MS 0717.1
Correspondence , 1880-1889, 1928
5 folders
Chronological
Forms part of MS 0717, The Mary Otis Preston Spafford Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 2002/11/19
Description:
This series chiefly consists of letters written
by Spafford in 1880 and from 1882-1889. The 1880
letter was written to her Mount Holyoke Female
Seminary classmates. It offers a detailed
description of Spafford's work at the Clarke
Institute for Deaf Mutes in Northampton,
Massachusetts, where she had the care of
twenty-eight boys between the ages of six and
twelve. In July of 1882 she left her home in
South Hadley, Massachusetts to take a teaching
position at the Huguenot Seminary in Wellington,
South Africa. Her letters for her years in
Africa begin on July 8, 1882, with a description
of her journey by rail to New Haven, Connecticut,
then by boat to New York City, then overseas to
London where she stayed at the Temperance Hotel
and took in the local sights, and finally on the
S.S. "Spartan" to Cape Town, South Africa, where
she arrived on August 18. She received a warm
welcome at Huguenot Seminary, founded in 1874 by
the Reverend Andrew Murray who wished to model
the new school for girls after Mount Holyoke
Female Seminary. Two Mount Holyoke graduates,
Abbie Park Ferguson and Anna E. Bliss, were
recruited to head the Seminary and both were
there when Spafford arrived. She was greeted by
one hundred and twenty students, Dutch and
English, distributed among the Higher, Middle and
Lower Departments, and fourteen teachers. Those
in the Higher Department had to be at least
fifteen years old. The purpose of the school was
to give young women an education and mold
character, as well as to train teachers. All
members of the school aided in the "domestic work
of the family." Spafford taught a variety of
subjects, including Latin and physics. Although
most of the students were Dutch, students spoke
English. Not long after she arrived she took
over the school accounts. This was a demanding
job since it involved the payroll and long
Government reports; her records were regularly
inspected by a government official. The job also
involved writing business letters, shopping for
the Seminary which meant dealing with local
shopkeepers, and visiting the bank, where, she
wrote, she was not intimidated by the bankers.
At one time she was Acting Principal while Miss
Bliss and Miss Ferguson were away--a job she did
not relish, especially when disciplining the
pupils. She felt overpowered with the
responsibility for "such naughty girls" and hated
dealing with young men posing as relatives of
Seminary students, although she was unfazed by
rowdy village youths who peered into students'
windows and tore up Seminary grounds. In a
boarding school caring for sick students was
another duty of teachers. Government inspectors
made regular visits and the Seminary was justly
proud of its good results in the Government
examinations. During Spafford's tenure the school
expanded, adding Goodnow Hall and purchasing
other property for additional dormitory space.
Three miles from the Seminary, Abbie Ferguson's
brother was head of a training institute, a
mission school for young men. He and his wife
appear frequently in these letters. Since there
was no English-speaking church in Wellington,
Sundays were usually spent sitting on a plain
board at a Dutch church, an endurance trial since
services lasted three hours. Hearing the
Reverend Mr. Ferguson and the Reverend Mr. Murray
preach in English at Seminary services was a
welcome relief. When classes were not in
session, days were filled with activities. The
Chautauqua Circle was reading the Iliad in the
spring of 1885 and celebrating Longfellow's
birthday. The area provided beautiful country;
school picnics, botanical excursions, local
expeditions were frequent, sometimes with
students, sometimes with teachers. There were
also vacation and holiday times which permitted
exploration of the vicinity around Cape Town.
Frequently a group of teachers rented a house on
a beach, perhaps twelve or more with several
servants, bringing their household things with
them. One trip involved tenting between the two
oceans. Although Spafford did not swim, she
adored sea bathing, sometimes with a horse-drawn
bathing machine. Short holidays were often spent
with families of students, or former
students--mostly Dutch farmers with families of
ten or more children. The Seminary, she wrote,
was a password into Dutch homes. Since most
farms had vineyards, wine was always offered
guests, but Spafford, as a White Ribbon wearer,
would refuse, drinking her favorite milk instead.
Some trips were to mission stations. One was to
Beaufort, three hundred miles from Cape Town and
up three thousand feet. Another took her by boat
in April 1887 to Durban, nine hundred miles east
of Wellington, then by train , then by cart for
forty miles, to see a Mount Holyoke alumna, Sarah
E. Holbrook, and her husband at their Zulu
Mission. On her return trip she visited Inanda
Seminary by horseback and visited a Kraal hut, a
challenge with her "long habit and big hat" going
through an opening two feet high (June 1887).
There were many visitors at the Seminary. It was
a magnet for tourists on passing steamers and of
course for many missionaries and teachers
travelling back and forth from South Africa to
the British Isles and the States. In November of
1882 a team of astronomers lead by Simon Newcomb
set up equipment on the Seminary grounds to view
the transit of Venus. On board a U.S. Naval ship
"three of us ladies sat down with 12 nice
American gentlemen" for a five-course meal (June
1886). In January of 1884 a flag ship of the
British Navy was stationed at Simon's Town nearby
and Captain McLeod proved a gracious host. There
was great excitement when Mount Holyoke alumna
Carrie Ingraham, Principal of Bloemhof Girls'
High School in Stellenbosch, announced her
engagement. Spafford wrote that she was the
first of sixty American teachers to become
engaged, but "Do not think she is the first one
to be asked, oh dear no..." (February 1886). One
special friend of Spafford's was Frances Smith
who had been a student at the Seminary, receiving
honors in the Teachers Examination, and who then
taught school. Spafford was often a guest of the
family and they vacationed together. In 1885 she
met "a corporal from the Royal Scots and Mr.
Spafford, a gunner from the South Irish
Artillery," both members of the British Navy.
She described Spafford as "dressed in dark blue
with red and gold stripes, a little round cap, a
fine looking fellow rather fair with a mustache."
There are few references to him after that until
July of 1887, when she wrote that he had been
writing often and for her birthday she received a
silver pin. Their visits were evidently brief
since she wrote in March of 1889 that he finally
had time off and they had strolled through Lovers
Lane. When she was sailing for home, she felt
badly that she had to leave him but there was "no
scene on board." Spafford surely used every
opportunity that opened to her while in South
Africa. She welcomed each new challenge,
enjoying new foods (exotic fruit, ostrich) and
exploring the country. Deeply concerned about
the amount of drinking, she helped to establish a
coffee house in town for the local population and
another for sailors on shore leave. She was
sensitive to the plight of "the colored people"
and refused to attend the circus because of the
use of small children in the performances. She
also visited a colony of four hundred lepers and
insane on an island about an hour's boat ride
away (December 1888). Although the focus of
these letters is on Spafford's life in South
Africa, her ties with home remained strong and
she frequently comments about news, friends and
relatives whom she heard about in the letters
from her family. On May 8, 1928, Spafford sent a
letter and birthday card to Anna Edwards,
mentioning the coincidence that her grandson
turned nine years old the same day that Anna
turned ninety.
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MS 0717.2
Transcripts of Correspondence , 1882-1889
9 folders
Chronological
Froms part of MS 0717, The Mary Otis Preston Spafford Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 1999/11/01
Description:
This series contains complete typed transcripts
of the letters that Spafford wrote between
1882-1889 which are filed in Series 1. There are
2 sets of transcripts, one set that is bound and
another set that is unbound.
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MS 0717.3
Biographical Information , ca. 1904, 1906, 1933
1 folder
Chronological
Forms part of MS 0717, The Mary Otis Preston Spafford Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 1999/11/01
Description:
The biographical material includes a newspaper
article about Spafford's parents' fiftieth
anniversary and three obituaries for Spafford,
which give brief summaries of her life.
Biographical information written by Anna Edwards
provides basic details of Spafford's life.
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MS 0717.4
Memorabilia , ca. 1879
1 folder
Forms part of MS 0717, The Mary Otis Preston Spafford Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 1999/11/01
Description:
Pin for the Class of 1879 at Mount Holyoke Female
Seminary bearing the motto "God us Ayde"
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MS 0717.5
Photograph , ca. 1879
1 folder
Chronological
Forms part of MS 0717, The Mary Otis Preston Spafford Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 1999/11/01
Description:
A photograph of Spafford probably dating from
1879, when she graduated from Mount Holyoke
Female Seminary.
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