Accession Number: 10
Pine Mountain Settlement School Collection
Papers 1913 - 1971
4.2 linear ft.
Online Catalog Record (BANC)

Overview
History

Part I - Overview of Part I

Series I - Correspondence
Series II - Progress Reports 1913 -1971
Series III - Line Fork Settlement Notes
Series IV - Essays and Stories [1920s-1940s]
Series V - Calendars
Series VI - Printed Material 1919 - 1977
Series VII - Newspaper Clippings, 1922 - 1975
Series VIII - Miscellaneous
Series IX - Photographs [1920s-1930s]

Part II - Overview of Part II

Series I - Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws
Series II - Berea College / Pine Mountain Affiliation
Series III - Board of Trustees Minutes, 1949-66 / 1971-81
Series IV - Financial Reports
Series V - Correspondence, 1934 - 1967
Series VI - School Survey Reports, 1949-1951
Series VII - Publicity, 1950 -1966

Part III - Overview of Part III

Series I - Nativity Play
Series II - Photographic Negatives

Access and Use:

Provenance:

The Pine Mountain Settlement School Collection was compiled by Berea College Library staff over several years. It is the result of the College's close working relationship with the settlement school, especially during the administrations of Berea Presidents, William J. and Francis Hutchins.

Preferred Citation:

Pine Mountain Settlement School Collection, Special Collections & Archives, Berea College, Berea, Ky.

Overview of the Collection

The collection is particularly useful in documenting the issues and concerns of the founders during the school's first years (1913-1920s) and likewise for the administration of school director Burton Rogers (1949-1972). Generally speaking items in Part I relate to the history and mission of Pine Mountain. Part II focuses on documents primarily from the 1950s and 1960s, though some series include documents from earlier periods. In general these are the business and legal documents relating to the school, with related correspondence, and were collected by Francis Hutchins while he was on the Board of Trustees (1943-1967). The third part of the collection preserves documents related to the tradition of the Nativity Play at Pine Mountain, and also includes some photographs and early photographic negatives.

Related Archives at Berea College:

• Pine Mountain Settlement School Records , SAA 42
• Pine Mountain Community Study Records, SAA 22
• Katherine Pettit Papers, 1899-1937, SAA 11
• Hindman Settlement School Collection, SAA 9
• Hindman Settlement School Records , SAA 41
• J.A. Stucky Papers, 1903-1956, SAA 23
• Leonard Roberts Papers, 1950-1983, SAA 57
• Settlement Institutions of Appalachia Records, 1970-1982 SAA 36

History

Pine Mountain Settlement School was founded in 1913, by Katherine Pettit and Ethel deLong. The two women received ninety-five acres of land from William Creech for the purpose of providing educational opportunities for the people of the Pine Mountain area of Harlan County, Kentucky.

Petit and deLong modeled their program after Jane Adam's Hull House in Chicago. They hoped that their modern ideas about health, nutrition, work efficiency, farm management, and the cultural value of indigenous crafts would permeate the surrounding communities -- both through the children, and through direct contact with adults.

Community outreach programs included a hospital and medical clinics that provided vaccinations, trachoma treatment, and dental and maternity care. Health education was carried on in rural schools and extension centers that also offered homemaker's groups, community recreation, and Sunday Schools.

Initially, the educational program included a boarding grade school that was followed by a high school program in the 1920s, The grade school was discontinued in the 1930s, but the high school continued until 1949.

In addition to regular academic subjects, students were involved in traditional music and dance activities, and a labor program that helped run the school and develop useful skills. In the 1930s the curriculum was revised to focus mainly on trade professions and skills for rural community living. In 1949, the boarding program ended and Pine Mountain became part of the Harlan County school system. Since the 1960s and as late as 2003, the school has operated an environmental education program that serves a wide variety of school age and adult groups.

10 Manuscript Boxes

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