Happy Holidays!!

The staff of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives wishes everyone a happy holiday season! We're taking a break this week, but please join us on Monday, January 7th for a new Spartan Story.

Charlotte Holder Clinger (class of 1965) sits on a desk with a miniature artificial Christmas tree in the DCOI office, 553rd Recon Wing at Korat Air Force Base in Thailand in December 1968.

Happy Holidays!!

The staff of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives wishes everyone a happy holiday season! We're taking a break this week, but please join us on Monday, January 7th for a new Spartan Story.

Headline from the December 18, 1957 issue of the Carolinian student newspaper

From Dinner Parties to Afternoon Teas: Tips from Tea-Kettle Talk

Want some tips and guidelines for hosting the swankiest holiday dinner party in town? Look no further than the 1924 cookbook Tea-Kettle Talk, published by the Alumnae Association of the North Carolina College for Women (now UNC Greensboro). The cookbook 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."

For those looking to throw a fancy holiday shindig, the "Simple Table Service Suggestions" section of the book outlines three forms of service for a formal meal:

• The Russian Service "requires well-trained butler and maids to serve each course from the kitchen. This method gives freedom to host and hostess to give greater pleasure to guests. The hostess is served first and leads in all the formalities, so that even the least sophisticated may be at ease."
• English Form of Service. "In the English form of service the hostess serves the soup and the salad, and the host the meat. The remainder is left to the butler or maid."
• The Compromise Service "is a combination of the above forms. The soup or cocktails may be placed when dinner is announced. The host serves the meat; the vegetables are passed by the butler from the serving table. The salad and dessert are usually served from the butler's pantry. The coffee service may be placed before the hostess or it may be served from the kitchen."

Perhaps you are throwing a less formal afternoon tea or coffee. Tea-Kettle Talk has some guidelines for hosting those events as well.

For a Five O'clock Tea or an "At Home," the book notes "cover the table with dainty madeira and place a vase of flowers in the center. If only tea is poured, place a tea service at each end of the table." Another more substantial option would be to "cover the polished table with a dainty centerpiece of linen and place a vase or bowl of cut flowers in the center. Place an attractive tray cloth at one end for the chocolate service and one at the other end of the table for the tea service. A plate of dainty sandwiches, another of macaroons complete the necessary refreshments."

A simple Afternoon Tea, the book notes, "is not a meal, but simply a cup of tea and a wafer; or in summer, a glass of iced tea or sherbet."

For those wanting more caffeine, the Afternoon Coffee is another option. Tea-Kettle Talk notes "if coffee is served from the living room, cover the table with a linen cloth. Place the cups and saucers, sugar, cream and silver coffee service at the hostess' place. Place a bowl of flowers in center, a plate of crackers or bread and butter sandwiches on either side. If coffee is served from the kitchen, a small tray is permissible in handling it."

In the pre-Keurig machine-era, a recipe for "Boiling Water Coffee" is provided by Minnie Lou Jamison, who served as editor of Tea-Kettle Talk. Jamison serving at the time as a freshman counselor but had previously been a faculty member in the Department of Home Economics and a home demonstration and extension agent across the state:

"One heaping tablespoon of each half pint of boiling water. Scald the pot. Pour the freshly boiled water over the coffee. Place the pot where the coffee will keep hot but not boil. Add a little egg or clean, crushed egg shell to settle it. When the color is rich and clear the coffee is ready to serve."

These service guidelines and recipes demonstrate the extensive work that went into planning and throwing a gathering during this era. They also show the importance of a maxim that is included in the final "Household Suggestions" chapter of Tea-Kettle Talk: "A place for everything, and everything in its place."

Revitalizing Spring Garden Press

A.B. Taylor & Company No. 2 Iron Hand Press

Tucked away in a hallway just outside of Martha Blakeney Hodges Reading Room on the second floor of Jackson Library’s main building is a 19^th century printing press. Over the last several decades, the press has been used primarily by library staff for class demonstrations or to print small editioned items such as bookplates and broadsides.

When the press first arrived in the library in the early 1960s, it was in pieces and was missing a necessary toggle joint required for operation. Prior to the Internet Age, finding the missing parts or even a press of the same type to serve as a model for creating new parts was a tedious and time-consuming task. Charles Adams, the library director at the time of the arrival of the press, began writing letters with the goal of finding parts for the press. After a decade of letter writing, Adams turned over the search to Stan Hicks, the assistant library director at the time.

Charles Adams, Library Director at the time
the press was given to Jackson Library

Hicks, too, began writing letters trying to find either the missing parts or a similar press from which to create a model of the missing joint. Finally, in 1975, Hicks located another A.B. Taylor and Company No. 2 press in Mechanicsburg, PA. Pictures and sketches of the press were taken to make a wooden model of the toggle joint. At last, the press was in operation.

Drawing of the missing toggle joint based on a press
found in Mechanicsburg, PA in the early 1970s

Stan Hicks takes over the task of writing
letters to find the missing parts

Spring Garden Press has been the imprint of the library’s A.B. Taylor Company No. 2 Iron Hand Press housed in Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) since becoming operational in the 1970s. The name was inspired by Spring Garden Street that runs through campus and serves as the university’s address.

View of Spring Garden Street in 2000

Throughout the 1970s to the early 2000s, members of the library staff letterpress printed commemorative broadsides, bookplates, and conducted many demonstrations of the press for UNCG faculty and students. Classes learned firsthand about printing history, including how type is set, how a form is inked for printing, and how the 19th century press transferred ink to paper.

Left: Emilie Mills, Special Collections Librarian, 1975
Right: The first item printed under the imprint Spring Garden Press

As time passed, fewer and fewer library staff knew how to operate the press and Spring Garden Press fell dormant for a few years. However, thanks to a generous Innovation and Program Enrichment grant received from the library, the circa 1850s printing press has been revitalized with the goal of engaging students, faculty, staff, and members of the greater Greensboro community.

SCUA staff training with Sarah Smith in November 2018

In November 2018, Sarah Smith, of Dartmouth College Library’s Book Arts Workshop, taught an iron hand press workshop for SCUA staff. The revitalization of Spring Garden Press was celebrated on November 29, 2018 as faculty, staff, and community members gathered to learn about the press, how it will be used in collaboration with folks both on campus and beyond, and to see a demonstration of its use. Once again, this press has been elevated from archaic artifact to an active tool of engagement with our community.

Keepsake coaster printed during the Revitalization of
Spring Garden Press event in November 2018

To learn more about the history of this antique printing press and how it came to UNCG, please click HERE.

Lighting the Campus with Luminaries

At 7am on a December morning in 1969, a number of UNCG students gathered in front of the Elliott University Center with 2000 candles, white paper bags, soufflé cups, and a really big pile of sand. With these supplies, they started a campus tradition which continues today: the annual luminaries display.

Alumni House with luminaries

Before the project could begin, Kim Ketchum, president of the UNCG senior class of 1970, presented the idea for the display to Katherine Taylor, dean of students, and to Terry Weaver, manager of the Elliott University Center. They agreed to allow the students to proceed with the display, and ultimately, the project received the blessing of Chancellor James S. Ferguson. Chancellor Ferguson provided money to purchase the sand and candles from his discretionary fund. The white bags and soufflé cups were donated by the cafeteria.

Throughout the day, students stopped by to help assemble the luminaries. They carefully placed sand and a candle (balanced on the soufflé cup) in each bag. Ketchum and six other students used a Physical Plant vehicle to position the luminaries strategically along the campus streets. Around 6pm, students emerged from the residence halls to light the candles. As the luminaries burned, groups sang Christmas carols around the campus and gathered to drink hot cider and hot chocolate around a bonfire that burned in a metal pit. 

Ketchum recalled, “It was a success then, and it’s very gratifying that our class started a tradition that endures to this day. I think that this probably was the first large luminary display in Guilford County, and the rest of the area picked up on it.” 

Luminaries at Fountain Plaza, 1995

UNCG’s sororities and fraternities carry on this tradition today, preparing the luminaries, lighting them, and cleaning up. In 2011 sustainable luminaries were introduced, which decreased prep-time and eliminated potential hazards. And, as is part of the campus tradition, when the candles burn out, students return to their studies, as Fall semester final exams loom in the immediate future.

Mary Settle Sharpe: Keen in Intelligence, Kindly at Heart, and Democratic in Sympathy

Mary Settle Sharpe (1863-1944) was a woman ahead of her time, in both education and politics. She was an early member of the faculty of State Normal and Industrial College (UNC Greensboro) and was also the first woman nominated for public office in the state of North Carolina after the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Mary Settle Sharpe

The daughter of a Rockingham County judge and politician, she attended Salem Academy and graduated from St. Mary’s School in Raleigh before marrying Edgecombe County lawyer Benjamin Charles Sharpe in 1884. The Sharpes moved to Greensboro in 1897 and would eventually have six children. In 1896, Mary became one of the first married women faculty members at the State Normal, residing with her family in a house near campus on South Mendenhall Street.  She became known for her friendliness, her beautiful singing voice, her impressive literary interpretations, and her tireless interest in the students in her charge. Equally popular with students and faculty, Professor William C. Smith described Mary as “keen in intellect, yet kindly at heart and democratic in sympathy … always gracious, courteous, just and true.”

During the early years of State Normal, the faculty was not always specialized and Mary taught a variety of classes across several departments. Her positions included Director of Physical Training, Instructor of History, and Head of the Department of Expression. Mary’s efforts were especially appreciated in the area of campus productions. As chairman of the faculty committee on entertainments, she was in charge of student plays and the school’s May Day festivals. Especially elaborate were the May Day celebrations held in the years 1912 and 1916, which involved the participation of State Normal students and faculty, as well as the younger children who attended the practice school on campus. These particular pageants included parades down College Avenue, a variety of plays presented on the school grounds, and the crowning of the May Queen.

Elizabethan Court, 1916

Always an advocate of women’s rights, Mary resigned from the college in 1920, after the passage of the 19th Amendment, to become more involved in politics. It is not surprising that she felt drawn to this vocation, as she came from generations of politicians and public servants. Her father, Thomas Settle, Jr., had been a lawyer and the son of a Congressional Representative from North Carolina, also named Thomas Settle. He held important positions in the state government, serving as a legislator, Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, State Solicitor, and Associate Judges of the Supreme Court. Settle also helped found the state’s Republican Party during Reconstruction, and was nominated by President Ulysses S. Grant to a seat on the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida. Mary’s brother, Thomas Settle III, also had an illustrious career in the government.

Judge Thomas Settle, Jr.

Mary, like her family, had always been interested in politics. She was considered “progressive and impatient with all forms of injustice.” Mary served as the chair of the state Republican Executive Committee for Women and accepted the Republican nomination for state Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1920. She wrote letters and spoke at events throughout the state asking for support – “especially from the ladies.” Only a month after women had gained the right to vote, she wrote a letter to the “Womanhood of North Carolina,” laying out a platform that would “lift North Carolina’s school system out of partisan politics” and “educate all the children of all the people.” She also advocated for better salaries for teachers.

Mary’s candidacy had wide and enthusiastic support from her former colleagues and students at North Carolina College for Women,* who attended many of her talks.  She traveled the state attending local political events and encouraging the women of North Carolina to “help purify the ballot box” and urged women to exercise their new right to vote. Hailed as an “eloquent and captivating” speaker, Mary campaigned for the improvement of education and the importance of citizenship. Although she lost the election, she remained very involved in state politics, chairing the state organization of women.

Mary Settle Sharpe Event

 Mary lived over eighty years. Growing ill at the end of her life, she spent her last eight months at Cox Restorium in Winston-Salem. She was buried next to her husband at the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church Cemetery in Ashe County where they had kept a country home. Mary has been honored by UNC Greensboro on several occasions since her death in 1944. In 1997, she was inaugurated into the UNC Greensboro’s Theatre Hall of Fame for her encouragement of the dramatic program during the early years of the school. Additionally, the University established the Mary Settle Sharpe Award for Teaching Excellence, recognizing outstanding success in facilitating student learning. There is also a conference room dedicated to her memory in the Elliott University Center.

* State Normal had changed its name to North Carolina College for Women in 1919.

100 Years Later: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 hits State Normal

In 1918, an influenza pandemic began to spread across the globe. In the U.S., about 28% of the population became infected, and 500,000 to 675,000 people died over the course the next two years. The campus of the State Normal and Industrial College (now UNCG) was, of course, not immune to this easily-transmitted disease. In October 1918, the disease found the College, and campus administrators had to made quick decisions on the best course of action to protect the students and limit the spread of the flu.

Instead of suspending operations as some schools did at the time, State Normal President Julius Foust made the decision to instead quarantine students to the campus. From October through December, students were unable to leave campus, and guests were not permitted to visit. One alumnae wrote:

Wooden Dormitory (approximate site of the Alumni House today)

"It was that fall when the Fourth Horseman on his livid steed was abroad in the land. Pestilence, in the form of deadly influenza epidemic, was sweeping the country. No city, village, or hamlet was spared. It reached the campus as I remember in October. Several hundred girls contracted it ... A rigid quarantine was enforced. No one was allowed to leave the campus, no going to town, no weekends at home, only walks into the country were permitted."

Several hundred students were infected -- so many that the campus infirmary could not hold them all. Wooden Dormitory (also known as Guilford Hall) was converted into a makeshift hospital. But fortunately, none of the students contracted pneumonia, and no deaths resulted. As President Foust wrote in his unpublished history of the College, "This was remarkable in view of the fact that many more people died from flu in this country than were killed in the war [note: Foust is referring to World War I]. Both faculty and students had relatives and friends in the army and frequently a report would come that a loved one had been killed or died from influenza, but these sorrows were endured with Christian fortitude."

The pledge signed by students prior to leaving campus in December 1918

By December, the influenza outbreak on campus had subsided enough that Foust decided that the students should be allowed to return home for the holiday break. But each student was required to sign an agreement pledging to report any illnesses in their home, avoid possible sources of the disease, and reporting to the infirmary for a health assessment immediately upon returning to the school.

When the holiday period end and student returned to State Normal, they faced a week of final exams. But, as soon as those were complete, they began to celebrate the end of the semester and of the full campus quarantine by planning a large gala event for the evening of February 3, 1919. As reported in the Greensboro Daily News:

"Memories of long, dreary weeks of quarantine were forgotten, and mirth reigned supreme through the spacious dining hall, when at 7:30 o'clock last evening students of the State Normal and Industrial College participated in one of the most elaborate entertainments in the history of the college.

The first event of the evening was, perhaps, the most impressive when 700 young ladies, dressed in quaint costumes, formed a long, gala procession and passed in review before the judging members of the faculty ... After the procession had ended a unique program, arranged by Misses Clarence Winder and Lula Martin McIver, was given, including farce scenes of "what might have been" and "what actually happened" during the quarantine. A liberal sprinkling of humor was traced through the numerous sketches given, and the effect was indeed ludicrous.

During the latter hours of the evening a delightful dance was given in which the majority of the young ladies participated. Between dances several vaudeville sketches were presented, including aesthetic dancing, ballet scenes in which the students were dressed in colonial costumes, "buck and wing dancing," and other forms of the Terpischorean art."