Ruth S. Rafferty papers, circa 1905-1926: Scope & Contents of the Collection

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Ruth S. Rafferty Papers consist of correspondence, a journal, essays and other writings, a scrapbook, memorabilia, a biographical note, obituaries, and photographs. The material in the collection primarily documents her social and academic life as a high school and Mount Holyoke College student and her subsequent work as a summer camp counselor and teacher. In five detailed letters written to her mother during her freshman year at Mount Holyoke, 1911-1912, she discusses parties, faculty members, campus food, a basketball game, a Mountain Day excursion, and her grades. Letters written during the summer of 1915 after her graduation from Mount Holyoke describe her activities as a counselor at a summer camp in Maine. The remaining eighteen letters in the collection reflect her life as a high school teacher in Hudson, New York. She discusses the size of the classroom, her students and colleagues, her workload, the lack of experienced teachers, and her living expenses. She also discusses her social life. Other documents in the collection include a journal in which she describes a high school trip to Washington D.C. in about 1909 with stops at Boston, Philadelphia, and New York City. The journal includes an account of her expenses during the trip. Among her writings is a short parody of Edward Lear's works entitled "Lear's Catalog" that contains illustrations of plant species such as the "Armcharia Comfortabilis," "Smalltoothcombia Domestica," and "Manypeeplia Upsidonia." The scrapbook dating from circa 1911-1926 contains newspaper clippings that mention her activities in high school and at Mount Holyoke, as well as several snapshots of Rafferty and her friends. Rounding out the collection are several programs, certificates, and greeting cards, her grammar school and high school diplomas, biographical notes and obituaries from 1921-1926, and more photographs of Rafferty and others.