Mount Holyoke College. All rights reserved.
© 2003 Mount Holyoke College. All rights reserved.
Genevieve Frances Pratt was born on June 24, 1898 in Westfield, Massachusetts to George F. Pratt, a whipmaker, and Ermina Ford Pratt. She graduated from Westfield High School then entered Mount Holyoke College, alma mater of her sister, Gladys, in 1916. She received senior honors and a B.A. in English Literature. After graduating in 1920, Pratt worked at the Mount Holyoke Library as an assistant from 1920-1921. She then worked in New York City as a translator for the Western Electric Engineering Library from 1921-1923 and attended the Ballard School in New York City for stenography and typing from 1922-1923. From 1923-1932 she was the office manager of a mail order shop in Westfield, Massachusetts. She attended Northeastern University in Springfield for accounting from 1926-1927. Pratt served at Mount Holyoke College as secretary to the Comptroller from 1932-1938, secretary to the Academic Dean from 1938-1941 and secretary to the Registrar's Office from 1941-1942. After serving as the Recorder in the Registrar's Office from 1942-1948, Pratt served as Registrar from 1949-1963. She was an honorary life member of the New England Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers and served as president of the organization from 1952-1953. In 1970 Pratt was awarded the Alumnae Medal of Honor by Mount Holyoke College. She died on August 4, 1976 in Holyoke, Massachusetts at the age of seventy-eight.
The Genevieve Frances Pratt Papers contain diaries, correspondence, biographical information, memorabilia, and photographs. Of particular note is the diary kept by Pratt while she was a student at Mount Holyoke College from 1916 to 1920. The diary includes short daily descriptions of classes, social activities, people, and the weather. A travel diary dating from 1958 to 1970 is also included. In it are details about Pratt's trip in 1958 to England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Italy. Descriptions of her trip to Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, and England in 1964 are included as well. The later entries document Pratt's trips around New England. Topics mentioned in the travel diary include her activities, expenses, and food. The correspondence dates from 1938 to 1975 and includes personal letters by Pratt and several friends. The biographical information dating from 1921-1976 includes newspaper clippings and a tribute by classmate Eleanor C. Buchholz. The memorabilia dates from 1920-1976 and includes greeting cards, her Mount Holyoke diploma, an auto sales bill from 1927, and documents relating to her retirement. The photographs series consists of photographs of Pratt and her Mount Holyoke classmates engaging is social activities such as senior rope-jumping, the laurel parade, and other traditional events. There are also photographs of a visit to Mount Holyoke by Princess Juliana of the Netherlands in 1941. Photographs of campus buildings and of President Mary Woolley are included, as is a retirement photograph of Pratt.
This collection is organized into five series:
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Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
The Genevieve F. Pratt Papers, Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, MA
Arranged chronologically.
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There are two diaries compiled by Pratt in this series: one dating from 1916-1920 while she was a student at Mount Holyoke College and a travel diary covering the years 1958-1970. The diary from her Mount Holyoke years contains short daily entries describing her classes, social activities, people she knew, and the weather. The 1958-1970 diary describes Pratt's travels through Europe in France, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, and two short trips in New England. This diary discusses the weather, her activities, food, and expenses.
Arranged chronologically.
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This series contains letters by and to Pratt. The first letter by Pratt, dated June 9, 1963, is to a Mount Holyoke College classmate and discusses mutual friends and Pratt's retirement. The second letter by Pratt, dated May 7, 1973, is a short note to a friend The letters to Pratt include thank-you notes, some personal letters from friends, letters from The New England Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, and congratulatory notes to Pratt written upon her retirement.
Arranged chronologically.
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This series contains biographical information about Pratt dating from 1921-1976. This material includes newspaper clippings and a tribute by classmate Eleanor C. Buchholz. The clippings describe her professional life and her acceptance of the Alumnae Medal of Honor in 1970 from Mount Holyoke College.
Arranged chronologically.
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Included in the series are greeting cards from Mount Holyoke College Presidents Mary Woolley and Richard Glenn Gettell, a card to Pratt from her friends in Pearsons Hall, Pratt's Mount Holyoke College diploma, an auto sales bill dated March 22, 1927, and a certificate of honorary membership in the New England Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Also included is a poem written for Pratt upon her retirement. There is also a sympathy card from the church when she died.
Arranged chronologically.
Unrestricted.
The series includes photographs of Pratt and of people, events, and scenes relating to Mount Holyoke College. Snapshots and other photographs dating from her student years, 1916-1920, are of residents of Brigham Hall, Pearsons Hall, and Hitchcock House, President Mary Woolley, a "sugaring-off" party, the laurel parade, commencement line-up, and senior rope-jumping. Other photographs concern the visit of Princess Juliana of the Netherlands to Mount Holyoke in 1941. This series also includes two formal photographs of Pratt, circa 1920 and 1963, a 1958 snapshot of her with her sister, Gladys F. Pratt, and an aerial photograph of Mount Holyoke taken in about 1969.