BONNIE AYERS Correspondence

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Students
Series 19: STUDENTS
Bonnie Ayers (Shaw), PMSS Student 1939-1942
Correspondence 1939-1947

02_2437 PMSS students. Opal Hall, Ruth Anne, Bonnie. [098_IX_students_02_2437005.jpg]

BONNIE AYERS Correspondence
January 1939 – October 1947


TAGS: Bonnie Ayers, Bonnie Ayers Shaw, correspondence, students, Mr. and Mrs. H.G. Ayers, student counselors, teachers, classes, students’ self-evaluation letters to parents, The Pine Cone, industrial education, WWII, University of Kentucky


CONTENTS: BONNIE AYERS Correspondence

[Note: Letters from Bonnie Ayers are handwritten unless specified otherwise. 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.]

1939

01 January 9, 1939. To Pine Mountain Settlement School from Mrs. H.G. Ayers, Twila, KY, requesting an application blank for Bonnie and Mae Taylor. [Notation penciled in lower left margin: “Wilma Adkins.”]
02 May 29, 1939. To Miss Bonnie Ayers, Twila, KY, from Esther Weller, [PMSS Student Counselor] thanking her for her letter. She will send a catalog.

03 UNRELATED CORRESPONDENCE
04 DUPLICATE OF 02

05 May 22, 1939. To Miss Weller from Bonnie Ayers, who is finishing 8th grade and planning to attend PMSS. She asks if she could work to pay for her tuition, mentioning her experience in “general housekeeping.”

06 December 20, 1939. Three-page letter to “Muma and D.O.” from Bonnie Ayers, referring to herself as “your fifth daughter…writing her first Pine Mountain report.” She describes her classes and teachers: English (Miss Hackman); Economics and History (Miss [Gladys] Hill); 
07 (Page 2) Home Economics ([Anna Lee] Goins); Biology (Mrs. [Alice Joy] Keith – “We have experimented on bats and pig embryo….”) Co-op (Miss Hill – “This class is two-periods and each  
08 (Page 3) period is one hour. I find it very hard.”

1940

09 May 31, 1940. Three-page letter to Mr. and Mrs. H.G. Ayers (“Dear Mums and D.O.”) from “Bonnie Baldwin Ayers,” who writes, “This is my semi-annual report for my [industrial] work and class work at Pine Mountain,” stating that she feels that she has improved in both areas. She describes her class and teachers: English (studying a notebook by Walsh and Walsh); 
10 (Page 2) Economics and History (Miss Hill); Biology (“I am not in the least interested in this subject.”); Co-op (“very interesting”);
11 (Page 3) Home Economics; industrial work.

1941

12 December 16, 1941. Two-page typewritten letter to Mr. and Mrs. H.G. Ayers (“Dear Muma and D.O.”) from Bonnie Ayers. She lists her subjects and reports that she is Assistant Editor for The Pine Cone. She describes her classes and teachers: Sociology (Mr. [Arthur W.] Dodd – “Current American Social Problems” such as labor, immigration, national defense, etc.); Current History (Miss [Edith] Cold); Literature and History (new teacher, [Martha Ann] Keen); Home Economics (new teacher, Mrs. [Leona] Burden – “She does not let us have as much freedom as former Home Economics teachers and I have had a little difficulty in adjusting myself to her rules.”); Chemistry (“…my lowest subject.”); Senior Seminar (in which the senior can choose “the subjects which they feel they need.”); piano lessons from Miss Trufant.
13 (Page 2) Assistant Editor for The Pine Cone: “I am very much interested in journalism and hope to make it my career after the required amount of studying.” Work assignments: kitchen and office for 11 weeks (cleaning and errands). Conduct: “By controlling my temper and by being more courteous to people in general I think I may learn to cooperate and live with people in any environment. In view of the present situation [WWII] it is very unthoughtful for any one to cause trouble. We all know the United States is in a very precarious position. Therefore I shall try to do my best at home and in school…helping my country wherever I am by my constant cooperation.”

14 May 22, 1941. Three-page letter to Mr. and Mrs. H.G. Ayers (“Dear Muma and D.O.”) from Bonnie (“Bon”) Ayers, sending them her semi-annual report. She lists her school subjects, including “my Field Day“ in the community. She describes her classes and teachers: English; Ethics; Sociology; 
15 (Page 2) Current History (“…my favorite class”); Art (Mr. [John A.] Spelman); Home Management. She tells about her work as a Pack Horse Librarian during which she “learned quite a bit about community and library work.” She states she is not fond of the housework she has been doing.
16 (Page 3) Her conduct in the house “…has not been the best….”; Typing class “has been one of the most enjoyable classes I have had at Pine Mountain. She “may plan to take up secretarial work.” Community work “has influenced my life most this year. I have learned how people live under conditions which I thought were impossible; I have learned to appreciate more what I have.”

1947

17 October 25, 1947. To Miss Bonnie Baldwin Ayers, Twila, KY, from Maple Moores, Assistant Registrar, University of Kentucky, Lexington, requesting her high school record, enclosing a “B form” to be completed by the PMSS principal. Mentions that “It will be satisfactory for you to enter the winter term for pre-law courses.”
18 Image of folder for “Ayers, Bonnie, 1939-47.”


GALLERY: BONNIE AYERS Correspondence
(18 images)


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BIOGRAPHY – A-Z

See Also:
BONNIE AYERS Student – Biography