RUBY YOCUM THATCHER Photograph Album 1950-1953

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
PHOTOGRAPHS
Ruby Yocum Thatcher
Teacher (7th and 8th Grades), 1950-1953
Photograph Album 1950-1953

001 [yocum_pmss_album_singles_001]

TAGS: Ruby Yocum Thatcher photograph album 1950-1953, PMSS buildings, PMSS natural surroundings, PMSS community, dancing, Yocum-Thatcher wedding, PMSS students, PMSS staff

RUBY YOCUM THATCHER Photograph Album 1950-1953

Following the death of Ruby Yocum Thatcher at the age of 87 in Sunnyvale, California, the Pine Mountain Settlement School received materials from her family in California. More recently, her son sent additional materials to Pine Mountain to be added to her collection. The material to be placed in the PMSS Archive includes a small and beautifully preserved photograph album that belonged to Ruby Yocum and that preserves her memories of the almost four years that she taught at Pine Mountain Settlement School (1950-1953) in the Harlan County Schools program established for a brief time at Pine Mountain.

This photograph album contains many photographs taken by Arthur Dodd, a former principal of the earlier Boarding School at Pine Mountain and two small newspaper clippings that announce the upcoming marriage of Ruby to Henry Hibbard Thatcher, a native of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. The two notices of her upcoming marriage to Henry and their wedding in the Chapel at Pine Mountain are particularly touching and are included in the Album. Also included are three images of the Dodd family. As an accomplished photographer for the School, Arthur Dodd, provided many of the images found in the album. The majority of the photographs are centered on Ruby’s years as a teacher at the School.

Additional materials received from her son included publications from the School and a note from her son, describing the material.

Pine Mountain Settlement School gratefully accepts this well kept and rich body of material and is certain that many of the students in Ruby Yocum’s classes will enjoy the many views of their classmates who were in attendance from 1950-1953 when it was part of the Harlan County School system. The well-organized album is a lovely and well preserved memory album of Ruby’s four years at the School while teaching the 7th and 8th Grade classes.

The 30-page album contains nearly 100 images and many of the students are identified. The photographs were collected from some well-known Pine Mountain images — most by Pine Mountain educator, administrator, and photographer Arthur Dodd, and from other colleagues and, presumably her own photographs. The classrooms, Playground, recreation, folk-dancing, and lunches in Laurel House, stand out in the memories included in this lovely album. Many students of this period in time will enjoy the window that “Miss Yocum” has left for her family and for her students.

Some of the classic PMSS School images by Arthur Dodd in the Thatcher album may also be found in other Pine Mountain photograph collections. The quality of the Thatcher photographs and their condition are superior. Two large photographs of the photographer Arthur Dodd’s family grace the last pages of the album. Some of the images overlap with another small collection donated by Yocum before her marriage and, recently, her death. Pine Mountain is grateful for this lovely gift of images and memories.

CONTENTS: RUBY YOCUM THATCHER Photograph Album 1950-1953
Full Pages

001 (Title Page) “Pine Mountain Settlement School, Harlan County, Kentucky 1950-1953”
002 Entrance to PMSS & Old Log; Rebel’s Rock; Chapel.
003 Mountains and fields, Big Log, Boy’s House.
004 Laurel House II; Burkham School House II; mountain view.
005 Three photos of people; tractor cutting hay in front of Laurel House; view of field and mountains. (5 photos)
006 Students on playground holding hands in a circle; Girl’s Industrial Building; teacher dealing with a line of students (3 photos).
007 [No image]
008 Group of 5 girls in front of steps; group of seated boys in front of steps up a hill; group of girls in front of steps up a hill.
009 Teacher Yocum on playground with students; student Sammie Ely; Yocum standing at PMSS sign; unidentified cabin; Delma Huff and Rita Mae Williams.

010 Laurel House II; distant Chapel in snow
011 Two women dressed in white (nurses?) with one illegible name; Miss Turner.
012 Office building; Industrial Building, bus, silo & barn; field in snow and mountains
013 Dancing in Laurel House II (3 photos).
014 Dancing in Laurel House II (3 photos).
015 Dancing (basket circle); Circle dance; snow-covered trees.
016 Burkham Schoolhouse II; Industrial Arts Building; Laurel House.
017 Students in front of Girl’s Industrial Building; woman holding a little girl; woman with two little girls in front of a cabin.
018 Two young boys standing side-by-side; boy next to fence pole; Sammie Ely next to fence pole with arms crossed.
019 Fire Tower on Pine Mountain; cabin with two children on porch; circle game on playground near Burkham Schoolhouse.

020 Boy and teacher in workshop; girls in sewing class; two boys in woodshop; girls in weaving room.
021 Dining Hall in Laurel House II with students (6 photos).
022 Group of children and adults sitting on hillside; PMSS Office building; Burkham School; group of students; 2 women standing side-by-side, one in white dress.
023 Two students seated on steps of Draper Building, students in classroom; view of haystack and cabin in the valley; child holding dog in snow.
024 Girl students (5 photos); unidentified building with balcony over porch.
025 [No image]
026 Students at desks in Library; All school children seated inside the Chapel for a program.
027 Cornfield and William Hayes on tractor; old cabin and rail fence; Draper Industrial Building; swinging bridge across river at ?Putney? (4 photos)
028 Full page of student photos. In order: Ralph Turner, Vaughnetta Boyer, Mabel Cornett, Elmer Huff, Stanley Boggs, Ola Mae Cornett, Roger Wilder, Jimmie Sturgill, Jammie Shoupe, Mabel Blevins, Frank Howard.
029 Two newspaper announcements of Thatcher-Yocum marriage. “Thatcher-Yocum Rites Announced“; “Thatcher-Yocum Vows are Spoken.”

030 Arthur Dodd, former school principal and family in Ganado, AZ, wearing Navaho clothing.
031 Margo and Elizabeth Dodd photograph taken by father, Arthur Dodd.