Putnam, Lucy P.
Putnam papers,
1845-1846.
Manuscript Collection: MS 0710
1
box
Agency History/Biographical note:
Lucy Pepper Putnam, the daughter of Benjamin Putnam, was born in
Washington, Vermont on March 22, 1823. She entered Mount Holyoke
Female Seminary in September of 1845 from Plaistow, New Hampshire,
where she was residing at the time. She remained at Mount Holyoke
only through the end of the 1845-1846 session. Putnam died on
February 21, 1849 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, at the age of
twenty-five.
Scope and Content:
The Lucy Pepper Putnam Papers contain a letter and ten compositions
and poems, all written during her year as a student at Mount Holyoke
Female Seminary, 1845-1846. The letter, addressed to Mr. and Mrs.
Nathaniel Clarke, primarily discusses her travel to Mount Holyoke
Female Seminary from New Hampshire and her reaction to her first
three weeks at the school. Besides writing about her homesickness,
Putnam describes her room in the Seminary Building, the furnishings,
the rules, her domestic work, examinations, her schedule, the food,
and Mary Lyon. There are six compositions as well as four poems.
Two of the compositions, "A Visit to the Insane Asylum," (which
describes an attempt to visit an insane asylum in Concord, New
Hampshire) and "Character of Queen Esther," are probably creative
pieces. The other compositions are entitled "Great Effects from
Small Causes," "Female Education," "Early Rising," and "Uncertainty
of Earthly Things." The poems are entitled "One Composition," "The
Star of Bethlehem," "My Home," and "My Mother."
Cite as: Lucy P. Putnam Papers, Mount Holyoke College
Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley,
MA.
Access Restrictions: Unrestricted
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