The Mary Wilson Smith Letters

History

These letters written by Mary Wilson Smith to her sister. It appears her sister also planned to go to Mount Holyoke, but she never enrolled. Smith signed all her letters as "Spiffy," so identification was made by noting her dorm address on the flap of the Sep 26, 1923 letter (12 Judson Hall). The 1923-1924 dorm directory identified Mary Wilson Smith as living at that address.

One interesting fact about Mary Smith becomes evident from the content of her letters to her sister: she is Quaker. She uses the word "thee" rather than "you," and she mentions being a Quaker in one of her classes. She also has lots of male friends and talks about the various men she likes in her letters.

The Images

All documents have a portion of the first page scanned, and comments about their contents are included below.

A Receipt Written on Feb 25, 1921: receipt Dated Feb 25, 1921, for a registration fee for the year 1922-1923 for Margaret McVicker Smith, the recipient of the letters in this collection, to attend Mount Holyoke. She does not appear in the biographical directory as an alumna, so it appears she did not actually attend.
A Letter Written on Jan 16, 1923: envelope Postmarked Jan 17, 1923 7am in South Hadley.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.
A Letter Written in May, 1923: envelope Postmarked May, 1923 7am in South Hadley.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.
A Letter Written on Sep 26, 1923: envelope Postmarked Sep 27, 1923 7pm in South Hadley.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.
A Letter Written on Oct 18, 1923: envelope Postmarked Oct 19, 1923 7am in South Hadley.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.
A Letter Written on Nov 22, 1923: envelope Postmarked Nov 22, 1923 10am in South Hadley.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter Written on Dec 12, 1923: envelope Postmarked Dec 13, 1923 in South Hadley.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.
A Letter Written on Dec 12, 1923: envelope Postmarked Apr 9, 1923 7am in South Hadley, but the letter inside appears to be a continuation of the Dec 12, 1923 letter above.; page 5 Only part of this letter, beginning at page 5, exists. Full contents of what remains, though only part of page 5 is scanned.
A Letter Written on Apr 15, 1924: envelope Postmarked Apr 16, [1924] 7am in South Hadley.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Postcard Written on Feb 6, 1925: front "Rockefeller hall, Mount Holyoke College. South Hadley, Mass."; back Divided back, postmarked Feb 6, 1925 5:30pm in South Hadley. Published by A. S. Kinney of South Hadley and The Albertype Co., Brooklyn, NY. "Good kid - This written from [...] in the P.O. corridor was charmed to get your card, and will aim to write, myself, as soon as I get my breath back from Midyears. I think I was successful too. I have to go wade the snowdrifts to a class. Got a long letter from Joe the other day. How many girls has [he] now got?? The fool hasn't written to me. Love Spiffy"
A Letter Written on May 9, 1925: envelope Postmarked May 11, 1925 7am in South Hadley.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter Written on Dec 2, 1925: envelope Postmarked Dec 3, 1925 7am in South Hadley.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.
A Letter Written on Dec 3, 1925: envelope Postmarked Dec 4, 1925 12:30pm in South Hadley.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter Written on Feb 19, 1926 [?]: envelope Postmarked Feb 20 7am in South Hadley.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.