Hall, Ruth Tenny,
Hall papers,
1923-1997
Manuscript Collection: MS 0619
3
boxes
Agency History/Biographical note:
Ruth Hana Tenny was born on June 23, 1907 in Kyoto, Japan to Charles
and Grace Webb Tenny (Mount Holyoke Class of 1904). She was the 1904
"class baby", (the first girl born to a member of the class). Charles
Tenny was a Baptist missionary in Japan. Grace Tenny died in
childbirth in 1910, and Hall lived in Japan with her father and
stepmother Elizabeth Pettee Tenny (Mount Holyoke Class of 1905) until
1923. She then lived with her maternal grandparents Henry and Ella
Webb in Rochester, New York, where she graduated from high school in
1925. Hall entered Mount Holyoke College in 1925 and received her
B.A. in 1929. She spent one year teaching at the American School in
Yokohama, Japan and returned to the United States to study at the
Rochester Business Institute. In 1931 she became the Home Lighting
Specialist for the Brooklyn Edison Company in New York and was
appointed lecturer-in-charge for the same company in 1936. In June
1932 she married Frederick R. Hall, a 1931 graduate of Yale College,
and they had one child. Hall began to teach in the New Jersey Public
School system in 1944 and received her Secondary Teaching Certificate
from the College of St. Elizabeth in New Jersey in 1948. She became
a lecturer in education at the College of St. Elizabeth in 1969 and
retired in 1970. She died at the age of ninety on September 27, 1997
in Alexandria, Virginia.
Scope and Content:
The Ruth Tenny Hall papers consist of correspondence written to and
from Hall, diaries, a scrapbook, writings, memorabilia, biographical
information and photographs. The bulk of the material relates to
Hall's undergraduate years at Mount Holyoke College, 1925-1929, and
documents her social and academic life. In letters to family members
Hall discusses her studies, mentioning lectures, faculty, grades and
examinations. Her letters include references to racial matters, such
as a letter from October 11, 1925 describing a discussion of race
problems at the Cosmopolitan Club; a letter from November 1, 1925
describing a performance in blackface; and her September 23, 1928
letter mentioning her "little colored sister." She also describes
her social activities, including references to clubs and sporting
teams she belonged to such as field hockey. Hall describes events on
campus including Junior Show, Mountain Day, and Junior Prom, as well
as the numerous outings she and her "gang" of eleven friends went on
including movies. Other campus issues mentioned are hazing, policies
concerning smoking in the fall of 1925 (Hall was a member of the
Representative Council of the Mount Holyoke College Community and was
assigned to the committee looking at the smoking problem), and an
influenza epidemic in 1928. Among the friends frequently mentioned
are her roommate for three years Rhoda "Pat" Gilpatric Ketchum,
Lorraine Keck, and Sarah "Sally" Steckel Skinner. The scrapbook and
memorabilia contain programs for events on campus, as well as
Valentine's Day and Christmas cards, dance cards and programs from
debates in which she participated. Hall's diaries provide
descriptions of events on campus and detail her daily routine,
including mention of the weather, homework, grades, outings with
friends, and visits from family members and her future husband,
Frederick R. Hall. Letters to him document their early relationship
and courtship as well as preparations for their 1932 wedding.
Letters written to Hall from her father Charles Tenny, a Baptist
missionary in Japan, describe the 1923 earthquake which occurred in
Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan and caused an estimated 130,000 deaths.
Correspondents include Frederick R. Hall; Charles Tenny; Rhoda
Gilpatric Ketchum, Mount Holyoke College Class of 1929; and Helene
Pope Whitman, Mount Holyoke College Class of 1904.
Cite as: Ruth Tenny Hall Papers, Mount Holyoke College,
Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley,
Massachusetts
Access Restrictions: Unrestricted
Series List:
- Correspondence
, 1923-1927
,
- Diaries
, 1925-1930
,
- Scrapbook
, 1925-1929
, 1 box
- Writings
, 1929, 1954
,
- Memorabilia
, 1925-1929
,
- Biographical Information
, 1925-1991
,
- Photographs
, 1909-1929
,
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