Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections

Archival Inventory

Historical Sketch:
The study of literature has been taught at Mount Holyoke since the early days of the Seminary. The English Department, focused mainly on composition, was formed in the 1895/1896 academic year, and it existed concurrently with related departments until 1940/1941. In 1897/1898, the English Literature and Language Department was formed. In 1908/1909, this was renamed English Literature. In 1930/1931, this department became English Literature and Drama. This coexisted until 1940/1941 with the English Speech Department and the English Department. In the 1941/1942 academic year, a merger of the English Department and the English Literature and Drama Department began. The two unified as the English Language and Literature Department, although the merger was not complete until 1947. In the 1947/1948 academic year, the department was changed to the English Department, after beginning to offer a general major in English in 1945. A significant revision of the department curriculum occurred in the early 1960's and became effective in 1963/1964.

Description of Records:
The Mount Holyoke College English Department Records contain correspondence; meeting minutes; meeting agenda; reports; proposals; newspaper clippings; memoranda; a poem; announcements; notices; outlines; photocopied pages of the Llamarada; press releases; questionnaires; schedules of events; brochures; articles; flyers; notes; bound volumes; a theme box; programs; lists; evaluation forms; examinations; charts; graphs; syllabi, and photographs. The records contain an outline of the major in English and policy regarding honor students. Revisions of department offerings and courses are included in the records in addition to agenda for department faculty meetings. Advertising materials, including flyers, press releases, schedules, programs, and brochures, pertain to the department itself and to special events in the department such as lectures, performances, conferences, and clinics. An article detailing reminiscences of 50 years with the English Department is held in the records as is a bound copy plus typescript, notes, and drafts, of "History of English Studies in Mount Holyoke Seminary and College, 1837-1937" assembled by Ada L. F. Snell. The annual reports of the department to the President of the College are also contained in the records, and these contain information about department events; course revisions; statistics on courses offered, students, and majors; faculty publications; plays given by the department; needs of the department; graduate students; honor work; changes in the curriculum; the Playshop Laboratory; Play and Poetry Shop Talk; lectures; major examinations; and new faculty and staff appointments. Minutes from department faculty meetings are included in the records, and these contain information about weak students, faculty members, course content, events, graduation requirements, contests, texts used, the Glascock Poetry Prize, entrance examinations, placement tests, lectures, Freshman English, distribution requirements, and progress of the Freshman class. Committee meeting minutes include information about the Committee on Revision of Offerings of the Department and the Curriculum Committee. Correspondence consists mainly of letters and memoranda between faculty members. Topics of correspondence include course content, department events, daily happenings in the department, faculty appointments, requests for increased space for the department, finances, needs of the department, the 1937 Centennial Celebration, students, tenure, and course scheduling. Notes on "Common Wages," a "little magazine" of prose work are included in the records. The records also contain a statement regarding the name, curriculum, and courses of the department presented to the President of the College and a report on the English Clinic. The records include grant proposals, enrollment statistics, and evaluation forms and statistics. Faculty information is also contained in the records, including faculty committee assignments, instructional loads, annual reports on individual activity, and information about reappointment, promotion, and tenure. Reports on graduate students, international students, and honor work can be found in the records, including lists of honor students and thesis topics, and lists of students doing independent work and their topics. Copies of honors examinations can also be found in the records. Information regarding the College Library is also contained in the records, including information regarding library book funds, budgets, reading lists, and the controversy over the transition from bound New York Times to microfilm. Evaluations and reviews of the general examination in English are contained in the records in addition to information pertaining to the occupations and lack of jobs available for graduates in the department. Some information on the student strike regarding U.S. action in Vietnam and Cambodia is held in the records, and some information about the Writing Center and department publications is also available. The "Anthology of Mount Holyoke Verse" is also contained in the records in addition to pertinent correspondence, clippings, financial information, and publishing contracts. Other bound volumes include "Mount Holyoke College Verse," "Common Ground- Personal Writing and Public Discourse" by Carolyn P. Collette and Richard Johnson, and "Preludes- Selected Poems from the Kathryn Irene Glascock Intercollegiate Poetry Contest 1924-1973." Course records consist of syllabi, examinations, course descriptions, and reading lists from various courses in the department. The photographs contained in the records chiefly depict faculty, staff, and students in classes and meetings and in the department's dramatic performances. Major correspondents include Jeannette A. Marks, Margaret Ball, Ada L.F. Snell, Presidents Mary E. Woolley, Roswell G. Ham, and Richard G. Gettell, Charlotte D'Evelyn, Helen Griffith, Leonora Branch, Robert Penn Warren, Harriet M. Allyn, Alan McGee, Leslie G. Burgevin, Sydney R. McLean, Ben L. Reid, Jean Sudrann, Joseph Bottkol, and Kathleen Lynch.

Cite as: English Department Records, Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, MA.

Access Restrictions: Records restricted to use by office/department of origin for 25 years from date of record creation. Access to student and personnel records restricted.