Ransom papers, 1927-1965 (bulk 1932-1937).

ArchivalResource

Ransom, Annette Mowatt, 1915-1996. Ransom papers, 1927-1965 (bulk 1932-1937).

Ransom papers, 1927-1965 (bulk 1932-1937).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50647081

The Annette Mowatt Ransom Papers consist of correspondence, a scrapbook, biographical information and photographs. The bulk of the collection describes her undergraduate years at Mount Holyoke College, 1932-1936, and reflects campus events and traditions. Letters to her family, 1923-1936, discuss her daily life and social activities. They include descriptions of traditions including the hazing of freshmen, Mountain Day, Junior Prom, Junior Show and Faculty Show. They also describe examinations, food, clothes, cooperative work by students, zoology courses, rules and regulations of dating, faculty, sports, and her involvement with the Outing Club. She mentions an attempt to abolish the required chapel attendance (February 1933) and notes the approval of smoking in the dorms (May 1934). She also describes Mary E. Woolley (November 1934) and Gertrude Stein's visit to campus (January 1935). Her letters reflect her opinion that she would "much rather be mediocre and do things than stay home and study every minute." Other correspondents include Pauline C. Gates, Mount Holyoke College Class of 1933, and Ruth Sawyer Durand, mother of Margaret Durand McCloskey, Class of 1936. The scrapbook concerns her years as an undergraduate and contains her explanatory notes. Included in the scrapbook are photographs, press clippings, programs from campus events, a Mountain Day announcement, a copy of senior rules for freshman hazing, Christmas cards and Valentines. The photographs in the scrapbook document her dorm rooms, a winter sports class, the Sycamores and field hockey. The biographical information consists of a page from the 1964 program during which she received her M. Ed. degree from the University of New Hampshire. The photographs consist of a formal portrait taken during her senior year. Additional correspondence in the collection also describes the six months she spent working on Inagua (Bahamas), where she was employed as a secretary-companion and zoologist; her letters reflect her experiences of cooking, training kitchen staff, whitewashing, darning, and dreaming up entertainment for the staff of young men, which included her brother Allan.

2 boxes (1 linear ft.)

Mount Holyoke College, Williston & Miles-Smith Library