2 boxes

Agency History/Biographical note:
Margaret (Margareta) Marie Niles was born on October 6, 1892 in Amsterdam, New York. Her father was Charles L. Niles. She attended Amsterdam High School then went to Mount Holyoke College from 1910-1914. She received her B.A. in 1914 with a major in zoology and English literature. She married Raymond A. Barkhuff, a production manager, on January 19, 1917 and they had two children. She died on December 21, 1992 in Wethersfield, Connecticut, at the age of one hundred.

Scope and Content:
The Margaret Niles Barkhuff Papers consist of a scrapbook, a photograph album, recollections, memorabilia, biographical information and a photograph. Most of the material relates to her years as a student at Mount Holyoke College, 1910-1914. The scrapbook consists of mementoes of her undergraduate years. It contains programs for events on campus and at local theaters, ticket stubs, dance cards, invitations to receptions and dances, class schedules, and an occasional sketched drawing of students. The scrapbook also contains correspondence from faculty and offices on campus regarding her academic status. There are frequent explanatory notes and asides in her handwriting. The photograph album chiefly dates from her undergraduate years and contains photographs of scenic views and interior and exterior shots buildings on campus, dormitory rooms, automobiles and carriages, a dramatic production of "As You Like It" from 1913, and students Yau Tsit Law, Class of 1916, and Helen "Hump" Humphrey Felber, Class of 1914. There are photographs of students entering the "Art "Nook" gift shop and of the Young Women's Christian Association camp in Silver Bay, New York on Lake George. The photograph album also contains photographs of student traditions including Mountain Day, Senior Mountain Day, senior  traditions of top spinning and jumping rope, a May Pole dance, 1913 senior show, ivy planting, Commencement, Laurel Parade, and step singing. In addition, there are a few photographs taken at a reunion picnic, ca. 1916. The recollections were written in 1992 and concern her childhood in Amsterdam, New York. They also explain the derivation of her nickname Gretchen. Memorabilia consists of report cards from her four years at Mount Holyoke, a tuition receipt from 1914, and an invitation for her son's wedding in 1943. Biographical information includes a biographical note ca. 1917 and her obituary, 1992. The photograph in the collection is an informal snapshot taken in 1992 on her one hundredth birthday.

Cite as: Margaret Niles Barkhuff Papers, Mount Holyoke College, Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, MA.

Access Restrictions: Unrestricted

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