Well, folks, tomorrow I set out for Lenox, Massachusetts, so I decided to make the most of my final day in Northampton by walking all over town and finding a few more historic landmarks.
Today's weather was absolutely beautiful. It was about 68/69 degrees and sunny all day. In light of the weather, I decided to venture around Smith's glorious campus one more time, only today I decided to locate Margaret Mitchell and Gloria Steinem's dorms.
Thanks to reading Gloria Steinem's yearbook yesterday, I knew she lived in a dorm called Laura Scales House. I found it on the map and walked there. As you can see, it is a beautiful, classic looking building.
Located on the Quandrangle, which is the school's housing area, Laura Scales House was created in honor of Laura Woolsey Lord Scales, a 1901 graduate who became the college's Warden (or dean of students) in 1922. The house was created as part of a larger effort to ensure all students lived on campus, and it was built in 1936. Gloria Steinem lived there all four years of college, I believe, and it is listed next to her name in her yearbook. There is also a picture of Gloria posing with her fellow Laura Scales House classmates in front of the dorm. Apparently, every yearbook had the students pose in front of their dorms. Personally, I wish there were still college yearbooks. I always enjoyed getting mine throughout K-12 school. I suppose social media and an overall lack of appreciation for posterity have killed the yearbook culture, sadly.
After finding the Laura Scales House, I went in search of Ten Henshaw Avenue, which is where Margaret Mitchell lived. Margaret lived there with four other girls, and they all called it "Ten Hen."
I did find Henshaw Avenue, but I was unable to locate 10 Henshaw. There was this glorious building on Henshaw, and beside it stood a parking lot, followed by a building labeled "14 Henshaw."
Considering this building had no address and there is a parking lot next door, either this building is 10 Henshaw, or the actual building was torn down.
After feeling slightly defeated, I returned to Smith's main campus. I cannot stress enough how exquisitely beautiful this campus is. Having traveled to some pretty campuses, including University of Virginia, Oxford, College of Charleston, and my alma mater USC, I can honestly say Smith College is hands-down the prettiest campus I have ever seen in my life. It glows with history and plant life. Set amid a lovely town, it is at once both urban and idyllic. Look at this beauty:
I soon found an Episcopal church on campus and decided to take a look. As you can imagine, it was a lovely but small church right on campus for the students. Its architecture is simple, but inviting and classic.
After spending time in the church, alone, and taking quite a few pictures, I found Smith's Campus Center, which is really like their Russell House. It's not too pretty from the outside, but inside is rather cozy and open. Although I like the white and the use of natural light, the tangerine and lime don't exactly gel. I have no idea why those two colors were so predominant, but they are.
While there, I found the campus bookstore and bought myself a Smith t-shirt! I may not be a Smithie, but I do love this school.
Another neat discovery I made in the Campus Center is the fireplace room. How cozy is this? Oh, and I had to get a picture of the section of Great Illustrated Classics books; they were my favorites when I was about 7 years old.
The final picture is of the exterior of the Campus Center. Its architecture is surprisingly modern and contrasts sharply with the old brick buildings throughout the campus. Nevertheless, I liked the Campus Center and found its conspicuousness useful for navigating purposes!
Speaking of which, I returned to the Neilson Library (Smith's campus library, which also houses their archives) and took an ungodly amount of pictures. For the most part, the library is dark throughout. I did discover that there are three floors above the main floor, so there are more books there than I had presumed earlier. Nevertheless, there are considerably fewer books at the Neilson Library than at Thomas Cooper. Although I would have relished going to this school (or a school like Smith), I am grateful I got to attend the University of South Carolina at the very least for its library system, which is outstanding. Still, Smith's library is worth a visit, and their archives house some incredible stuff, including Margaret Sanger's papers.
That being said, there are a few things that still do not ring true for me. For one, their library bookmarks indicate some floors use Dewey Decimal, but others use Library of Congress. I have absolutely no idea why they would mix the two. It seems needlessly confusing and a waste of energy.
The best thing about the Neilson Library is the study area. Now THIS is how a library should look!
I walked through town some more after leaving the Neilson Library until I reached Northampton's public library, the Forbes Library.
It is a beautiful building inside and out. The shelves are a bit too close together for people with mobility-related disabilities, but I did like the quaintness of the library. It felt like a building people would want to come to for information and community events.
Also, the Forbes Library houses the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum. It was closed today, although I don't know why. I was able to go there a few days ago, but at the time I had picture-taking fatigue (unfortunately).
Forbes uses a card catalog in addition to their online catalog, and apparently the Coolidge Collection is entirely in a card catalog. It was fun to look through, for sure!
On another note, Forbes has old copies of books. I think they must be very selective in their weeding process, which is a great thing. Take for instance this first edition of Twilight Sleep by Edith Wharton:
They also had a Wharton shelf, which I appreciated certainly.
After visiting the library, I wandered through Northampton for the last time. The perfect spring weather enhanced the town's beauty - perfect to me, at least. While I was in line at a convenience store buying a snack, a man in front of me wiped some sweat from his forehead and said, "Man, it's so effin' hot today." Oh, honey. I sure hope you don't come to South Carolina for the next several months. Bless your heart.
It will be very difficult to say goodbye to this beautiful town tomorrow, but I am excited about the next leg of my journey. Tomorrow, I will travel to Lenox, Massachusetts to visit Edith Wharton's home, The Mount.
I'm exhausted, so good night for now!
Laura
Greetings, friends!
So far, the trip continues to go swimmingly. Today, I spent a little over three hours pouring over Smith College's archival collections pertaining to Margaret Mitchell. It was quite an experience. As one who adores every library I've ever set foot in and relishes research, I was pretty much in heaven.
Today was much warmer than yesterday; the temperature was in the mid-60s. I've evidently become acclimated to this climate as prior to this trip I would have considered this weather chilly. Instead, it felt great!
New England Food
I again had lunch at the Smithsonian Cafe and Chowderhouse and tried another New England delicacy. I again had that famous clam chowder (chow-dah!), but, at the behest of the nice girl who remembered me from yesterday, I also tried something called a Popover. I had no idea what that was, so I decided to go for it.
Evidently, a Popover is this almost-burned bread that has eggy stuff inside. As you can see from the pictures, it's sort of hollow in the middle. I can't say it was the most appetizing thing I've ever eaten, but apparently people love them up here. Frankly, it made me miss some good ol' Southern cheese biscuits, but I digress. The soup was scrumdiddlyumptious like yesterday, and I might get it one more time before I have to leave on Thursday.
Background on the Research
Researching at Smith was so much fun! Honestly, I think I had a smile on my face the entire time. Although I was allowed to take pictures of all of the materials I viewed, I unfortunately am prohibited from posting any of them online due to copyright laws. Nevertheless, I can still quote them!
That being said, it's important first to establish why I came all the way to Massachusetts to study a woman who lived virtually her whole life in Atlanta, Georgia.
Margaret Mitchell was born in 1900 in Atlanta and was the daughter of Eugene and May Belle Mitchell. Her parents were born during Reconstruction, and both of her grandfathers served in the Confederate army. I think it's important to remember this because it explains why she romanticized the antebellum south to such a degree in Gone with the Wind. It also explains and contextualizes her experiences when she was a student at Smith.
She only spent one year at Smith College, but it was harrowing and life-altering. She was a freshman in 1918, which means she was beginning her education amid the end of World War I, the height of the Russian Revolution, and at the beginning of the Spanish flu epidemic. Moreover, the Suffrage movement in America was reaching its peak, with women getting the vote only two years later. Obviously, this was a tumultuous time in human history, and Margaret Mitchell did not pass through this time period unscathed.
Margaret's mother, May Belle Mitchell, was one of the most prominent Suffragettes in the Southeast and was part of the generation that got women the vote. In fact, Margaret often said her earliest memory was of her mother pinning a strap across her body that read "Votes for Women!" when she was three years old. As a result, May Belle insisted not only on Margaret going to college, but also on her choosing Smith, which she considered the finest women's college in the country.
Margaret did not really enjoy her time at Smith, and there is good reason for this. For one, moving from Hot-lanta to freezing cold Massachusetts was a sharp change. She felt embarrassed about her accent, and was self-conscious about her abilities in school.
In what is now a disturbing and embarrassing display of behavior, Margaret actually walked out of her class because one of her classmates was Black. Having grown up in the segregated South, she had never interacted with Black people before and was taken aback. Certainly, when I first read about this incident in a biography a few years ago, I felt ill. Although it is important to remember Smith was not exactly a bastion of racial equality in 1918, that in no way excuses Margaret's behavior. Yet, it does put her later philanthropy in an interesting light and, I think, shows how far she came when she was older. Mitchell has long fascinated me for being such a paradox, and knowing about this incident is integral to understand who she was.
In addition to experiencing this new environment, she met her fiance, Clifford Henry, while at Smith. Clifford was a pilot in World War I, and he was killed on October 17, 1918 - only weeks before the end of the war.
She always said Clifford was the love of her life and that she never got over his death. In fact, every year on the anniversary of his death, Margaret sent his family a bouquet of white roses. She did this until she herself died in 1949.
Obviously, Clifford's death impacted her tremendously. Bear in mind, her brother, Stephens Mitchell, was also serving overseas. The stress she was under was unbearable, certainly, but things only became worse in 1919 when her mother contracted and then died of Spanish Influenza. Margaret's father sent her a telegram that her mother was dying and for her to return to Atlanta immediately; although she rushed as fast as she could, she got there the day after her mother died. This should probably sound familiar to anyone who has read or seen the movie of Gone with the Wind as Scarlett O'Hara's mother dies of typhoid only a day before she returns home.
What I Got to See and Hold
First off, I think it's pretty great that the Smith College Archives still uses a card catalog! Neat, eh?
Smith's collection of Margaret Mitchell material is small, but there are some real gems in the collection. One folder in particular was bursting with newspaper clippings, most of which were about her death.
Evidently, the Atlanta Jounral, which was where Margaret worked as a reporter for a few years, ran a series of biographical articles about her as a sort of memorial. There were two that specifically dealt with her time at Smith, and one of them concluded with a rather sad letter she wrote to her brother not too long before she left Smith:
Steve, sometimes I get so discouraged I feel that there is no use keeping on here [Smith]. It isn't in studies, for I am about a 'C' student - but I haven't done a thing up here. I haven't shone in any line - athletic, literary, musical, or anything.
Of course, I suppose my year has been rather broken up with the flu and Clifford's and Mother's death, but in a college of 2,500 there are so many cleverer and more talented girls than I. If I can't be first, I'd rather be nothing. At any rate, I've learned a lot and I suppose that's what I came here for. It does seem that I could have done better though. Better luck next time.
The newspaper article dates that letter as March 17. I presume it was from 1919, considering she mentions her mother's death. I felt sad reading this one today; the tone of defeat is so strong here, and she seems so self-conscious about her learning and, in her eyes, shortcomings.
There were many more gems like this one. There was a letter to Smith College Libraries from 26 November 1954 by C. Mildred Thompson, one of Margaret's classmates. Evidently, Mildred and another classmate's daughter named Rachel Neely were responsible for Smith having any of Margaret's materials at all. Mildred's letter expressed how much she wanted the library to have materials on Margaret, particularly letters she wrote.
There was also an amusing story about the movie of Gone with the Wind: Apparently, Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland both wanted to meet Margaret so badly that they sent her a telegram asking for a few minutes to talk, then on the day the movie premiered they showed up at her door! According to Mildred, Margaret said she thought they were both students at Washington Seminary trying to sell her something. She did a double-take, though, and realized who they were.
There is also a Smith College Club of Atlanta that functions as an alumnae group. In 1950, less than a year after Margaret's death, the club established a scholarship in her memory; all of the money would fund girls from Georgia who wanted to attend Smith. The archives I looked at today had several letters and newspaper clippings going through the entire process of establishing the scholarship. The letter states that all young women who receive this money will be known as "Margaret Mitchell Scholars." The scholarship still exists today!
They also had records of Margaret's Honorary Master of Arts, which she received in 1939. She was ecstatic that they had chosen her for this, which she expressed in her letter back to Smith.
I wish I could include this picture, but the program for the Commencement had an illustration on the front of a woman clearly marching for women's rights, but she was holding a sign that read "We're Going with the Wind." It's amusing, and I could probably write an entire article just analyzing the program, but suffice it to say 'twas interesting.
One of my favorite letters was to Mary Clark. I'm not sure what her connection is to Smith, but evidently she had asked Margaret whether there would be a sequel to Gone with the Wind. This paragraph is Margaret's response:
You are very nice and flattering to want a sequel but there will not be any sequel. When you ask about what finally happened to Rhett and Scarlett, I can only say I do not know. As far as I was concerned, the story ended and ended very definitely and conclusively exactly where it ended. It never occurred to me, when I wrote it, that there was a "Lady or Tiger" tinge to it. People, as an Oriental proverb goes, carry their own destinies on their foreheads.
Burn! This letter made me laugh so hard, that had to put my hands over my mouth to avoid bothering the other patrons.
The newspaper articles about her death were very moving. There was an entire memorial issue of the Atlanta Journal devoted to her. There was also a clipping of an article about her funeral. It was on the front page, apparently, and had pictures of her hearse and the funeral procession.
Perhaps my favorite out of the articles on her death was one about the many condolences that came about her. Vivien Leigh wrote a very sweet statement about her:
Vivien Leigh, British actress who won fame with her portrayal of Scarlet [sic] O'Hara in the film version of Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind," said in London yesterday she was "deeply grieved" by the death of Margaret Mitchell.
"I have the most enchanting memories and unending gratitude and affection for Margaret Mitchell," Miss Leigh said. "That the strength of her pen could emanate from such a delightful and diminutive person will ever be a source of bewilderment and joy to all who were happy enough to know her."
The article has a similar statement from Clark Gable, but the best was from the local librarians:
A young librarian at Atlanta's Carnegie Library wept unashamedly yesterday as she displayed a giant "Gone with the Wind" scrapbook the library staff had compiled of clippings and movie stills. "Margaret Mitchell always gave us credit for the research work she did - and we're so proud that she did most of it here," the librarian said. "It always gave our patrons a thrill when Miss Mitchell walked in, but she never asked for special attention and never seemed to realize she attracted attention."
As someone who is in library school, I am especially moved by this testimonial.
There were so many cool and fascinating items I got to read today. I told the research librarian that I was done with the materials for now, but I may go back tomorrow just in case. It was a privilege to see this information and to hold history in my hands.
Funny Idea for Thomas Cooper
One thing I really liked about Smith's library and archives was the bookmarks they made. They're hilarious!
I love this idea!
One More Cool Thing...
Smith has a huge year book collection in their archival reading room. I looked through the one from 1919, but it had nothing about Margaret Mitchell. However, I got to read another famous alumna's year book...Gloria Steinem!
Gloria graduated in 1956. Evidently, Smith would only put pictures of graduating seniors in the year books (hence why Margaret is not in one). I wish, wish, wish, WISH I could post Gloria Steinem's year book picture, but alas.
Oh, I forgot to add that the year books also have pictures of the students posing in groups in front of their dorms. Where did Gloria Steinem live? In a little dorm called LAURA Sales. That's right, people, Gloria Steinem lived in a dorm with my name on it. I'm not sure what that means, exactly, but I'll take it.
At the End of the Day...
Overall, today was wonderful! I had so much fun that I'll probably go haunt the library again tomorrow for old time's sake. As I walked home, I bought myself an ice cream cone, then walked to the hotel. I can't say life gets much better than this: a beautiful spring day, research, libraries, archives, and ice cream. Ahhhh....
So long for now!
Laura
I'm finally here! It took altogether about 12 hours of traveling on Sunday, but I made it. The journey was fraught with delays, rude people, and terrible customer service, but I made it!
When I got to the hotel, I ordered a pizza, which was delicious. Those who appreciate irony will enjoy this: all day I had said the one thing I wanted was to take a bubble bath; when I got to my room, I realized it doesn't have a damn tub! Nevertheless, the shower felt amazing, the bed is huge and comfortable, and I got to watch my Sunday night PBS British costume dramas in peace.
Today, I relaxed in the morning, then close to lunch time decided to venture out in Northampton. The hotel staff last night was extremely hospitable, and they gave me a map of the town.
Northampton is tiny. In a way, it reminds me of some English villages I visited in the UK because everything is so compact. You really don't need a car at all in this town. One thing that struck me was other than a Starbucks and a CVS, all of the businesses are local. It was refreshing to be in a town without McDonald's golden arches poking up every few blocks.
As I got into town, I noticed a small bookstore, and of course I had to go there first! As you can see, it was gloriously disorganized, a beautiful mess of a salute to the greatness of the printed word:
Hello, friends!
Well, it has certainly been a while since I wrote on this blog. The truth is I have missed writing each day, and I have most definitely missed traveling! So, to solve these two problems, I have decided to expand the blog into being about my travels in general. And what better way to kick off this new and improved blog than a new trip?
This Sunday, I will fly to Northampton, Massachusetts to begin a new journey and to visit important sites pertaining to two writers who have inspired and fascinated me for years: Margaret Mitchell and Edith Wharton.
