Margaret Broadbent papers
Scope and Contents
The Margaret Broadbent Papers consist of letters dating from 1934-1936; a course paper, 1935; and photographs, 1938 and 1963. She wrote the letters to her parents in Rhode Island between her first and junior years at Mount Holyoke College. Letters refer to President Mary Emma Woolley; faculty members Leonora Branch, Anna Jean Mill, Blanche Brotherton Cox, Cornelia Catlin Coulter, Eleanor Catherine Doak, Ellen Deborah Ellis, Alice Browne Frame, and Bertha Haven Putnam; and classmates Rosamond Frame de Saint-Phalle, Gertrude Read Adams, Marjorie Stephens Belcher, Catherine Ryan Wasselle, Mary Evans Vorwerk, Mary Fletcher Terry, and Mary Charlotte Lane. Topics discussed in the letters include Mountain Day and other college traditions, cooperative housing for students, student employment, food, and social and cultural events such as dances, dates, and a lecture by Gertrude Stein. Letters also discuss examinations; course work in zoology, Latin, and physical education; soccer and other sports; the Outing Club and Glee Club, regulations concerning alcohol use and smoking. Other letters discuss the continuing impact of the 1929 economic depression on college students and families, and discuss political activities of students. The collection also contains a course paper regarding "Progression of Life on Earth," by Sir Arthur Smith Woodward, most likely written for an introductory English class. Finally, the collection contains two photographs, one taken as a senior at Mount Holyoke College in 1938 and one in 1963.
Dates
- 1934 - 1963
- Majority of material found within 1934 - 1936
Conditions Governing Access
unrestricted
Biographical Note
Margaret Elizabeth Broadbent was born on January 21, 1917 in Plymouth, Massachusetts to Wilfred O. Broadbent, district manager of a coal company, and Alice Sweet Cole Broadbent. She grew up in Edgewood, Rhode Island, attended Cranston (Rhode Island) High School from 1930 to 1934, and went to Mount Holyoke College from 1934 to 1938. She majored in English Language and Literature with a minor in Latin and received her B.A. in 1938. She then attended the Katherine Gibbs School for secretarial training in Rhode Island and in 1939 worked as Assistant to the Child Health Secretary in New Jersey. The following year she moved to New York City where she worked as an editorial assistant and clerk at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research through 1956. She has belonged to and directed the Adirondack Mountain Club and the Mount Holyoke College Club of New York City, and was a member of the Nominating Committee for the General Alumnae Association, 1958-1960. After retiring, she developed a workshop in publishing that she conducted at local colleges.
Extent
1 boxes (1938)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Broadbent, Margaret, 1917- ; editorial assistant and clerk. Mount Holyoke College graduate, 1938. Papers consist of letters, course papers and photographs; chiefly pertaining to activities as a student at the College.
- College students -- Economic conditions -- United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Dance Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Dating (Social customs) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Depressions -- 1929 -- United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Food Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Latin language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Massachusetts Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mount Holyoke College -- Curricula Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mount Holyoke College -- Faculty Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mount Holyoke College -- Regulations Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mount Holyoke College -- Student housing Subject Source: Local sources
- Mount Holyoke College -- Student life -- 1934-1936 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mount Holyoke College -- Students Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mount Holyoke College -- Students -- Employment Subject Source: Local sources
- Mount Holyoke College -- Students -- Political activity Subject Source: Local sources
- Mount Holyoke College Manuscript Collections Subject Source: Local sources
- Mountain Day -- Massachusetts -- South Hadley Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Music -- Instruction and study -- Massachusetts Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Physical education for women -- History -- Sources Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Smoking Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Women college students -- Alcohol use Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Zoology -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Massachusetts Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- correspondence Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- photographs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Title
- Broadbent papers, 1934-1936, 1938, 1963 (bulk 1934-1936)
- Subtitle
- Finding Aid
- Status
- Edited Full Draft
- Date
- © 2003
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
- Sponsor
- Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Repository Details
Part of the Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections Repository
50 College Street
8 Dwight Hall
South Hadley MA 01075-6425 USA
413-538-3079
archives@mtholyoke.edu
