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Jennie Gilbert Jerome was born May 15, 1888 in New Haven, Connecticut. She was the eldest of two children of Yuan Phou Lee of Canton, China, a Yale University graduate and professional lecturer, and Elizabeth Maude Jerome of New Haven. Her parents divorced when she was very young and she and her brother, Gilbert Nelson Jerome, were raised by her mother and grandmother, Elizabeth Gilbert Jerome, in New Haven. She attended private grammar schools and New Haven High School, then went to Mount Holyoke College in 1907 where she majored in art and English literature and received a B.A. degree in 1911. She continued her study of art at Yale School of Fine Arts from 1911-1914. In 1917 she began working in the Dixwell Branch Library in New Haven. In 1922 she transferred to the Main Branch Library in New Haven and became the Art and Music Librarian. She retired in 1952. From 1911-1973 she was Class Scribe for the Mount Holyoke Class of 1911. She was a supporter of the College in many other ways, donating funds, furnishings, and paintings to the school. She died on August 22, 1979 at the age of ninety-one at her home in New Haven.
The Jennie Gilbert Jerome Papers consist of correspondence, a scrapbook, writings, artwork, memorabilia, an oral history transcript, biographical information, a mah jong game, and photographs. Much of this material relates to her years as a student at Mount Holyoke College, 1907-1911. In letters written to her mother, Elizabeth Maude Jerome, grandmother Elizabeth Gilbert Jerome, and brother Gilbert Nelson Jerome, she describes traditions such as Freshman Frolic, Mountain Day, and Junior Show, mentions her "crushes" on classmates, and talks about many faculty members and administrators, particularly President Mary Emma Woolley and botany professor Henrietta Edgecomb Hooker. In addition, she describes a basketball tournament, trying out for choir, the grading system, and a mock political convention and parade of suffragists that students held in November of 1908. She also discusses her health, expenses, food, clothing, and the religious life at the school. A scrapbook primarily dates from her years at Mount Holyoke and contains programs, invitations, and other memorabilia, notes from friends and teachers, a "Table of Measurements" giving her physical dimensions and lung capacity in 1907 and 1910, examinations, "Basket-Ball Songs," material relating to Senior Mountain Day in 1911, newspaper clippings, postcards, drawings and poetry by Jerome, and photographs of teachers, friends, and the campus. Other correspondence includes a letter to her mother discussing her brother and a visit to Boston in 1914, and postcards and notes, 1940-1979, from Mount Holyoke friends and classmates concerning their activities. Her writings include short stories published in her high school newspaper from 1904-1907, a poem written in 1912, a description of a visit to "the ancient home of the Gilberts" in England in 1924, and a published recollection of her high school years, 1947. Her artwork consists of a drawing and a silhouette that probably date from about 1907-1939. The memorabilia consists of a songbook for the Mount Holyoke Class of 1911 Junior Show, a catalogue for a 1936 art exhibit in New Haven, an invitation from 1952, and a note that accompanied the gift of a book in 1958. The oral history transcript is of taped interviews of Jerome conducted by Roberta Yerkes Blanshard of the New Haven Quota Club in 1975. Biographical information from circa 1918, 1922, and 1941-1979 includes newspaper articles about her professional career and personal interests, her obituary, and tributes written after her death. Jerome's mah jong game probably dates from the 1920s. The photographs date from circa 1907-1952 and primarily consist of formal portraits and snapshots of her.
This collection is organized into nine series:
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Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
Jennie Gilbert Jerome Papers, Mount Holyoke College, Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, Massachusetts
Arranged chronologically.
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The correspondence chiefly consists of forty-nine letters written by Jerome while a student at Mount Holyoke College, 1907-1911. Her correspondence is addressed to her mother, Elizabeth Maude Jerome, grandmother Elizabeth Gilbert Jerome, and brother Gilbert Nelson Jerome, and most of the letters date from 1907-1909. She describes many aspects of her life at Mount Holyoke, including traditions such as Mountain Day, Freshman Frolic, and Junior Show, and activities such as parties, concerts, basketball games, an "Ice Carnival," play performances, try-outs for the College Choir, and a mock political convention and parade of suffragists held in November 1908. She also discusses religious services, her clothing and finances, and Mount Holyoke's food and grading policies. Many letters mention friends, classmates, and faculty members and administrators, particularly President Mary Emma Woolley and botany professor Henrietta Edgecomb Hooker. In another letter to her mother dated April 17, 1914, Jerome comments on her brother's "new position" and describes a recent visit to Boston. The correspondence also includes postcards and letters, 1940-1979, from several Mount Holyoke College friends and classmates in which they discuss their activities. In addition, a letter from 1979 concerns her contribution to the "GOP Victory Fund of the Republican Congressional Committee."
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Most of the material in this scrapbook relates to Jerome's years as a student at Mount Holyoke College, 1907-1911. The volume contains notes from friends and faculty members and copies of many College publications, including programs for plays, concerts, and ceremonial events such as Founder's Day. A "Table of Measurements" in the scrapbook gives Jerome's physical dimensions and lung capacity in 1907 and 1910. The book also contains "Basket-Ball Songs," material relating to Senior Mountain Day in 1911, a laundry list, several of Jerome's report cards and examinations, newspaper clippings about events at the College, programs for plays, concerts, and church services in Amherst and Springfield, Massachusetts, and New Haven, Connecticut, dance cards, postcards, valentines and other greeting cards, and poems and drawings by Jerome. Photographs in the scrapbook are of friends and classmates, the campus, and faculty members, including botany professor Henitetta Edgecomb Hooker. Material dating from 1912-circa 1914 consists of her account of a friend's wedding, a postcard, programs, newspaper clippings, a pamphlet relating to Mount Holyoke College, and several photographs of classmates.
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Writings consists of stories, essays, and a poem written by Jerome. Most of the series consists of her short stories as published in issues of the New Haven High School monthly magazine "The Crescent" for 1904-1907. This series also includes a poem entitled "Autumn," dated September 1, 1912, an account of a visit to the "ancient home of the Gilberts" in England in 1924, and an essay called "Years Ago," written for the "New Haven Teachers' Journal" of December 1947 in which she recalls her years as a high school student.
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The artwork consists of two undated drawings by Jerome that were probably done between 1907 and 1939. One is a watercolor drawing of a child standing under a tree. The other is a silhouette of her mother, Elizabeth Maude Jerome.
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The memorabilia consist of the songbook for the Class of 1911 Junior Show at Mount Holyoke College, 1910; a catalogue for an exhibition of works by Jerome and other members of the New Haven Paint and Clay Club, Inc., in March 1936; an invitation to a tea honoring Jerome on the occasion of her retirement from the New Haven Library in 1952; and a note from "Tony" that accompanied his gift of a book of poems by John Updike, 1958.
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The oral history transcript consists of a typed transcript of interviews of Jerome conducted by Roberta Yerkes Blanshard in January and March 1975 for the New Haven Quota Club. Jerome discusses her ancestry tracing the Jerome and Gilbert family lines to the eighteenth century, and mentions her father, Yuan Phou Lee. She also describes her years as a student at Mount Holyoke College and her work in the New Haven library system.
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The biographical information chiefly consists of newspaper clippings about Jerome dating from 1922 and 1952-1963. These articles concern her work as Art and Music Librarian at the New Haven Main Branch Library from 1922-1952, her interest in the Boy Scouts of America, and her involvement with activities and events relating to Mount Holyoke College. Two articles from 1941 and 1944 review art exhibits in New Haven that included portraits by her. This series also includes a biographical note from about 1918, an obituary for Jerome, 1979, and tributes written after her death.
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The mah jong game that belonged to Jerome probably dates from the 1920s and includes tiles, dice, game pieces, and score sheets. The game, which is in its original container, was manufactured in the United States by the Milton Bradley Company. An instruction booklet with the game was written by J.P. Babcock and published by Parker Brothers, Inc. in 1923.
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The photographs chiefly consist of formal and informal images of Jerome from 1907-1952. Included are formal photographs of Jerome in her cap and gown when she graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1911 and prints of photographs used in a newspaper article about her retirement from the New Haven Library in 1952. Informal photographs consist of one of Jerome as a young woman, possibly taken before she entered Mount Holyoke in 1907, and several taken later in life. This series also includes a 1945 photograph of "Catherine, Ethel Jackson, and Davis Jackson."