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© 2003 Mount Holyoke College. All rights reserved.
Gladys Ford Pratt was born on January 16, 1892 in Westfield, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of George F., a whipmaker, and Erminia Ford Pratt. After graduating from Westfield High School, she enrolled in Mount Holyoke College in 1910. She majored in English Literature and history and was a Sarah Williston Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In her junior year, she composed the music to the school's Alma Mater, which is still sung today. After graduating in 1914, she worked as an assistant in the College library. She attended Simmons College in July and August 1916, then left Mount Holyoke to enroll in George Washington University to study the history of art. While in Washington, she was a cataloger at the Smithsonian Institution Library. In February 1920, she became librarian at the Women's College in Delaware. In 1922-1923, 1930, and 1931 she studied library science at the University of Illinois, receiving an M.A. in 1931. She was a cataloger at the University of Illinois in 1922-23, an assistant at the Springfield, Massachusetts library in 1923-24 and librarian at the State Teachers College in Westfield, Massachusetts in 1924-1941. From 1941 to her retirement in 1957, she worked as a librarian at the State Teachers College in Framingham. From 1950-1978, she participated in the Framingham Heart Study. She moved back to South Hadley, Massachusetts after her retirement and worked part time organizing the library for the School of Nursing at Holyoke (Massachusetts) Hospital. She died on November 18, 1986 at the age of ninety-four in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
The Gladys Ford Pratt Papers consist of diaries, correspondence, original writings, biographical information, memorabilia, and photographs dating from circa 1909-1986. Of particular significance are four diaries written while Pratt was a student at Mount Holyoke College, 1912-1913, and during her travels in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean dating from 1939-1967. The Mount Holyoke College diary contains descriptions of daily activities, domestic work, her studies, her thoughts on Sunday sermons, and her social life. The travel diaries describe trips to the southern United States in 1939, the western United States in 1954, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, and England in 1964, and a Caribbean cruise in 1967. The last diary contains short daily entries from 1972. Correspondence includes letters to Pratt from personal friends dating from 1961-1979. A letter by Pratt is dated March 3, 1981. Pratt's writings includes psalms, sermons, plays and the musical notes for the Mount Holyoke "Alma Mater." The collection includes correspondence and other documents reflecting Pratt's participation in the Framingham Heart Study, 1950-1978. The biographical information consists of a biographical note dating from 1924 and an obituary from 1986. Photographs range from circa 1909-1979 and include formal portraits as well as informal photographs of Pratt alone and with others. There is a photograph of Pratt while she was a student at Mount Holyoke College.
This collection is organized into seven series:
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Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
Gladys F. Pratt Papers, Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collection, South Hadley, MA.
Arranged chronologically.
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This series consists of diaries written by Pratt from 1912-1972. The diary written in 1912 while she was a student at Mount Holyoke College discusses daily activities, including her domestic work, studies, thoughts on Sunday sermons, and social life. Subsequent diaries mainly discuss her travels in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean. One diary documents her 1939 trip through the southern United States, which included stops in Virginia, New Orleans, and Alabama. The 1954 entries discuss another United States trip. This one included stops in Chicago, the Grand Canyon, and California. The diary also includes accounts concerning her expenses. In a later diary, entries from 1964 document a trip to Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, and England in the company of her sister Genevieve F. Pratt. Other entries describe a 1967 cruise in the Caribbean. The last diary from 1972 consists of very short notes about daily activities at home.
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This series contains correspondence to and from Pratt from 1961-1981. The letters to Pratt are personal letters from Mount Holyoke College alumnae and other friends. Also included are several sympathy cards to Pratt following the death of her sister Genevieve in 1976. The letter written by Pratt dated March 3, 1981 describes her activities and the effects of old age.
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This series consists of writings by Pratt from about 1913-1970. The writings include poems, a sermon written in January 1970, notes about school programs offered in the early 1900s, undated poetry, the original manuscript, words and music for the "Alma Mater" Pratt composed in 1913.
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This series contains information about Pratt's participation from 1950-1978 in the Framingham Heart Study program. This program involved examinations every two years to detect cardiovascular disease. The series is made up of letters from the Framingham Heart Study to Pratt, giving the results of her tests, as well as a newspaper clipping dated March 6, 1958, about the program.
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This series consists of a biographical note dating from 1924 and an obituary from 1986.
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This series contains a few items of memorabilia that belonged to Pratt and her 1914 diploma from Mount Holyoke College. The memorabilia includes a Valentine, a hand-made birthday card, a reunion card from 1957, and a certificate from the Mount Holyoke College Institute on the United Nations, dated 1949.
Arranged chronologically.
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This series contains photographs of Pratt alone and with others, photographs relating to Mount Holyoke College, and other photographs. Included in the series are several formal and informal photographs of Pratt, such as her 1909 Westfield High School portrait and photographs taken of her between about the 1940s-1979. Also included is an undated picture of Pratt's house, possibly from about 1909. Pictures of Pratt related to Mount Holyoke College include one of her in a graduation gown, dated 1917-18, a 1960 class reunion picture, and two pictures of Pratt at the 1979 reunion.