Contents

Collection Overview

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

Correspondence, 1928-1938

Course Records, 1928, 1931

Memorabilia, 1909, 1928, 1931

Biographical Information, 1931, 1974-1998

Photographs, 1931

Currier papers, 1909, 1928-1998 (bulk 1928-1938)

Finding Aid

Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© 2003

Biographical Note

Margaret Currier was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 8, 1910, to Thomas Franklin Currier and Florence Wyman Currier. Her father was the Associate Librarian of Harvard University. She attended Belmont High School in Belmont, Massachusetts, from 1923-1927. She entered Mount Holyoke College in 1927 and graduated with her B.A. degree in German in 1931. She received her B.A.L.S. (Library Science) from the University of Michigan in 1935. She also took graduate courses at Yale University from 1934 to 1936, and at Harvard University in 1944. From 1931-1934, Currier worked as an Assistant Cataloguer at Yale University library. From 1936-1939, she worked as the Cataloguer in Yale University library. She worked as the Curator of the Catalog at the Harvard College Library from 1939-1945. From 1945 until her retirement in 1974, Currier was a librarian in the Library of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She died on March 11, 1998, in Concord, Massachusetts at the age of eighty-seven.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Margaret Currier Papers consist of correspondence, course records, memorabilia, biographical information, and photographs. Most of this collection consists of letters written by Currier to her parents, 1928-1938. The correspondence describes her years as a student at Mount Holyoke College, 1928-1931. It includes detailed descriptions of her course work, teachers, examinations, musical activities, and work in the Mount Holyoke College library. Correspondence dating from 1931-1934 describes her work in the Yale University library and her social life in New Haven, Connecticut. The correspondence also includes information about her graduate studies at the University of Michigan from 1934-1935, and her return to work at the Yale University library, 1936-1938. Letters written in the summers of 1935 and 1936 describe trips in the United States to Colorado, Maine, and elsewhere. There are a number of references in Currier's letters to the impact of the Depression upon the library profession. Three letters written to Currier from her Mount Holyoke College classmates Florence Feicht Boyer and Shuh-yin Lu Mar are also included in this collection. Boyer discusses her trip to England, Ireland, and Scotland in 1937 while Mar describes her experiences in Hankow, China and Hong Kong at the beginning of the Sino-Japanese Conflict, 1937-1938. Also of note in the collection are course records consisting of a paper written for a French class at Mount Holyoke College, 1928, and two general examinations in German from 1931.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into five series:

• Correspondence
• Course Records
• Memorabilia
• Biographical Information
• Photographs

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Contents List

Correspondence, 1928-1938 34 folders

This series chiefly consists of letters that Currier wrote to her parents from 1928-1938. The letters that she wrote as a student at Mount Holyoke College, 1928-1931, are filled with information about her academic program. She discusses her course work, teachers, and examinations. She also describes her work in the College library as well as her musical activities. Letters from August 31, 1931-June 1934 describe her work in the Yale University library and her social life in New Haven, Connecticut. Letters from September 1934-June 1935 concern her graduate studies in Library Science at the University of Michigan. Letters written from summer 1935-1936 describe trips in the United States to Colorado, Maine, and elsewhere. Currier's correspondence also details her return to work at the Yale University library, 1936-1938. Her letters include a number of references to the impact of the Depression upon the library profession. The collection also includes three letters to Currier from Mount Holyoke classmates Florence Feicht Boyer and Shuh-yin Lu Mar. Boyer discusses her trip to England, Scotland, and Ireland in a letter dated October 7, 1937. The lengthy letter describes the towns and sights she saw as well as the voyage to England. Mar's first letter, dated May 3, 1938, was written from Hankow, China, and discusses personal news as well as the effects of the war between China and Japan (the Sino-Japanese Conflict). Mar's second letter, probably dated August 19, 1938, describes her trip to Hong Kong to escape the fighting.

Arranged chronologically.

Course Records, 1928, 1931 1 folder

This series contains one paper written for French 5, "Literature of the Seventeenth Century," Fall 1928, and two general examinations in German from 1931. These documents date from Currier's years as a student at Mount Holyoke College.

Arranged chronologically.

Memorabilia, 1909, 1928, 1931 1 folder

This series consists of several holiday greeting cards, a postcard, and a 1931 Mount Holyoke College commencement announcement. One card is to Currier's mother in 1909. Two holiday cards were signed by Currier herself.

Arranged chronologically.

Biographical Information, 1931, 1974-1998 1 folder

This series mainly consists of articles about Currier's retirement and death. Also included in this series is a list of the courses she took from 1927-1931 as a student at Mount Holyoke College.

Arranged chronologically.

Photographs, 1931 1 folder

This series consists of two copies of Currier's senior photograph taken at Mount Holyoke College, 1931.

Arranged chronologically.