Clara Booth Byrd: Alumnae Secretary

Clara Booth Byrd said it best when she described her role as alumnae secretary:

"My great desire is to do all in my power to hold the alumnae close to the college, keeping their shoulders to the wheel and doing everything possible to stand by and support our leaders in their task of building a great educational institution on this campus." 

"Perhaps the greatest thing we can do for our college is to build good will - good will among the alumnae and good will among the people at large.  I think it doesn't matter very much whether that good will is expressed through gifts of money for scholarships or other purposes, or through work with our representatives in the Legislature, or through interesting the best students to apply for admission, or simply through keeping up with what is going on and passing the good word to our friends - the important thing is that we express this thing of good will."

Clara Booth Byrd

Miss Byrd first came to the State Normal and Industrial College (now UNCG) in 1908 as a student.  In July 1913, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree. After entering the college, she quickly became involved in the administration.  She taught classes for the Commercial Department (1909-1922) under E.J. Forney and worked as an assistant to the college treasurer (1916-1922).

In 1922, Miss Byrd embarked on a new path at the college.  She became the Alumnae Secretary and editor for the Alumae News.  Over the next 25 years, Miss Byrd would revolutionize the role of the Alumnae Secretary, increasing the quality and consistency of documentation on the college's graduates and revamping the alumni publication.  She established a office to organize and hold alumnae records and serve as a station for local clubs and associations.  Miss Byrd was heavily involved in alumni and community organizations, serving as vice president of the American Alumni Council, first vice president and director of institutes for the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs, and editor for the Council of Women in Education.  She was also a member of the Guilford Battle Chapter of the DAR, the Historical Museum, Friends of the Public Library, the YWCA, and other local church societies. 

Her crowning achievement as Alumae Secretary was realized with the opening of the Alumnae House (now Alumni House) in 1937.  The building was designed by Penrose V. Stout of Bronxville, New York, and modeled after Homewood in Baltimore, Maryland.  Miss Byrd, along with President Foust, worked tirelessly to solicit donations from alumni and secure a appropriations from the North Carolina Legislature.  The Great Depression temporarily halted plans for construction, but with the aid of WPA workers, the building become reality.

Miss Byrd on the steps of the Alumnae House

In 1947, Miss Byrd resigned from her position at the college, but she continued to be an active member of the community.  She traveled throughout state, speaking to clubs and associations on various topics.  She became the founder and first president of the Historical Book Club, where she served for eighteen years (1947-1965).  During the late 1960s, she served as the president of the Friends of the Walter Clinton Jackson Library (now Friends of the University Libraries.

Miss Byrd passed away on May 22, 1985.  Her memorial was held at the Alumni House.

Spotlight on WC Alumna and American Red Cross Worker, Emily Harris Preyer (Class of 1939)

Emily Irving Harris Preyer was born in Reidsville, NC in 1919 and grew up in Greensboro. Preyer attended Greensboro Senior High School (now Grimsley High School) and then went on to the Woman's College (WC) of the University of North Carolina (now UNC Greensboro). While at the WC she double majored in English and French and was a member of several campus organizations including president of the Student Government Association.

1939 Pine Needles

For the first three years at the WC, Preyer was a Town Student (now called Commuter) because her family could not afford the cost to live on campus.

In 1939, Preyer’s senior year, The Dean of Women Harriet Elliot brought her friend First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to campus. In this excerpt from her Oral History, Emily Preyer discusses her encounter with Roosevelt. "I was president of the student government, so—Dr. [Walter Clinton] Jackson lived right there on campus, and so he had a—Miss Elliott had a tea for her, and I never will forget Mrs. Roosevelt came down and we were all so excited. I had somebody from every class saying I was pouring the tea, and I said, "Mrs. Roosevelt, will you have tea or coffee?" And she said, “Well, honey, I’ll have it in my cup, whatever,” because I was pouring it right on the silver tray. Oh, she was a wonderful lady, Mrs. Roosevelt."

College Judicial Board, 1939 Pine Needles yearbook

In addition to being president of the Student Government Association, Preyer was the Dance Chairman for the Adelphian Society, Chairman of the Honor Board, Class Cheerleader, Le Circle Francais member, Clogging Club, Town Student’s Board member, May Day Court, Young Democrats Club, College Judicial Board, and the Carolinian Business Staff. Preyer was also a participant in various sports such as Tennis and Basketball, as well as other organizations and honors.

In 1943, Preyer joined the American Red Cross. She chose the Red Cross over the Navy WAVES or the Army WAC because the training time was only two weeks. Preyer was stationed in Perth and Brisbane, Australia and Subic Bay, Philippines.

Preyer in her Red Cross uniform

Preyer talks about her time in Australia with the Red Cross: "Perth and Western Australia was the most beautiful place. We had the cutest little house on a lake, and it was called the Swan Lake because Perth is the only place in the world that has black swans. So we called our Red Cross club the “Swan Dive,” and they could come in and dance and do whatever they’d want to, and we’d write letters for them. Then when they would be sent to the hospitals in Perth we would go and write letters. We weren’t nurses, but we did whatever the nurses asked us to do…We went to the hospitals and did everything we could for those boys. I mean, we learned to do bandages and all. We weren’t trained nurses, but we learned to do, anything to comfort them and help them get well."

Fremantle Submarine Base was near Perth and the Red Cross worked with many of the enlisted submariners.

"They [U.S. Navy submariners] called me 'the Rebel.' This boy that was on a submarine said, 'Rebel, you know what? You always make me feel homesick because I lived up in Maine, and every winter when the wild geese were flying over my house going south for the winter, they’d go 'Waah! Waah! Waah!' and you just remind me of those geese.' And of course they just kidded me about my twang till I could scream."

Emily Preyer and her husband in the 1975 Alumni News

Preyer remained in Perth with the Red Cross until 1945. After her return to the United States, she married the Honorable L. Richardson Preyer, U.S. Congressman and Federal judge. Their eldest son joined the Peace Corps in the 1970s and her daughter worked with the VISTA program. Through the rest of her life, Preyer continued to work with the Greensboro Chapter of the American Red Cross and served the Triad Community in various ways. From 1955-57, Preyer also served as President of the WC Alumnae Association. In 1998, Preyer was awarded the North Carolina Award in Public Service, the state's highest honor, in recognition for her leadership and philanthropy in Greensboro. Emily Irving Harris Preyer passed away in December 1999.

Learn more about Emily Preyer and other women who served in the American Red Cross and the United States Armed Forces at the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project.

This story was written by Sara Maeve Whisnant, a student in the Master's in Library and Information Studies program at UNCG. Sara Maeve has worked with the Women Veterans Historical Project as a student assistant since 2014.

Tea-Kettle Talk

October 21-27 is North Carolina Archives Week, an annual, week-long observance of the agencies and people responsible for maintaining and making available the archival and historical records of our nation, state, communities and people. This year's theme is "Celebrating North Carolina Food and Culture."

 

"We may live without poetry, music and art:
 We may live without conscience and live without heart;
 We may live without friends and live without books,
 But civilized man cannot live without cooks."

These lines from the Victorian-era poem "Lucile" by Owen Meredith (also known as Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton) served as the preface to a 1924 cookbook published by the Alumnae Association of the North Carolina College for Women (now UNCG). The cookbook, titled Tea-Kettle Talk, was sold by the Alumnae Association for $1 per copy (an addition five cents for mailing). It collated recipes from the college's alumnae, faculty, and faculty wives alongside "suggestive menus for clubs," "simple table service suggestions," and "household suggestions." Many of the recipes hold titles that boast of being "my husband's favorite." Here are a few of the recipes that you might want to try for your next meal:

Banana Salad from Mrs. E.C. Durham (Roberta Womble)
Select large, smooth bananas, wash and cut off one strip of skin. Lift out one banana, cut in small pieces and add equal parts of nuts, apples, and celery. Pour mayonnaise dressing over the mixture and fill banana skins. Serve on lettuce leaves.

French Toast from Kathleen E. Pettit
Dip slices of bread in well-beaten eggs to which salt and pepper have been added. Drop the egg-covered bread in frying pan of hot lard. A cut of butter melted in the frying pan with the lard adds much to the taste. Turn the slices of bread at intervals until both sides are a golden brown. This is a good breakfast food.

Creamed Dates from Mary E. Coffey
Break white of an egg into a glass, add an equal quantity of ice water and one teaspoon vanilla. Beat until light, add little at a time enough powdered sugar to make a smooth fondant. Remove seeds from dates and fill with mixture. Half a walnut may be stuck in side of dates if desired.

And finally, for those looking for guidelines on table settings, Tea-Kettle Talk offers this guidance:

     Cover the table with a silence-cloth and carefully spread the white linen over this. On an attractive centerpiece place a low jar or vase for cut flowers. Let the flowers be of one kind and color, as far as possible, without a heavy fragrance.

Home Economics students practice tea service

     Place the napkins, carefully folded, to the left of the plates. In placing the silver, arrange it so that each piece shall come in the order for use from the outside toward the plate. Knives, with blades turned in, to the right of the plates; spoons to the right; all forks to the left, unless an oyster fork is used, in which case it should be on the right, with the tines resting on the plate. The plates, knives, forks, spoons, and napkins should be placed one inch from the edge of the table. The glass should be at the end of the knife-blade, and the salt should be placed in front of the plate.
     The bread and butter plate should be at the end of the forks to the left. Soup ladles, bonbon spoons, and rest for carving set should be on the table.
     Olives, almonds, celery, and bonbons are placed on the table.