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Robinson papers

 Collection
Identifier: MS 0719

Scope and Contents

The Ethel Palmer Breitenstein Robinson Papers consist of a scrapbook, two notebooks, newspaper clippings, an invitation and a birth announcement, photograph albums and photographs. Of particular note are the scrapbook, photographs, and notebooks. The scrapbook primarily covers her time spent at Mount Holyoke College, 1906-1911, and chiefly contains items such as photographs of friends and schoolmates, programs, schedules, and invitations. Also of particular note are the photographs albums, dating from ca.1893-1962, which include three albums with photographs of herself, her husband Lloyd Nash Robinson, her children and grandchildren. Also of note are two zoology notebooks that Robinson compiled for zoology courses she took while at Mount Holyoke. The notebooks include notes and sketches, some initialed sketches by Zoology Department faculty members Louise Baird Wallace, Julia B. Moody, Alice A. Noyes, Cornelia M. Clapp or Mary A. Clark. Completing the collection is biographical information, consisting of newspaper clippings, wedding and birth announcements, and Robinson's obituary.

Dates

  • ca.1893-1964 (bulk 1907-1961)
  • Majority of material found within 1907 - 1961

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical Note

Ethel Palmer Breitenstein was born on June 9, 1887 in Watervliet, New York to George P. Breitenstein and Caroline Stoneman Breitenstein. She attended State Normal High School in Albany, New York. She entered Mount Holyoke College in 1907 and majored in zoology and economics and earned a B.A degree in 1911. From 1912-1914 she did office work. She married Lloyd Nash Robinson, an electrical engineer on January 27, 1914. They had two children. Robinson was a housewife for much of her life, although in 1946 she did secretarial work for a medical society in Seattle, Washington. She also lived in California and Massachusetts. She died on November 14, 1964 in Seattle, Washington at the age of seventy-seven.

Extent

3 boxes (1911)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Robinson, Ethel Palmer Breitenstein, 1887-1964; student and housewife. Mount Holyoke College graduate, 1911. Papers consist of correspondence, notebooks, scrapbook, biographical information, photograph albums and photographs documenting primarily her academic and social activities at Mount Holyoke.

Arrangement

Arranged in 4 series: Series 1. Scrapbook. Series 2. Notebooks. Series 3. Biographical Information. Series 4. Photographs.

Title
Robinson papers, ca.1893-1964 (bulk 1907-1961)
Status
Edited Full Draft
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
50 College Street
8 Dwight Hall
South Hadley MA 01075-6425 USA
413-538-3079