This past week Forrest and I started and completed the Olivia Stokes Hatch papers in the Special Collections at Bryn Mawr College. Dating from 1859 to 1993, the collection measured approximately 12 linear feet and was in ideal condition for minimal processing: material was accurately foldered and arranged by series, and needed very little hands on processing. With the exception of the foldering of a few items, the collection was essentially ready to be entered into Archivists’ Toolkit. The bulk of our time was spent actually reading off and inputting 408 folder labels into AT. The collection is comprised almost entirely of correspondence and had it not been well processed before we arrived, it would not have been a good candidate for minimal processing. However, letters had already been removed from envelopes, and then arranged by sender and date, which saved us valuable time.
We divided the collection into three series: Olivia Stokes Hatch; Anna V.S. Mitchell; and Collected Correspondence. The first series, Olivia Stokes Hatch, included biographical information, material she collected, correspondence, family material, and photographs.
Olivia Stokes Hatch was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1908, and attended Bryn Mawr College from 1925 to 1930. Prior to her marriage she was very active with the American Red Cross and American Conferences of Social Work. In 1939, Olivia Phelps Stokes married John Davis Hatch, Jr. an art collector, consultant, and museum director. They had four children: John Davis Hatch III, Daniel Lindley Hatch, James Stokes Hatch, and Sarah Stokes Hatch. Much of the correspondence in the collection is between Olivia, her husband, her mother Caroline Mitchell Phelps Stokes and her father Anson Phelps Stokes.
The second series, Anna V.S. Mitchell, is comprised also largely of correspondence, as well as diaries, and essay. Much of the correspondence is regarding her work during World War I and domestic fundraising efforts on behalf of Russian refugees in Constantinople. Her diaries date from 1896 to 1925, and provide an intimate and firsthand account of her work and experiences in World War I.
The final series, Collected Correspondence, is more correspondence! This correspondence is mostly between friends and relatives of the Mitchell and Stokes families.
This collection is an excellent resource for those researching family dynamics and relationships in the early to mid 20th century. The collection also provides an intimate look into the relief work of women during World War I through correspondence and diaries created by those involved directly. The work of women in the American Red Cross is also well documented through correspondence within the collection.
