Office of the President
Mary Emma Woolley Records, 1901-1946

Record Group Number: RG 4.13

Historical Sketch:
Mary E. Woolley was born in 1863, in South Norwalk, Connecticut. An 1884 graduate of Wheaton Seminary, she taught there for five years and in 1894 became the first woman to receive an AB from Brown University. She later received an MA from Brown and was Professor and Chair of Biblical History and Literature at Wellesley before she was appointed President of Mount Holyoke College in 1900. During the 37 years of her tenure Woolley oversaw many improvements to the College. Among them were increases in enrollment, the College's endowment and faculty salaries, as well as the abolishment of student domestic work. New buildings included five dormitories, Dwight Art Memorial (1902), Williston Memorial Library (1905), the President's House (1908), Clapp Laboratory (1924) and Abbey Chapel (1936). Several Mount Holyoke traditions were also initiated, such as Christmas Vespers, Faculty Show, the Phi Beta Kappa chapter and the publication of the Alumnae Quarterly and the Mount Holyoke News. Woolley's engagement with social issues, labor concerns, the suffragette movement and international politics, together with her public speaking skills, helped to internationally establish Mount Holyoke as a center of higher education for women.

Description of Records:
The records of Mary E. Woolley contain personal and professional information. They consist of correspondence dated 1901-1946; other autobiographical material including diaries (1901-1928); address and birthday books and a "ghost book" of signatures; a school essay; scrapbooks (1901-1902, 1908-1919, 1932); articles and speeches (including a sound recording of a 1920 "Chapel talk") dating from 1894-1943; and a bibliography of her publications. Biographical material concerning Woolley includes 4 Bibles; 2 copies of a biography of Woolley by Jeanette Marks (1955); articles about Woolley dating from 1900-1931; tributes and obituaries; and honors (1900-1946), including medals, citations, memberships and honorary degrees. Also available are card indices of her correspondence; speeches and articles; affiliations; and prominent academic events which occurred during her tenure. Included in the records are "Petitions for Peace" related to the 1932 Geneva Conference; and photographs. Documents pertaining to Woolley's tenure as President (1901-1937) include invitations to Commencement speakers, interdepartmental correspondence and letters to numerous faculty and alumnae of Mount Holyoke. Individual correspondents associated with her career as public servant include Presidents Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and William Howard Taft; Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Cordell Hull, Frances Perkins, Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry L. Stimson and Dorothy Thompson. Organizations with which Woolley corresponded regularly include the American Association of University Women; the League of Women Voters; the League of Nations Association; and business and professional clubs throughout the country. The records also document her participation at international conventions such as the China Christian Educational Commission Conference in Shanghai and Hankow (1921); the Institute of Pacific Relations conventions in Honolulu (1925, 1927); and the American Delegation to the Disarmament Conference in Geneva (1932). Material available after 1937 largely documents Woolley's extensive speaking engagements at various colleges, women's clubs, Mount Holyoke College Alumnae functions and organizations advocating international peace. Woolley's speeches and articles have ranged from "Freshmen Welcome" to "Some Aspects of Our Foreign Policy" and "Evolution in the Feminine World." The scrapbooks mainly contain articles about Woolley, as well as her sketches of the Geneva delegates. The family Bible records the births, deaths and marriages of the Woolleys from 1854-1877.

Cite as: Office of the President, Mary Emma Woolley Records, Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, MA.