Bread Loaf menu options, from the Archives

September 2, 2015September 4, 2015 Rebekah Irwin

In honor of the return of the 2015 faculty plenary meeting and lunch to the Bread Loaf campus, we have some recipes to share. Late this summer, Patti McCaffrey from Dining Services delivered a mildly corroded metal recipe box to the Archives. Uncovered during the Bread Loaf renovations, the box was likely the property of Alfleda DeGray, a longtime cook at the College and Bread Loaf. (Alfleda’s start day was July 1, 1945 and her last day was February 9, 1987. We’ll do the math: that’s forty-two years of feeding mouths at Middlebury and at Bread Loaf.) At the time, female cooks were responsible for cold salads, punches, and appetizers rather than main dishes, which were the territory of male cooks. We’re not sure what’s on the menu for this year’s lunch, but we offer a few options from Alfleda DeGray’s Bread Loaf recipe box: A “Thirst Inviting” dip; Wagon Wheel Cheese; and a Fruited Cheese Salad with lemon and strawberry gelatin. Enjoy!

Clothing Guide 1944-45, from the Archives

April 9, 2015March 12, 2019 Rebekah Irwin

For the 1944-45 school year, the Student Union published these handy HELPS AND HINTS as part of a clothing guide (for women). For example, “No Rubber Boots are to be worn to the dining-rooms, or to lectures and concerts unless the weather is very severe and there is no opportunity to change.” And don’t get us started on shorts. “Shorts are never to be worn in the dining rooms…they are never to be worn downtown unless one is going through town on a bicycle. Then don’t stop to shop or have a coke. Plan those shopping or coking expeditions for sometime when you don’t have shorts on.” Unless, of course, you remembered your leg make-up (For details on that one, see the heading Housecoats.)

S2 Student Union - 1944-45 Primer — *From S2 Student organizations*

S2.studentunion.mcprimer1944-45.04 — *From S2 Student organizations*

“Joseph Battell: A Centennial Appreciation,” a talk by David Haward Bain, Monday, February 23rd

February 20, 2015February 20, 2015 Rebekah Irwin

February 23, 2015 is the centennial of Joseph Battell’s death. Bread Loaf land baron (in his day the largest private landowner in Vermont), environmentalist, crusading newspaperman, Middlebury College alum (Class of 1860), trustee, philanthropist, novelist.

David Haward Bain presents an illustrated “magic lantern” talk on Joseph Battell’s life and works.

When: Monday, February 23, 2015, 4:30pm

Where: Abernethy Reading Room, The Axinn Center at Starr Library, Middlebury College

Refreshments will be served.

Sponsored by Middlebury College Special Collections & Archives, the Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest, the Environmental Studies Program, Middlebury History Department, and the Stewart-Swift Research Center, Henry Sheldon Museum.

David Haward Bain has taught creative writing and literature at Middlebury College for 28 years, and has been affiliated with the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference for 35 years since his first-book fellowship in 1980. His books include Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad, Bitter Waters: America’s Forgotten Naval Mission to the Dead Sea, The Old Iron Road: An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West, and Sitting in Darkness: Americans in the Philippines, as well as The College on the Hill: A Browser’s History for the Bicentennial of Middlebury College and Whose Woods These Are: A History of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, 1926-1992.

Photo credit: Joseph Battell circa 1860. Courtesy of the Henry Sheldon Museum, Stewart-Swift Research Center

Winter Carnival Vintage Films Premiere and Hot Chocolate Bar, February 13

February 5, 2015June 11, 2015 Rebekah Irwin

Recently rediscovered films in the College Archives from the 1940s will be shown for the first time in more than sixty years.

See Winter Carnival the way it was, before Gore-Tex and fiberglass: ski jumps on Chipman Hill, woolen races at the Snow Bowl, aero-skijoring, and more.

When: Friday, February 13, 2015, 4:30 – 6pm

Where: McCullough Crossroads Cafe (The Juice Bar)

WintCarnCapture01

here are the films, enjoy!

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/119374983]

Sporty Sweethearts and Sausages: Vintage Valentines from the Archives

February 5, 2015June 1, 2015 Rebekah Irwin

From Special Collection and Archives, selected from our collection of American postcards and ephemera:

Valentine Thoughts
My heart’s a golf ball
for your “game”
You always with
me “score”
If I could only
win this “match,”
You’d “tease” my
heart no more.
© 1914

A Greeting to my Valentine
My heart goes
bounding o’er
the net,
A “lose game” we being,
Before another sun has set
I hope the game to win
© 1911

I wish you knew
a certain girl.
Her style is
indescribable.
Her manners really
are quite nice.
Her fortune quite
desirable.
Her portrait this: they
call it fine.
And she’s your own true Valentine.
Date unknown.

It’s NO BALONEY when I say I LOVE YOU!
Date unknown

Postscript: Yes! That butcher/dog’s arm swings back and forth
The hinge is original and intact. (We can’t say as much for that baloney.)

Davis Library spring exhibit, “Before the Selfie: A Century of Student Portraits”

February 5, 2015June 1, 2015 Rebekah Irwin

Our spring exhibit features a century of photographic portraits of Middlebury students.

In other words, one hundred years of awe-inspiring facial hair and evolving fashion trends.

How will you be remembered? Email a selfie to the Archives at specialcollections@middlebury.edu

Instagram #middleburyselfie

Photo credit: Lewis Hemenway, Class of 1864, Middlebury College Special Collections & Archives and May Belle Chellis, Class of 1886.

“Joseph Battell: A Centennial Appreciation,” a talk by David Haward Bain, Monday, February 23rd

February 5, 2015February 8, 2015 Rebekah Irwin

David Haward Bain presents an illustrated “magic lantern” talk on Joseph Battell’s life and works.

When: February 23, 2015, 4:30pm

Where: Abernethy Reading Room, The Axinn Center at Starr Library, Middlebury College

Refreshments will be served.

Photo credit: Joseph Battell circa 1860. Courtesy of the Henry Sheldon Museum, Stewart-Swift Research Center

Middlebury women take a snowy ride to Ripton, ca. 1940s

December 5, 2014January 30, 2024 Rebekah Irwin

In this holiday-themed film clip, and part of the ongoing effort to preserve our large collection of historic 16mm films, members of the Women’s Forum of Middlebury College gather behind Forest Hall to load up holiday gifts and head to the Meeting House in Ripton. Upon their arrival (after what must have been a cold and harrowing ride in the back of a wood-slatted truck), surprisingly underdressed local children run (and slide, trudge, and sled) to meet them. The Middlebury women, joined by a costumed Santa, distribute holiday gifts.

Established in 1937, the Women’s Forum was originally organized to further interest in economic, political, and social issues of the day. In 1944 the group merged with the Student Action Assembly and focused on social and service work. This clip likely dates from the early to mid 1940’s.

Happy holidays from all of us at Special Collections & Archives.

Vermont flood of 1927 or 1938? You be the judge.

December 3, 2014January 30, 2024 Rebekah Irwin

In our ongoing effort to digitize historical, fragile films we discovered this unlabeled and undated clip depicting a flood in East Middlebury:

Though we were confident that we got the location right because of the recognizable buildings still standing in East Middlebury, we weren’t sure about the date. Based in part on the vintage of the cars, we assumed the flood of 1927. To test our theory, we shared the film on the Growing up in Addison County Facebook group and its 2,000+ members. As a result, we revised our initial date. Based on what evidence, you might ask? First, about 52 seconds into the clip, a Green Mountain National Forest tool box appears. The Forest wasn’t established until 1932. And second, the trees in the film clip are full of leaves. The ’27 flood was in November (fewer leaves!) while the ’38 flood was in September. Eureka! Part of the Facebook thread (as of December 1) is below:

“We were greatly shocked with the news…” May 21, 1865

November 7, 2014June 24, 2015 Rebekah Irwin

During a recent visit to the archives by Professor Ellie Gebarowski-Shafer’s Religion 130 class, The Christian Tradition, students plowed through 214 years of Middlebury College missionary history with College Archivist Danielle Rougeau. Amid the pages of 19th century cursive was this diary entry by Mary Martin, wife of a missionary to China and grandmother of Mabel Martin (later Mary Buttolph), Class of 1911. (Mary Martin is pictured below, circa 1865.)

After the death of her husband and a young son in China, Mary returned to Vermont by way of San Francisco. After 69 days at sea, she writes her last diary entry on May 21, 1865:

We were greatly shocked with the news we heard on our arrival this morning of the assassination of president Lincoln but very glad to learn that the war is over and that slavery is abolished.

Postscript: Lincoln was assassinated on April 15, 1865. News traveled slowly in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Her mention of this news falls smack in the middle of the page below. To learn more about Middlebury missionaries, Mary Martin, or to cut your teeth on some 19th century cursive, visit Special Collections.