| Creator | Arnold, Sarah Arnold, 1859-1943 |
| Title | Sarah Louise Arnold papers |
| Dates | 1889-1954 |
| Identification | MS 64 |
| Quantity | 2.0 linear feet (1 manuscript box and 1 record carton) |
| Collection Abstract | [Scope and Content abstract] |
| Historical Abstract | [Biographical/Historical context abstract] |
| Language | Material in English. |
| Location | Collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Archives staff for more information. |
Collection is open.
Copyright for materials resides with the creators of the items in question, unless otherwise designated.
Please contact the College Archivist with requests to publish any material from the collection.
[Identification of item: description and date], Sarah Louise Arnold papers, 1889-1954, MS 64, Simmons College Archives, Boston, MA, USA.
Papers were donated to Simmons College by John R. Hefler, great-nephew of Sarah Louise Arnold, in September 1985 and Louise Chandler, great-niece in 1987 and 1988, and combined with materials from her "Faculty Biography File" in the Archives.
Accession number: 85.43; 87.061; 88.005
Processed by Brenda M. Favreau, November 1985
Supervised by Megan Sniffin-Marinoff
Updated by Joan Gearin, July 1996
Updated by Claire Goodwin, June 1998
This collection guide was encoded as part of the LEADS project by Katherine M. Wisser, October 2012.
Sarah Louise Arnold's experience in education ranged from the administration of education in the Minneapolis primary schools, Boston public schools, and Simmons College, where she was the first Dean and Director of the School of Household Economics, to lecturing across the country on education and household economics, to writing text books and articles. she was an early educational leader in the areas of phonetics, household economics, and educational administration.
Arnold was born February 15, 1859 in Abington, Massachusetts. She was the eleventh of 15 children born to Jonathan and Abigail Arnold. From a very early age, it appeared that Arnold would later enter the field of education. She was reading Latin at the 11 and graduated from high school at 13. After having spent a few years at home, too young to attend college, she attended Bridgewater Normal School in order to begin her career as an educator and administrator. (1)
Arnold began teaching in Bridgewater and held later positions in Kingston, Massachusetts; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Lisbon, New Hampshire; St. Johnsbury, Vermont; and Saratoga Springs, New York. At the age of 29, she was chosen supervisor of primary schools in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She left this position in 1894 to become supervisor of schools in Boston. (2) At the time of the organization of Simmons College in 1900, Arnold was named a member of the Corporation. She resigned from this position in 1902 to become the first Dean of Simmons College as well as the newly named Director of the School of Household Economics and head of the Department of Education. She remained as Dean of Simmons College until 1921 when she became Dean, Emerita.
During these years as educator and administrator, Arnold devoted a great deal of time to writing on English and phonetics. Stepping Stones to Literature, published in 1897 was her first book. With Pencil and Pen, The See and Say Series, and The Mastery of Words were written during her time at Simmons. While in Boston, she also collaborated with Professor George Lyman Kittredge to create a two volume work on phonetics and grammar entitled The Mother Tongue. In addition, Arnold wrote several series of articles for such journals as The American Teacher, School Journal, and Primary School Journal.
Arnold's experience in education also entailed work in several capacities outside of Simmons College. She was President of the American Home Economics Association and the first director of the New England Association of the Home Economics Association, organized in 1909. (3) Having been requested by Alvin T .Fuller, Governor of Massachusetts, to serve under Herbert Hoover (the Secretary of the Food Administration) as lecturer and consultant in the area of food conservation, Arnold took a leave of absence from Simmons in 1917 and lectured nationwide on the need for food conservation during the war. She returned to Simmons College to become Dean, Emerita as well as a member of the Associates. From 1902 to 1924, she was a member of the Board of Governors of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union and served on the Committee of the School of Salesmanship, later the Prince School of Retailing, as well as on the advisory committees of the Union's Lunch Department and its Bureau for Vocational Advice and Appointment. She was particularly concerned with coordinating education for women on the job and in the classroom and stressed individual training for students. Arnold also served as a trustee of the Nasson Institute (now Nasson College) of Springvale, Maine until her resignation in September 1921. (4) She also served on the Massachusetts State Board of Education and was the first woman to be named a trustee of the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst in 1926. (5)
Arnold held a lifelong interest in the Girl Scouts of America, including writing for several of their magazines. In 1925, this interest was fully realized when she became the organization's national president, succeeding Lou Henry Hoover.
Sarah Louise Arnold died February 26, 1943 and was buried in Mount Vernon Cemetery in her home town of Abington, Mass. (6) Her memory lives on at Simmons through the college song, "Alma Mater," which she wrote in 1904 and through her portrait, done by Margaret Fitzhugh Brown, which hangs in Arnold Hall, a dormitory named in her honor. (7)
The Sarah Louise Arnold papers contain scrapbooks, clippings, writings, correspondence, a thesis, a travel journal and memorabilia. The papers cover primarily the years from her term as superintendent of the primary schools in Minneapolis, Minnesota (1888-1894) through her administration of the Boston public schools (1894-1902). In addition, there are materials dating from her administration as Dean and Director of the Household Economics Program at Simmons College (1902-1920), her tenure with the U.S. Food Administration (1917-1920), and beyond.
The bulk of the materials are found in the clippings and scrapbooks and date from 1894-1902. The correspondence is limited to the years 1921-1926 and is extremely sketchy. The writings by Arnold are not a complete set.
The collection can be particularly useful to researchers looking for information on the role of women educators and administrators at the turn of the century, in particular in the Minneapolis and Boston primary school systems. The collection would be limited for studying Arnold's role as Dean of the College and Director of the Household Economics Program as well as her role with the U.S. Food Administration and with the Girl Scouts of America.
Of particular importance in this collection are Arnold's clippings of her writing in various educational journals, writings and clippings about the life and career of Arnold, a travel diary of her trip to Europe in 1904, and a thesis about Arnold written by her niece, Rachel Arnold Hefler (1954).
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
Collection is arranged into 8 series:
For further information relating to the life and activities of Arnold, see the records of the Office of the Dean, Simmons College and the Simmons College Historical Book Collection.
Arranged chronologically.
The scrapbooks, called "Mark Twain Scrapbooks," contain programs, clippings, letters, and articles by and about Sarah Louise Arnold. The materials were collection during her tenure in Minneapolis through her administration with the Boston Public School System. Most of the newspaper and journal clippings were collected by the Henry Romeike Clipping Service of New York. The scrapbooks were most likely put together by the clipping service or Arnold's personal secretary-companion and overseen by Arnold. Arnold may even have done some of the organization herself. (1) Dates associated with the titles of the Scrapbooks do not match the date of the material within the scrapbooks.
Box 1
Half Hours After School,
Our Letter Box,
The Lend a Hand Corner,
Notes by the Way.
American Primary Teacher
Stepping Stones to Literature
Reading and How to Teach It
The Mother Tongue
Series II, Box 1, Folders 3-4
Primary School Journal
School Journal
American Primary Teacher
Journal of Education
Arranged by subject and chronologically within subjects.
Includes clippings and copies of clippings from newspapers, journals, and Simmons College publications. Series includes a letter taken from the U.S. Food Administration, News Notes for Public Libraries, Trailmaker; a typescript copy of an illuminated page displayed by the Society of Arts and Crafts; a copy of an article by A.E. Winship about Arnold taken from The Perry Magazine; clippings regarding Arnold's work with the U.S. Food Administration during World War I articles regarding the portrait of Arnold presented to Simmons College in 1931; several clippings about Arnold's book for Girl Scout leaders, The Way of Understanding; obituaries and an article regarding her will. Also included are copies of the article "Little Leaven," a biography of Arnold written by her great-nephew, Robert F. Grose, which appear in the Fall 1952 issue of the Simmons Review; references to Arnold in The Eastern Massachusetts Home Economics Association, the First Forty-three Years, 1909-1952; and a clipping from Massachusetts Nurse regarding a meeting of the Associated Alumnae and the Superintendents of Training Schools held in June 1911.
The series also includes programs of Arnold's lectures given throughout the country from 1894-1902. The clippings are from journals and newspapers and were clipped by the Henry Romeike Clipping Service. The clippings correspond to and duplicate many of the clippings found in the scrapbooks (Series I), yet not all of them. For the most complete sampling of clippings, Series I and Series II should be looked at in their entirety.
Some of the contents of this series were removed from Arnold's Faculty Biographical File in the Simmons College Archive. Other clippings in this series, labelled "Boston Clippings" were removed from a pocket in the back cover of the second scrapbook (Series I, Box 1, Folder 2) and were kept together for this reason.
Box 2
The correspondence, removed from Arnold's Faculty Biographical File at the Simmons College Archives, consists of one telegram to Olive Jaque and two letters to Emily (Bodman) Leiserson, Simmons College Class of 1907.
Box 2
Arranged by subject and chronologically within subjects
Contains an incomplete sampling of published writings by Arnold. The writings are primarily about teaching of children and women, including "The College Hymn,""The College Door,""Our College" and "Grace at Table." Also included are writings on food conservation, written during her tenure with the U.S. Food Administration.
Box 2
The thesis was written in 1954 by the niece of Arnold, Rachel Arnold Hefler in 1954 for the Theta Chapter (Massachusetts) of Delta Kappa Gamma. The introduction of the thesis includes the author's personal rememberances of the personality and words of her "Aunt Sarah."
Box 2
Includes Arnold's travel journal, recounting her travels throughout Europe during July and August of 1904, including Liverpool, London, the North Sea, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, various points in Switzerland, Paris, and her return to England and to Boston. Of particular importance are her detailed descriptions of the sights, people and events as well as "Things Particular to Holland" and "Cost of Commodities" in Holland. Arnold was accompanied by E. Clark Hood, Mabel Hood, and close personal friend Dr. Mary G. Hood. Dispersed through the travel journal were postcards, some attached and others loose, of sights seen in Europe. The loose postcards were removed from the journal.
Box 2
Includes a variety of objects related to Arnold, including a card certifying that Arnold received the Apostolic Rite of Laying on of hands at a Confirmation on November 9, 1920; blank "Office of the Dean" stationery; an empty wallet engraved "Sarah L. Arnold"; travel papers from the U.S. Department of State in 1904; and memorabilia from a U.S. Food Administration Reunion. Also included are books from Arnold's library which were not added to the Simmons College Historical Book Collection and a diploma from the Rhode Island College of Education from 1927 (currently missing).
Box 2
Contains three framed photographs, one each of Sarah Louise Arnold, Herbert Hoover and Frederic Collin Walcott. There is an additional photograph of Arnold located in the Archives Photograph Collection.
Box 2
