resource. For more family information and a family visit to John C. Campbell Folk School, see: https://www.folkschool.org/2015/07/03/a-special-visit-from-the-dame-family/
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See Also:
[In Process]
OLIVE COOLIDGE Staff
OLIVE COOLIDGE Correspondence Guide
OLIVE COOLIDGE Correspondence 1941-42 Pine Mountain Settlement
OLIVE COOLIDGE Photographs
OLIVE COOLIDGE Correspondence Oggy to Bob 1941 I
OLIVE COOLIDGE Correspondence Oggy to Bob 1941 II
OLIVE COOLIDGE Correspondence Oggy to Bob 1941 III
OLIVE COOLIDGE Correspondence Bob to Oggy 1941 I
OLIVE COOLIDGE Correspondence Bob to Oggy 1941 II
OLIVE COOLIDGE Correspondence Oggy to Bob 1942 I
OLIVE COOLIDGE Correspondence Oggy to Bob 1942 II
OLIVE COOLIDGE Correspondence Oggy to Bob 1942 III
OLIVE COOLIDGE Correspondence Bob to Oggy 1942 I
OLIVE COOLIDGE Correspondence Bob to Oggy 1942 II
OLIVE COOLIDGE Correspondence Oggy to Family 1941-42
OLIVE COOLIDGE Correspondence to Father Richard Coolidge 1941-42
Related Collections
MEDICAL Guide
MEDICAL Staff Lists
GRACE M. ROOD Photograph Album I
GRACE M. ROOD Photograph Album II
MARGUERITE BUTLER Letters 1914-1970
MARGUERITE BUTLER Staff
DANCING IN THE CABBAGE PATCH Olive Dame Campbell’s 1922 Letter on Danish Folk School Training
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