Call Number:

9LS.19

Repository:

Bryn Mawr College

Extent:

1 volumes

Language:

English

Date:

1915-1919 (inclusive)

Abstract:

Mary Thurman was a member of the class of 1919. She was highly involved in SGA and sports. The Mary "Tip" Thurman scrapbook contains Thurman's one volume scrapbook. The scrapbook contains materials from the four years during which Thurman was a student at Bryn Mawr, from 1915-1919. It consists primarily of correspondence and newspaper clippings.

Mary "Tip" Thurman was born February 17, 1898 in Columbus, Ohio. She attended Bryn Mawr College with the class of 1919. While at Bryn Mawr, she was Class President, SGA Treasurer (resigned), and Secretary of the Philosophy Club. She also played hockey, basketball, and ran track. After graduation, Thurman taught English at Shipley School for a few years. In the early 1920s, she traveled to post-war France and served as the Head of the Ambulance Corp. In 1926, she and a few friends traveled alone to Capetown, South Africa. Here, she met her first husband, Captain Duglad A. Fletcher of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. They divorced in the 1930s, however. Thurman returned to the U.S. and taught at St. Catherine's School in Richmond, Virginia and served as the Head of the Academic Department of Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia. In 1938, she received her master's from Columbia University Teacher's College in 1938 and married her second husband, Milward W. Martin. Thurman was named Trustee Emerita of Hofstra University in 1947 and remained there for several decades, retiring in the late 1980s. She was involved in charity work, gardening, and fundraising. Thurman died January 1, 1999.

The Mary "Tip" Thurman scrapbook contains the one volume scrapbook of Mary Thurman, Bryn Mawr College class of 1919. The scrapbook contains materials from the four years during which Thurman was a student at Bryn Mawr, from 1915-1919. It consists primarily of correspondence and newspaper clippings.

The scrapbook is housed in one volume, which consists mainly of materials and correspondence relating to class play performances and memorabilia from inter-class events. It contains many letters and notes regarding preparations for welcoming freshman (from Thurman's sophomore year) and planning play performances. Materials also concern WWI's effect on Bryn Mawr's campus—mainly through newspaper clippings—the Bryn Mawr farm, and comics regarding female college students, including one detailing Bryn Mawr's short hair fad. Some other notable materials include: letters and a notebook concerned with 1919's Sophomore Show (apparently some members of the class found it immoral, and there were problems with the cost of the scripts); letters concerning the great lengths to which Mawrters have gone to steal the Freshman Parade Night Song; and a number of letters from incoming freshman, including Fumi Uchida. Some of the correspondence is difficult to understand sans context, but an explanation has been provided in the form of Thurman's speech at the 50th reunion of her class. Unfortunately, it is unclear where this speech currently resides.

Thurman's scrapbook is a large and lively volume that paints a striking picture of both world and campus events. It would be of most value to anyone interested in the way in which Bryn Mawr was affected by World War I, student life, Bryn Mawr traditions, the Bryn Mawr farm, and, to a lesser extent, the 1918 flu pandemic and women's suffrage.