Contents

Collection Overview

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Agnes Hunt Papers, 1897-1946 (bulk 1900-1923)

Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Mary L. Wright.

© 2006

Biographical Note

Agnes Hunt was born in Manchester, New Hampshire on April 1, 1876 to Nathan Parker Hunt and Elizabeth S. (Bisbee) Hunt. She graduated from the Manchester High School in 1893. She earned an A.B. at Smith College where she excelled in history and was the author of the "Ivy Song" for her graduating class of 1897. She continued to study history at Yale University where she received her Ph.D. in 1900. Her doctoral thesis was titled, "The Provincial Committees of Safety."

Her first teaching post was as an instructor in history at the College for Women at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio where she lived and worked in a settlement house. In 1903 she became Associate Professor of History at Wells College in Aurora, New York. Then in 1906 after spending a year abroad she returned to Smith College as an Associate Professor of History, where she taught English History and the history of Latin America. Known as an accomplished poet her work appeared in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York newspapers. She was also inducted into the Zeta Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Massachusetts and was published in professional teaching journals.

In 1919 Professor Hunt resigned from Smith College and returned home to New Hampshire to care for her mother. After her mother's death, she remained at home and became an active member of the Manchester community with memberships and affiliations to many civic and professional organizations until her death in 1923.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The materials document the life and career of Agnes Hunt as a member of the History Department. The papers include biographical material, correspondence, poetry, photographs, publications and tributes from 1897 until 1946. The bulk dates of materials range from 1900 to 1923. Notable correspondents include Ada Comstock, the first woman Dean of Smith College and later President of Radcliffe College. In a letter to Professor Hunt written in 1922 she proposed a plan for an American Association of University Women, exhorting college women to make themselves "guardians of educational interests."

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