Robinson, Ethel Breitenstein,
Robinson papers,
1906-1961
Manuscript Collection: MS 0719
boxes
Agency History/Biographical note:
Ethel Palmer Breitenstein was born on June 9, 1887 in Watervliet, New
York to George P. Breitenstein and Caroline Stoneman Breitenstein.
She attended State Normal High School in Albany, New York. She
entered Mount Holyoke College in 1907 and majored in zoology and
economics and earned a B.A degree in 1911. From 1912-1914 she did
office work for Cotrell and Leonard. She married Lloyd Nash
Robinson, an electrical engineer on January 27, 1914. They had two
children, Margaret Williams Robinson, born 1915 and Theodore
Dusenbury Robinson, born 1917. Her daughter, Margaret, later
attended Mount Holyoke College, graduating in the Class of 1937.
Robinson was a housewife for much of her life, although in 1946 she
did secretarial work for King County Medical Society in Seattle,
Washington. She lived in New York, Seattle, Washington, California,
and Boston, Massachusetts. She died on November 14, 1964, in
Seattle, Washington at the age of seventy-seven.
Scope and Content:
The Ethel Palmer Breitenstein Robinson Papers include correspondence,
notebooks, a scrapbook, biographical information, and photographs.
Of particular note are the scrapbook, photographs, and notebooks.
The scrapbook primarily covers her time spent at Mount Holyoke
College, 1906-1913, and chiefly contains items such as photographs of
friends and schoolmates, programs, schedules, and invitations. Also
of particular note are the photographs albums, dating 1893-1964,
which mainly focus on her life both during her time at, and after her
departure from, Mount Holyoke College. There are three photograph
albums which include photographs of herself, her husband, Lloyd Nash
Robinson, her children, Margaret Williams Robinson(Mount Holyoke
College, Class of 1937) and Theodore Dusenbury Robinson, and
grandchildren. Also of note are two zoology notebooks belonging to
Robinson documenting two zoology courses she took while at Mount
Holyoke. The notebooks include notes, sketches, and some initialed
sketches by the course professors, Louise Baird Wallace, Julia B.
Moody, Alice A. Noyes, Cornelia M. Clapp, and Mary A. Clark.
Completing the collection is biographical information, consisting of
newspaper clippings, wedding and birth announcements, and Robinson's
obituary, and some brief correspondence between Robinson and the
Mount Holyoke Alumnae Association. The correspondence records minor
changes in her life and information about her son and daughter.
Cite as: Ethel Bernstein Robinson Papers, Mount Holyoke
College Archives and Special Collections, South
Hadley, MA.
Access Restrictions: Unrestricted
Series List:
- Scrapbook
, 1906-1913
, 1 folder
- Notebooks
, 1908-1910
, 2 folders
- Correspondence
, 1918-1961
, 1 folder
- Biographical Information
, 1911-1964
, 1 folder
- Photographs
, Ca. 1893-1962
, 4 folders
|
