Call Number:

M86

Repository:

Bryn Mawr College

Extent:

13 linear ft. (13 containers, 1 photograph)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Olivia Stokes Hatch papers, 1859-1993, Special Collections Department, Bryn Mawr College Library.

Date:

1859-1993 (inclusive)

Creator:

Hatch, Olivia Stokes, 1908-1983

Form:

publications (documents), Diaries, Photographs, Correspondence, yearbooks, family papers, Estate records, and Travel photography

Abstract:

The Olivia Stokes Hatch papers reveal the relief work of women during the early 20th century, as well as family relationships, largely illustrated through extensive family correspondence. Olivia Stokes Hatch (1908-1983) was born in New Haven, CT and attended Bryn Mawr College from 1925 to 1930. Prior to her marriage she was very active with the American Red Cross and American Conferences of Social Work. In 1939, Olivia Phelps Stokes married John Davis Hatch, Jr. an art collector, consultant, and museum director. They had four children: John Davis Hatch III, Daniel Lindley Hatch, James Stokes Hatch, and Sarah Stokes Hatch. Anna V.S. Mitchell, the sister of Caroline Mitchell Phelps Stokes, and the aunt of Olivia Stokes Hatch, spent most of her life engaged in relief work. Her career began in 1915 in Serbia and ended in 1936 in Constantinople. The Olivia Stokes Hatch papers, 1859 to 1993, is a collection that consists largely of correspondence between the Phelps, Stokes, Mitchell, and Hatch families. The collection also includes photographs, essays, diaries, and other printed material. The collection is divided into three series: "Olivia Stokes Hatch," "Anna V.S. Mitchell," and "Collected Correspondence."

Olivia Stokes Hatch (née Olivia Egleston Phelps Stokes) was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1908, and attended Bryn Mawr College from 1925 to 1930. Active in the Christian Association, she served a term as president of the Self-Government Association. Her family, an illustrious group, included: her father, Anson Phelps Stokes, a respected theologian and author of Church and State in the United States; her brother, Anson Phelps Stokes, Jr., the Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts.; her brother, Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes II, a philanthropist, and her mother, Caroline Mitchell Phelps Stokes, whose sister was Anna V.S. Mitchell, a relief worker during World War I. In 1939, Olivia Phelps Stokes married John Davis Hatch, Jr. an art collector, consultant and museum director who worked at the Art Institute of Seattle from 1928 to 1931, the Isabella Stewart Museum in Boston from 1932 to 1935, the Albany Institute of Art and History from 1940 to 1948, and the Norfolk Museum of Art and Sciences in Virginia, also known as the Walter Chrysler Museum, from 1950 to 1959. They had four children: John Davis Hatch III, Daniel Lindley Hatch, James Stokes Hatch, and Sarah Stokes Hatch.

Before her marriage, Mrs. Hatch was very active with the American Red Cross and American Conferences of Social Work. During the 1940s, she worked with the League of Women Voters, City Club (Albany), Race Relations group, and the Red Cross Speakers Bureau. In the 1950s, she worked with the Norfolk League of Women Voters, and was active in church groups and the Parent-Teacher Association. In Lenox, Massachusetts, in the 1960s, she volunteered as a reader for Recording for the Blind, and helped to entertain young artists in conjunction with the Berkshire Music Center. She also traveled throughout the United States, Central and South America, and in the Far East. She is a co-author, with Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson, of Olivia's African Diary: Cape Town to Cairo, 1932, which describes their trip throughout Africa and was published in 1980.

She died on October 10, 1983. John Davis Hatch, Jr. died in 1996.

Anna V.S. Mitchell, sister of Caroline Mitchell Phelps Stokes, spent most of her life engaged in relief work. She was heavily involved with domestic fundraising efforts on behalf of Russian refugees in Constantinople and relief aid throughout World War I. Her career began in 1915 in Serbia and ended in 1936 in Constantinople.

The Olivia Stokes Hatch papers is a collection that consists largely of correspondence between the Phelps, Stokes, Mitchell, and Hatch families. The collection, which ranges from 1859 to 1993, also includes photographs, essays, diaries, and other printed material. It provides insight into women's work during World War I.

The collection is divided into three series: "Series I: Olivia Stokes Hatch," "Series II: Anna V.S. Mitchell," and "Series III: Collected Correspondence." Each of these series is divided into subseries.

"Series I: Olivia Stokes Hatch," is divided into five sub-series: "Biographical Information;" "Collected Personal Material;" "Correspondence;" "Family Material;" and "Photographs." "Biographical Material" includes clippings about Olivia Stokes Hatch and written accounts of her life and work. Within "Collected Personal Material," are items such as address books, notebooks, and elementary and high school yearbooks. The third sub-series is "Correspondence." As noted, the largest component of this collection is Olivia Stokes Hatch's family correspondence and it is arranged into outgoing and incoming sub-series, according to the principals in the Phelps, Stokes, Mitchell, and Hatch families. The sub-series includes the extensive correspondence of Olivia Stokes Hatch, her father and mother Anson Phelps Stokes and Caroline Mitchell Phelps Stokes, her husband John Davis Hatch Jr., and their children John Davis Hatch III, Daniel Lindley Hatch, James Stokes Hatch, and Sarah Stokes Hatch. Also included within the correspondence is the correspondence of Gethel Gregg Hatch, John Davis Hatch Sr., and other friends and relatives. Topics discussed in the correspondence include family relationships, work in the Red Cross, and travel. Researchers may also wish to review the correspondence within the "Anna V.S. Mitchell" series, as well as the final series, "Collected Correspondence," when studying the family correspondence. The fourth sub-series within "Series I: Olivia Stokes Hatch," is "Family Material." This sub-series includes childhood keepsakes of Olivia Stokes Hatch and John Hatch Jr.'s children, press releases and reports regarding the Phelps-Stokes Fund. Also found within "Family Materials" are the wills and estates of Anson Phelps Stokes and Olivia Stokes Hatch. The fifth subseries within "Series I: Olivia Stokes Hatch" is "Photographs," which consists of images of Olivia Stokes Hatch and her family, as well as locations in Egypt and across the United States.

"Series II: Anna V.S. Mitchell," refers to the sister of Olivia Stokes Hatch's mother, Caroline Mitchell Phelps Stokes. This series is divided into five sub-series: "Biographical Information;" "Correspondence;" "Collected Material;" "Diaries;" and "Essays." "Biographical Material" contains travel documents and accounts of Anna V.S. Mitchell's work during and after World War I. The second sub-series within "Series II: Anna V.S. Mitchell" is "Correspondence." Again, correspondence is a large component of this series, documenting the relationships of the Mitchell family. The sub-series includes the correspondence of Anna V.S. Mitchell, her sister Caroline Mitchell Phelps Stokes, Anson Phelps Stokes and Olivia Stokes Hatch, and other relatives and friends. Much of the correspondence is regarding her work during World War I and domestic fundraising efforts on behalf of Russian refugees in Constantinople. When reviewing this correspondence, researchers may also be interested in examining the final series in the collection, "Collected Correspondence," for additional information. Following "Correspondence" is Anna V.S. Mitchell's "Collected Material," which contains publications, notes, and records of her life and specifically, World War I. Of note in this sub-series are excerpts of her letters from July 1916 to May 1919, that have been transcribed. The fourth sub-series within "Anna V.S. Mitchell" is "Diaries." Her diaries provide an intimate and firsthand account of her work and experiences in World War I. The diaries date from 1896 through 1925. The final sub-series is "Essays" and here researchers will find her handwritten reflections and recollections of her relief work.

The final series in this collection is "Series III: Family Correspondence." This series contains the correspondence of Sarah Lindley Mitchell, Lucy Mitchell Molteno, Sarah Rood, and other members of the Mitchell and Stokes families.

This collection is an excellent resource for those researching family dynamics and relationships in the early to mid 20th century. The collection also provides an intimate look into the relief work of women during World War I through correspondence and diaries created by those involved directly. The work of women in the American Red Cross is also well documented through correspondence within the collection.