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Agency History/Biographical note:
Katharine Eleanor Condon was born on October 13, 1892 to Randall Judson Condon and his wife Eliza Sturtevant Condon in Everett, Massachusetts. She graduated from high school in 1910 in Helena, Montana, where her father was Superintendent of Schools. She entered Mount Holyoke College in the fall of 1910, majoring in art and English literature and earning her B.A. degree in 1914. She attended the University of Cincinnati in Ohio for additional work in "secretarial and home economics" in 1914-1915. In 1924-1925 she attended the School of Religious Education, Boston University, and assisted her father in Friendship, Maine and Boston, Massachusetts with editing the "Atlantic Readers". She was a private secretary in Cincinnati from 1915-1919. She began working for the Young Women's Christian Association in 1919 and held a variety of positions in that organization until 1931. On August 13, 1925 she married Frank C. Foster, a teacher at Hampton Institute, Virginia. The Fosters lived in Virginia, New York City, North Carolina, California, and Tennessee, but made their home in Friendship, Maine. They had two children, Randall Condon Foster, born 1929, and Walter Sturtevant Foster, born 1933. She died September 11, 1960 in Friendship, Maine at the age of sixty-seven.

Scope and Content:
The Katharine Eleanor Condon Foster Papers consist of correspondence, a scrapbook, financial records, memorabilia, Asheville College publications, and biographical information. These materials chiefly reflect her years as a student at Mount Holyoke College, 1910-1914. Her letters written to her aunt, uncle, and parents describe her  activities during her freshman and senior years, 1910 and 1913-1914. They include descriptions of faculty members, guest speakers, and events such as the Freshman Frolic, Founder's Day, an ice carnival, Senior Show, Mountain Day, and off-campus excursions. The letters also mention food, the end of the domestic work system, the support of missionary work, and physical education activities such as basketball and fencing. Her scrapbook contains addresses of friends, photographs, College publications, programs, copies of examinations, and other material reflecting her life as a Mount Holyoke student. The memorabilia consists of a cafe bill of fare, probably dating from her student years, and a Christmas card, 1947. Financial records concern her expenses at Mount Holyoke College, 1910-1911, 1913-1914. The Asheville College material concerns the institution in North Carolina where her husband served as Dean and later President. This material includes catalogues and student publications which describe the curriculum and facilities of the Asheville Normal and Collegiate Institute, 1897-1898, Asheville Normal and Teacher's College, Asheville Teachers College, and Asheville College, 1937-1943. Rounding out the collection is biographical information dating from 1914-1960. This material includes Foster's obituary.

Cite as: Katharine Condon Foster Papers, Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, MA.

Access Restrictions: Unrestricted

Series List:


• Correspondence , 1843-1864 , 6 folders
• Writings , 1841-1866 , 2 folders.
• Biographical Information , 1864 , 5 folders
• Memorabilia , 1842-1864 , 2 folders
• Photographs , ca. 1842-1864 , 2 folders