SUSAN M. BROOKS 1933-1936 Correspondence

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Susan (“Susie”) M. Brooks, Weaving Instructor 1933-1936
Correspondence 1933-1936

Susan (“Susie”) M. Brooks, occupational therapist and weaving instructor at Pine Mountain Settlement School, 1933-1936. [brooks_susie photo_001.jpg]

TAGS: Susan M. Brooks, Susie Brooks, occupational therapy, weaving instructor, weaving room, marketing weaving, Glyn Morris, Depression era, application for PMSS employment, PMSS volunteers, Boston School of Occupational Therapy, Westbrook Sanatorium, Penland Institute, Medical Settlement Big Laurel

SUSAN M. BROOKS 1933-1936 Correspondence

SUMMARIES

[Note: 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. Letters from Susan M. Brooks are handwritten originals unless specified otherwise. The following list of contents is in chronological order and not necessarily in the order of the image numbers.]

1933

005 April 17, 1933. Two-page letter of application for a craft teaching position To Glyn Morris, PMSS Director, from Susan (“Susie”) M. Brooks in Wheeling, W. Va. [Possible second page is missing.]

006 April 27, 1933. To Brooks from Morris, asking if she ”would consider a volunteer position for next year….” He continues: “We have some fine weaving equipment here, but have had to dispense with weaving this year because of finances.’

007 N.D. Two-page letter to Morris from Brooks with further questions concerning the position: travel expenses, salary, maintenance, future hiring possibility.

008 May 4, 1933. To Brooks from Morris, responding to her questions: “We are willing to pay traveling expenses, but there would be no salary — only board and room, at least for the time being. If we find that we can sell the products of the department the position will become a salaried one. Formerly our weaving department paid for itself and made a considerable amount of money. During the last two years our Fireside Industries department has suffered, but we plan to push this work and advertise it next year, so that it will be a profitable part of our program.” Morris states that the School will need a weaving teacher for the fall and winter.

004-004a May 11, 1933. Two-sided PMSS application for employment from “Susie M. Brooks” on PMSS letterhead.
Address: Wheeling, W.Va.
Age: 43 …
Completed courses: High School, Grafton, Mass.; Boston School of Occupational Therapy
Interested in: Craft Work
Training and Experience: Boston School and five years as O.T. Director at Westbrook Sanatorium, Richmond, VA.
How did you become interested in work at Pine Mountain? Through Mrs. Greene, Dean of the Boston School of Occupational Therapy.
List of references….

003 June 15, 1933. Reference sent to Glyn Morris for Susie M. Brooks from Richmond, VA. “upright, truthful, industrious.”

001 June 16, 1933. Two-sided reference sent to Glyn Morris for Susie M. Brooks: “Quiet, pleasing, cooperative.” 001a Reverse side of 001. Reference continued. “Miss Brooks graduated from us in 1926 since which time she has held the position of Director of Occupational Therapy, Westbrooke (sic, Westbrook) Sanatorium, RIchmond, Virginia.”

002-002a June 16, 1933. Two-sided reference sent to Glyn Morris for Susie M. Brooks from Secretary and Treasurer, Westbrook Sanitorium.

009 June 21, 1933. To Morris from Brooks, asking for a response to her application.

010 June 27, 1933. To Brooks from Alice Cobb, Secretary, explaining that Morris is away and will write when he returns.

011 July 3, 1933. To Brooks from Morris, asking her to meet with him ”somewhere in West Virginia” to discuss the teaching position, if she is interested.

012 July 24, 1933, To Brooks from Morris, sending her PMSS information and suggesting other resources (Russell Sage Foundation and Miss Helen Dingman of Berea College) concerning mountain crafts, vegetable dyeing, and “The Southern Highlander and His Homeland” by John C. Campbell.)

013 July 26, 1933. Address side of a postcard to Mr. Glyn Morris with a datestamp indicating Wheeling, W.Va., and the date. 013a Message side of postcard to Morris from Brooks, asking for the PMSS literature he said he would send.

014 August 7, 1933. To Brooks from Morris, informing her of the school opening date (August 20) and asking her to arrive on August 18. He asked her for her travel information so that someone can pick her up at Laden. ”All trunks and express packages should be sent to Pine Mountain Settlement School, via Putney, Kentucky.”

017 August 8, 1933. Address side of a postcard to Miss Parrett with a datestamp indicating Wheeling, W.Va. and the date. 017a Message side of postcard to Morris from Brooks, informing him of the date and time she will arrive in Harlan by bus.

015 August 13, 1933. To Morris from Brooks, describing her travel on the L&M train via Cincinnati.

1934

016 August 4, 1934. To Brooks from “[unsigned, apparently Miss M. Alice Parrett], Secretary.” Official school opening is August 26, with the older students arriving the day before. Workers are asked to arrive on August 22, have tea at Zande House the next day, and attend a planning meeting on the third day,

018 December 31, 1934. Address side of a postcard to Mr. Glyn Morris with a datestamp indicating Richmond, Va., and the date. 018a Message side of postcard to Morris from Brooks, informing him of her arrival “in Harlan by bus” on Saturday.

1935

019 July 23, 1935. To Brooks from Morris, asking for her approval “of the enclosed announcement.” [Enclosure missing.]

020-020b August 16, 1935. Three-page letter to Morris from Brooks in Penland, N.C., 020 asking if she can bring to PMSS a “lady…from Kansas City who is much interested in our dyeing and would like to visit the school.” 020a In response to Morris’s concerns about problems in Brooks’ department, she writes: “It is always a problem to decide which is most important, to devote most of my time in teaching or to keep the orders filled which means money for the school.” She suggests that the sewing and weaving tasks could be combined and states that there is still a need for more looms, 020b as there are “only eight looms for about fifteen students.” She closes by writing: “I am enjoying my work here at the [Penland] Institute and hope that what I learn will be of value to me and to the school next winter.”

021 August 20, 1935. To Brooks from [unsigned, apparently Morris], who appreciates her August 16 letter and approves of her bringing a friend to PMSS.

022 August 20, 1935. Address side of a postcard to Mr. Glyn Morris with a datestamp indicating Penland, N.C., and the date. Message side of postcard to Morris from Brooks, informing him of her arrival “in Harlan by bus” on Sunday and “go to the bus terminal there.”

023 December 31, 1935. To Morris from Brooks in Richmond, Va., informing him of her arrival in Harlan on Saturday and hoping “Mrs. Morris is better.”

1936

024 January 29, 1936. To Brooks from Morris, who is ”thinking about trying to organize some local industries down at our Medical Settlement. …[T]his part of our school is an expense which we do not think is warranted, and we are trying to seek some method by which it can support itself.” A donor has offered “considerable” aid if a “business-like proposition for producing both weaving and handicraft products” can be worked out. Morris asks Brooks to let Miss Bicknell “know exactly what it will cost to produce articles of weaving.” He lists the information that he needs to determine “figures for labor, etc.” He hopes to “get some of the local women weaving down at Medical Settlement, [which would] enable them to have an income, but also to make the settlement self-supporting.”

025 N.D. Memorandum. [brooks_susie_corresp_025] RESTRICTED]

00 Photograph of Susan M. Brooks, occupational therapist and weaving instructor at Pine Mountain Settlement School, 1933-1936. [brooks_susie photo_001.jpg]

001 Cover of a brochure from the Boston School of Occupational Therapy.