ELIZABETH HENCH Correspondence 1926

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 02: GOVERNANCE – Board of Trustees
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Trustees
Elizabeth Hench Correspondence 1926

033 Elizabeth Hench Correspondence, 1926 October 31, page 1. [misc_corresp_1924-26_033.jpg]

TAGS: Elizabeth Hench correspondence 1926, Elizabeth C. Hench, Ethel de Long Zande, Katherine Pettit, Evelyn K. Wells, PMSS Trustees, donations, cows, milk production, PMSS Notes, Luigi Zande, Helen de Long, postcards, fundraising letters

ELIZABETH HENCH Correspondence 1926

Secretary of the PMSS Board of Trustees, 1914-1931[?]
Promoted the School’s farm in its early years
Established and raised funds for the Ayrshire cows at PMSS

[Note: Letters in the PMSS Collections from PMSS staff 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, “EZ” refers to Ethel de Long Zande, “KP” to Katherine Pettit, and “EKW” to Evelyn K. Wells. Letters from Elizabeth Hench are handwritten and original. The following list of contents is in chronological order and not necessarily in the order of the image numbers.]

[033] through [033c] October 31, [no year]. Four-page letter to Ethel [de Long Zande] from Elizabeth C. Hench in Laurel, MS, who explains why she changed plans and left North Carolina for Mississippi. Tells about “Lynn’s” return to the USA from Nicaragua and search for a job; and about Margaret’s happiness. “Miss Wells writes also that Mr. (Luigi) Zande did receive Michael Pupin(?)”

[034] N.D. A list with a note to Miss [Katherine] Pettit from Hench, asking her if she has any of the items and to return the list to Miss Wells. Listed are two letters (Christmas 1920 and April 11, 1924) and Pine Mountain Notes (November 1923).

[045] through [045h] January 3, 1926. Nine-page letter to Zande from Hench, who writes about the difficulty of meeting up with Zande; is sorry that Zande is “unwell.” Hench was “Happy in my visit…. I feel you and Miss Pettit are proceeding along the right lines — industrial and personal habits first, intellectual afterwards. There is quite enough religious stiumlus, too.” Hench suggests that PMSS should send regular letters of “informative matter” to the trustees; that workers should have monthly meetings, to inspire “fresh ideas, inspirations, … [believing in] the friction of mind against mind.” Sends best wishes to Zande and family from “your devoted friend, and co-worker at Manual, and now at Pine Mountain.”

[043] through [043c] N.D. Four-page letter to Zande from Hench on letterhead for Continental Hotel, Pineville, KY, who describes her fourth visit to PMSS as “the best”; her travels with Miss (Bessie V.) Gaunt when leaving PMSS for Chapel Hill; visit to a doctor. Asks for a list of trustees in order to send the next Joy letter; plans to “investigate” North Carolina.

[037] January 9, 1926. To Hench at Chapel Hill. NC, from EKW (Wells), who encloses the receipt for Joy’s (cow) board and a list of the trustees’ addresses. Mentions Mrs. Zande, Miss Gaunt, Miss Wood, and “Miss Wheeldon and her successor (who) came in together on the late donkey last night. It was a funny situation!”

[044], [044a] January 12, 1926. To Zande from Hench on letterhead for Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill, NC. “I am writing you in order to have a memorandum in writing of my opinion that the milk supply at Pine Mountain could be greatly increased by increased feeding.” Provides statistics showing increase in Joy’s milk production from the time Mrs. (Martha) Burns, at Hench’s request, increased the feed. Asks that they be shown to Mr. (William) Browning.

[038] January 27, 1926. To Hench in Laurel, MS, from EZ (Zande). In the next issue of Notes, the School will provide an “account of the work as it is today.” She asks Hench to write about 150 to 175 words for a section about “impressions of visitors” that will be included.

[035] through [035b] N.D. Three-page edited draft of a narrative in Hench’s handwriting, titled “Impressions of a Visitor,“ reporting her impressions after four visits she made to PMSS since 1914 (after becoming a PMSS trustee in 1913). “I am happy to tell you have followed a course fitted to the needs of your pupils,” finding the students clean and neat in appearance, friendly, and courteous, and the buildings and ground “clean, simple, yet artistic … These two, cleanliness of body and environment, are the foundation of all further culture. Industry and handicraft are next in importance. Mountain children are reared to work but the school broadens their usefulness.” She approves of “the constant relating of religion to every day living….”

[036] – [036a] N.D. Two-page second draft of above narrative [035-035b] with changes and edits in handwriting of someone other than Hench, titled “Impressions of a Visitor.“ The topics are the same but expanded.

[039] March 3, 1926. To Hench from (unsigned, apparently Zande), who is “sorry Greensboro (NC) is a disappointment … [but] you may be sowing some seed that will raise the educational standards of North Carolina.” She is thinking of sending a letter to the trustees, “some who should be eliminated” and some “very helpful at times, and they do serve as endorsers in the community where they live. You know what we got into when we dropped Mr. Sam Wilson.” Writes about changes she made to Hench’s narrative; 27 children with mumps; Elena and Berto.

[040] April 19, 1926. To Hench from (unsigned, apparently Zande), who hasn’t written because of various activities, mentioning Miss (Dorothy) Bolles‘ and Miss Cunningham’s country dancing, and visitors who are friends of Mr. Sharp (Dr. and Mrs. Stoddard). Asks to borrow Memoirs of Gray and “House’s letters.” Mentions expecting Mr. Ziegler; mumps. She then writes about Luigi Zande’s advice on the cows and how to build up a good herd.

[041] April 20, 1926. “P.S.” to [unspecified] from EZ (Zande), returning the duplicate checks and apologizing that the School was slow to cash the first ones. Mentions Miss Gaunt’s absence at the time. Asks about plans to resign.

[046] May 13, 1926. To Hench at O.Henry Hotel, Greensboro, NC, from EZ (Zande), responding to Hench’s questions about schools, refers her to Helen (de Long), “who is in a private school in Wilmington (Delaware).”

[047] June 9, 1926. To Hench in Carlisle, PA, from EZ (Zande), who describes a beautiful PMSS spring; is trying to finish up inventories for the annual audit; describes her and Berto’s visit with Mr. Lewis Turner.

[050] June 25, 1926 (postmark). Address side of postcard to Miss Wells at Pine Mountain.
[050a] Message side of postcard: To Miss Wells from Hench. In order not to “discard useful historical material, I am going to send you from time to time envelopes directed to myself to be put away for me. Then when we wish to write the history of Pine Mountain in ten volumes, we will have abundant material.”

[048] June 29, 1926. To Hench from H(?), who is relieving Miss Wells while Wells is on a three-months’ vacation; assures Hench she will file her papers safely as they arrive.

[049] DUPLICATE OF [048].

[042] July 2, 1926. To Hench, from EZ (Zande), thanking her for the $50.60 for Joy’s (cow) board through September 30. Mentions Miss Wells, Miss Heney, and Miss Gaunt’s leaving (for the summer?). Tells about her reunion in NY: “That city will always be the lady of my love as cities go….” Mentions Helen, who teaches at Tower Hill, “a most wide-a-wake and progressive school.”

[052] through [052e] August 18, [no year]. Six-page letter to Zande from Hench in Carlisle, PA, describing her car trip with Phil and Margaret to Lake Placid, with a stop in New York; Mary’s sprained ankle. Tells of her travel plans to New York and the seashore. Mentions Eleanor and Jean; Lynn in Nicaragua. Lists the biographies she has read this summer. Encloses cards for Berto and Elena to color.

[-051] August 21, 1926. To Hench from EZ (Zande), reporting that “Angela Melville is executive secretary or something of that sort for the Cooperative Bureau for Women Teachers, private schools mostly.” Provides Melville’s address in NYC. Asks to borrow a copy of Buffalo Bill for a course in biography with a PMSS class; thanks Hench for the cards.

[053] September 20, 1926. To “Miss Mary M. Hench” (Elizabeth’s sister) from EZ (Zande) about returning Life of William Cody to Hench. “I am so sorry you had so much illness this summer. But even if it was a tax on your sister I know she must have been glad to be able to take care of you. It is not often one has the privilege of looking after one’s own family in illness.“

[054] September 28, 1926. To Hench in Laurel, MS, from EZ (Zande), who asks to be informed of Hench’s plans. Tells about homesick children at the School; Miss Meigs’ death; asks Hench to let her know of a “more useable” biography of Buffalo Bill.

[055] through [059] NO IMAGES

[060] October 19, 1926. To Hench from KP (Pettit), who enjoyed her letter: “I am very interested in your ideals for young people. … [T]hey sound just like what Pine Mountain is attempting to do.” Pettit gives updates about Joy the cow, the barn, and how the underweight children are benefiting from the milk.

[061] November 19, 1926. To Hench from EZ (Zande). Asks about Hench’s speaking about Pine Mountain at an all-day meeting. Suggests taking The Southern Highlander and His Homeland instead of In the Days of Saddlebags. Critiques Percy MacKay’s Tall Tales. “The cow letter is nice, with lovely touches just exactly like you.’

[062] December 3, 1926. To Hench from KP (Pettit), who praises Hench’s cow fundraising letter. Tells about visiting Switzerland with Vera Morgan, “one of your girls”; and acquiring a cow bell gong. Describes the children’s reactions to the eye clinic, run by two Pittsburgh doctors.

[063] December 29, 1926. To Hench at Boone Tavern, Berea, KY, from KP (Pettit), who makes arrangements to see Hench at Berea. Tells how the School missed Hench’s help at Christmas.