Contents

Collection Overview

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

Correspondence 1919-1995

Diaries, 1922-1926

Scrapbook, 1922-1926

Memorabilia, circa 1922-1938

Biographical Information, 2002

Photographs, circa 1922-1926, 1944

Correspondence 1919-1995

Diaries, 1922-1926

Scrapbook, 1922-1926

Memorabilia, circa 1922-1938

Biographical Information, 2002

Photographs, circa 1922-1926, 1944

MacLaren Papers, 1919-2002 (bulk 1919-1935)

Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Ralitsa Donkova.

© 2005

Biographical Note

Katharine Yoder Hook, a 1926 Mount Holyoke College alumna and a registered nurse, was born on June 27, 1905 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Harry E. Hook, an assistant manager at the A. Wilhelm Company, and Hannah Yoder Hook. She went to the High School for Girls in Reading, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1926 and majored in economics and sociology. In 1926 she received secretarial training at Canton Actual Business College, Canton, OH. In 1932 she received her R.N. degree from the Francis Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University. In 1933 she received a certificate in Physiotherapy from Harvard Medical School. On June 9, 1934 she married Allan Booth MacLaren and they had three children. She worked as a registered nurse. She died at ninety-seven on September 21, 2002 in McKinleyville, California.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Katharine H. MacLaren Papers consist of correspondence, diaries, a scrapbook, memorabilia, an obituary, and photographs. This material chiefly reflects her experiences and activities as a student at Mount Holyoke College from 1922-1926. In letters to her parents she discusses friendships and dates, parties and dances, sports events (such as the first horse show at Mount Holyoke held in May, 1923), traditions such as Mountain Day and Junior Show, clothing, her expenses, and room choosing. She describes her service on various College committees, including the judicial board of the Student Government Association, and mentions social and political interests of students. She also refers to students bobbing their hair and breaking regulations such as a ban on smoking. Her letters from January, 1923, refer to the fire that destroyed Rockfeller Dormitory. In addition, she frequently discusses her studies, particularly in economics and English, and often mentions faculty members Margaret Ball, Jeannette Augustus Marks, Amy Hewes, Ethel Barbara Dietrich, Alzada Comstock, Leslie Gale Burgevin, and dormitory head Sarah Lois Staples. Included is her correspondence with friends and family during her post-graduation European Tour entitled "Around the Baltic," arranged by the International Confederation of Students. She visited Sweden, France, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. Her diary dates from 1922-1926 and contains brief descriptions of her activities and references to her health. She also mentions "crushes and mashes" and discussions about sex among students, offers more details about her relationships with men than her letters provide, and refers to the decline of religious life at the College. Her travel diary depicts a student tour of Europe in the mid-1920s written by a buoyant and enterprising college student. Her scrapbook dates from 1922-1928 and contains a chart of her body measurements from freshman year as well as programs and notes reflecting her social and academic activities. Other material in the collection consists of her letters to her family from Pine Tree Camp in Pocono Pines, Pennsylvania, where she stayed in July 1919. The collection also includes letters, original poems, and drawings sent to MacLaren by a boyfriend named Samuel H. Bryant, as well as letters from her parents, her husband, Allan B. MacLaren, and several Mount Holyoke classmates, particularly Josephine Fellows, Helen Wismer Thurber, Anne A. Noble McKeachie, M. Adelaide Lehan, Mary Elizabeth Steinmetz, and Margaret B. Ream. Of note is Ream's letter from July 12, 1924 in which she explains that she wanted to keep at a distance to avoid a "possible crush" between the two women. Rounding out the collection are programs and other memorabilia circa 1922-1938, and photographs of MacLaren alone, with friends and relatives, and from her European trip, circa 1922-1926, 1994.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into six series:

• Correspondence (1919-1995)
• Diaries (1922-1926)
• Scrapbook (1922-1926)
• Memorabilia (circa 1922-1938)
• Biographical Information (2002)
• Photographs (circa 1922-1926, 1994)

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Contents List

Correspondence 1919-1995 4 boxes

Chiefly consists of letters that MacLaren wrote to her parents. In the letters from Pine Tree Camp written in July, 1919 she describes the food, her activities and expenses, and relationships with other girls. Letters written to her parents while she was a student at Mount Holyoke College from 1922-1926 frequently mentions College traditions such as Mountain Day celebrations, Faculty Show, Junior Show, Junior Prom, Founder's Day, visits to Senior Towne House, and singing competitions. She refers to social and political interests of members of the College Community, particularly those related to pacifism and women's rights. She discusses her posture exam as a freshman, her expenses, smoking and violations of rules by students, fire drill procedures, and dances and parties. She also mentions the visitors to campus, Chapel speakers, the aftermath of the fire that destroyed the Rockefeller Hall dormitory in 1922, room choosing, and the deaths of several students. There are also many references to a large group of friends. In addition there is a substantial number of letters from her mother, a few from her father, and a good many from her college friends, written mostly during holidays or after graduation. The letters from her parents mostly respond to what MacLaren was writing and provide her with news from home. Those from 1927-1929 and concern family matters, housekeeping advice, clothes, finances, and the family's new home in Canton, Ohio. Some of her frequent correspondents from College are Josephine Fellows, Class of 1924, Helen Wismer Thurber, Class of 1924, and Dorothy Pyle, Class of 1925. Of special interest is her correspondence with Anne A. Noble McKeachie, Class of 1928, who was MacLaren's "little sister;" and Margaret B. Ream, Class of 1924, who was one of MacLaren's closest friends. Of note is Ream's letter from July 12, 1924 in which she explains that she tried to keep at a distance to avoid a "possible crush" between the two women. She advised MacLaren to pick her best friends from her own class. Included is a collection of a letter and love poetry by Sam Bryant, Margaret B. Ream's brother. The poetry is compiled in handmade books which include small seascape paintings. Included is MacLaren's travel correspondence with family and friends from her European tour in the summer of 1926. Also contains letters from her future husband, Allan Booth MacLaren, dating from 1933-1935. They were written during his business trips and express mostly his feelings for her with brief descriptions of the places he was staying.

Arranged chronologically and then by author.

Diaries, 1922-1926 2 folders

Consists of MacLaren's college diary and a travel diary. Her college diary dates from 1922-1926 and reflects her life at Mount Holyoke College. It contains brief descriptions of her activities, references to her health, several notes and report cards, a snapshot (probably of MacLaren and her friends), a list of "Books I want" and "Useful books," and quotations from her readings. Also included are many references to smoking and other forms of misconduct by students, "crushes and smashes" among students, discussions of sexuality by MacLaren and her friends, her relationships with several men, and the decline of religious life at the College. Her travel diary depicts a student tour of Europe in the mid-1920s written by a buoyant and enterprising college student.

Scrapbook, 1922-1926 1 box

MacLaren's scrapbook is very extensive. It contains numerous snapshots of MacLaren and college friends, a table of body measurements from her freshman year, class schedule cards, report cards, cartoons of her friends, two slides she prepared for a zoology class, Commencement greetings, notes and letters, programs, newspaper clippings, and a few documents sent to her by her friends after her graduation.

Memorabilia, circa 1922-1938 20 folders

Memorabilia includes cards, newspaper clippings, wedding announcements and invitations, MacLaren's Commencement announcement, some Mount Holyoke College publications and programs, and handouts and notes for her economics and statistics classes. The memorabilia from MacLaren's European trip in 1926 includes travel guides, programs, postcards, stamps, labels, and hotel stationary.

Biographical Information, 2002 1 folder

Consists of a page mentioning MacLaren's death in 2002 from the "Nursing Magazine of The Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing" at Case Western Reserve University, from which she graduated in 1932.

Photographs, circa 1922-1926, 1944 2 folders

The photographs include a portrait and several group photographs from MacLaren's Mount Holyoke College years, photographs and negatives from her European trip in 1926, and a photograph of her with her children on her eighty-ninth birthday, 1994.

Contents List

Correspondence 1919-1995 4 boxes

Diaries, 1922-1926 2 folders

Scrapbook, 1922-1926 1 box

Memorabilia, circa 1922-1938 20 folders

Biographical Information, 2002 1 folder

Photographs, circa 1922-1926, 1944 2 folders