QUERY

Received the following query from Louis Krupp. Anyone with any possible leads can post them as a COMMENT to this message. ALSO please copy your reply to Louis at books_at_night@zoho.com

David Minor

I found a copy of "My Golden School Days: Class Memories" (copyright 1911, Reilly & Britton) in a book recycle bin. The sticker inside the front covers identifies the owner as Helen Shepard of Mitchell School. There's a page for the date (May 18, 1921), the class flower (American Beauty Rose), the class colors (red and white), the class pin (there was a class ring instead), the class motto ("Strive to succeed"), and a class yell (which I will spare you).

There is no indication of what city or state the school was in. The only hint as to location is this note (under "Stunts, Doings, and Jokes"): "On Sneak Day, Helen Lewis, Paul Stewart and Maud Hole walked to the end of Spring Canon [sic] and had a hard time getting out. I had to take off my shoe and it finally ended in Paul boosting me out. -- Maud H."

The book talks about the presentation of the class play "Cupid at Vassar") at the Opera House on April 16. The book also mentions the juniors entertaining the seniors "at a banquet served by the Circle Ladies at the Federated Church parlors."

(I've had a hard time finding "Spring Canyon." There's one near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, and I sent e-mail to the Bellefonte library, but the folks there hadn't heard of Mitchell School. Bellefonte has an opera house, but they checked their 1921 newspapers, and there's no mention of the class play. And I've seen no mention of a Federated Church in Bellfefonte.)

Mitchell School (also referred to as "Mitchell High School") seems to have been a small institution, with only 13 students listed under "My Classmates":

Roland ("Paddy") Edwards
Alfred Stewart
Helen ("Babe") Shepard
Mellie Newell
Agnes Christensen
Paul ("Rosy") Rosebrough
Maud Hole
Helen Lewis
Vivian ("Jane") Shepard
Ethel Bowen
Rolf ("Gillie") Gilmore
Paul ("Skinny") Stewart

Past class officers included some of the above as well as these students:

Blyss Williams
Charley Pringle

There were seven teachers (listed under "The Teachers"):

Mr. Lehman
Miss Draper
Miss Erwin
Miss Schroeder
Miss McDonald
Miss Mulligan
Miss Wheaton

Members of the class of 1921 would have probably been born in 1903 or 1904. A search for "Helen Shepard" and "1903" turns up this:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11646635

A search for "Paul Rosebrough" turns up this:

http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%2010/Mt.%20Morris%20NY%20Picket%20Line%20Post/Mt.%20Morris%20NY%20Picket%20Line%20Post%201957%20Grayscale/Mt.%20Morris%20NY%20Picket%20Line%20Post%201957%20Grayscale%20-%200052.pdf

It's possible that Mitchell School is (or, more likely, was) somewhere in upstate New York. If any of the historical societies or libraries in your area knows of this school, this book is free to a good home. Please feel free to forward or publish this e-mail address (books_at_night@zoho.com); it's not one I use regularly, and if it gets spammed, I can always shut it down.

Thank you!

Louis Krupp
Boulder, Colorado