JANE RUSSELL Correspondence 1926

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: Biography – Staff/Personnel
Jane Russell Correspondence 1926

JANE RUSSELL Correspondence 1926

TAGS: Jane Russell, correspondence 1926, Nancy Singleton, Elizabeth G. Smith, teachers, application for PMSS position, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, sociology, Converse College, Katherine Pettit, Line Fork Settlement

CONTENTS: Jane Russell Correspondence 1926

[Note: Letters from PMSS staff in the PMSS Collections are carbon copies, typewritten, unsigned, and meant for the Office files. The original signed copies were sent to the correspondents. The initials at the bottom left of most PMSS letters indicate the writer (along with initials of the secretary). For example, “KP” refers to Katherine Pettit. Letters from Jane Russell are handwritten.]

[001] through [001b] September 1, 1926. Three-page letter to Miss Katherine Pettit from Jane Russell, Lake Easton Camp, Black Mountain, NC. She and Nancy Singleton from Henderson, NC, “are very interested in teaching in the mountains of Kentucky during the winter 1927-28. We are Converse College girls and Elizabeth Smith told us to write to you….” Nancy has had 3 years’ experience in grammar grade work and Jane has had 2 and is working on her Master’s degree at [University of North] Carolina; can teach history, civics, or any sociology course. Requests applications blanks. “I have had three months experience in mountain teaching and loved it!” Provides her address in Wilmington, NC.

[002] September 8, 1926. To Russell from KP (Miss Katherine Pettit), who encloses questionnaires. “We usually do not take inexperienced teachers at Pine Mountain. We like them to come to us after having worked somewhere else first. [Pettit suggests that they come to PMSS] next summer as volunteer workers, just as Miss Elizabeth Smith did.”

[003] September 18, 1926. Application Blank with handwritten entries by Jane Russell, Wilmington, NC:
Age: 22
Education: B.S. degree, Converse College, Spartanburg, S.C.
[and] 3 credits towards Master’s degree in sociology at the Univ. of North Carolina.
Training and experience: 10 weeks community work in N.C. mountains; 2 years teaching experience in local community and (?) education.
References: [3 names and addresses were provided.]

[004] through [004b] September 22, 1926. Three-page letter to Pettit from Russell, who encloses her completed application blank Declines summer work at PMSS because she and Nancy will be working on her Master’s degree at Chapel Hill; both prefer to “work in the winter and study in the summer.” Jane is “absolutely dependent on myself so have to do something that will yield some income. … I would come from interest and love of the work alone if it were possible. … [W]e don’t mind good hard work, hardships or inconveniences. … [W]e will truly work hard and appear old and experienced school-marms!”

[005] September 28, 1926. To Russell from KP (Pettit), thanking her for her application but warns that Russell may be rejected due to her inexperience; suggests that one of the extension centers may have a place for her or that she should re-apply in a few years. 

See Also JANE RUSSELL Staff – Biography