manosca29 Southern Mountain Workship Files, 1944-1960 Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by manosca. Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Smith College Archives
Northampton, MA
© 2003

Smith College. All rights reserved.

 Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Brook Hopkins. 2003-06-03 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 manosca29 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Smith College Archives Southern Mountain Workship Files, 1944-1960 Finding Aid RG 80 Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© 2003 Smith College. All rights reserved.

 Collection Overview Smith College. Southern Mountain Workship Files1944-1960 RG 80 1 box (.51 linear ft.) Smith College Archives
Northampton, MA
Work stipend. Contains correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings, press releases and photographs. English. Biographical Note

Established in 1944, the Southern Mountain Workship was awarded to a graduating senior who was expected to work for nine to ten months in the isolated rural communities of Appalachia with the Conference of Southern Mountain Workers, as well as at two centers run by the CSMW. A stipend was awarded, as well as room and board for the duration of the "workship." The program was administered by a committee made up of Smith College faculty and administrators, in conjunction with the CSMW.

Faculty members of the Southern Mountain Workship Committee included:

Dorothy S. Ainsworth, '1916 Stephen T. Crary Alison Cook, 1918 Virginia Corwin Alice N. Davis Florence R. Day Neal B. DeNood Harriet Hitchcock Margaret Alexander Marsh Miller, H. (Harriet Zimmerman or Henry Laurence, Jr.) Marie Schneiders Gertrude Parker Smith Eleanor Lincoln Terry Kathering Reding Whitmore

The Southern Mountain Workship award was given to the following students:

1945 Betsy Ross Bankart (Sylvester) 1946 Diana Northrop Lockard (Malan) 1947 Mary Cabot Holbrook 1948 Amy Wing 1949 Mary-Clare Milligan 1950 Elinor Florence Kuhn 1951 Elise May Wentworth 1952 Lee MacMahon/Jane Bishop Nauss 1953 Sylvia Carstens 1954 Elizabeth Knowlton Spencer 1955 none 1956 Jane Pack Kushner 1957 Laura Ashton Smith 1958 Priscilla Ann Baldwin 1959 Phebe Delight Wing Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Southern Mountain Workship files contain correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings, press releases and photographs documenting the Southern Mountain Workship program which Smith College and the Conference of Southern Mountain Workers (CSMW) co-sponsored between 1944-1960.

Arrangement of the Collection

The files are arranged by type of material. Included are Press Releases (1944-1959) and Newspaper Clippings (1949-1958) describing the program and activities of the students who were awarded the workship. There is also Correspondence (1949-1972) between the administrators of the Conference of Southern Workers and Smith College, and various parties interested in the work of the SMW. In addition, there is correspondence of individual students involved with the program. There are also Reports (1946-1959) which document the activities of the women and the projects with which they were involved. These reports provide insights into the work accomplished by the program. Photographs (1950-1954) include press photographs and a small number of informal photographs of students at work.

Information on Use Terms of Access and Use

Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the files must be requested from the College Archives. The Archives has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any question of copyright.

Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Southern Mountain Workship Files, Box #, Smith College Archives.

 Search Terms Southern Mountain Workship. Community development--Appalachian Region. Volunteer workers in community development--Appalachian Region. Smith College Student Government Association. Southern Mountain Workship. Conference of Southern Mountain Workers. Additional Information Related Material

Many Smith College faculty were involved with the workship award program, most notably Gertrude Parker Smith, and researchers are encouraged to consult the individual faculty files of committee members for potential information about the program. In addition, the College Archives has files containing biographical information on many of the alumnae who were awarded the workship. Often these files include correspondence, memorabilia, and photographs of their experience. Another source for information about the program may be the Office of the President files.

3109 Press Releases 1944-1959 3109 Newspaper Clippings 1949, 1952, 1954-1958 3109 Correspondence 1949-1950, 1957-1962, 1972 3109 Reports 1946-1959 3109 Photographs 1950, 1953, 1954, n.d.