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Caroline Maria Field was born July 18, 1828 in Sturbridge, Massachusetts to Theodore and Elizabeth Allen Field. She attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary from 1845-1847, graduating with the Class of 1847. She may have worked as a teacher before marrying John Holly Knapp of Fort Madison, Iowa on November 26, 1848. They had one child, a son, named Henry Eno Knapp. She died on January 31, 1854 in Fort Madison at the age of twenty-five.
The Caroline Maira Field Knapp Papers consist of compositions, notebooks, commonplace books, an autograph album, a diploma, and a portrait. Of particular note are the compositions, 1845-1847, and the notebooks, 1847-circa 1849. The compositions were written by Knapp as a student at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. The three notebooks contain "Notes on Paradise Lost," notes about commencement exercises dating from 1847, and lists of students, possibly pupils of Knapp's, circa 1847-1848. The two commonplace books dating from about 1845-1847 contain essays, stories, and poems written or copied by Mount Holyoke Female Seminary students, teachers, and visiting lecturers, and by others, including works of popular authors. The autograph album contains signatures of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary classmates and teachers, visitors to the school, and others. The color portrait was probably painted between 1848-1854. The collection as a whole captures aspects of the academic and social life of a Mount Holyoke student in the mid-1800s.
This collection is organized into six series:
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
Caroline M. Field Knapp Papers, Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, MA
Arranged chronologically.
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The twenty-one compositions in this series date from 1845-1847 and were written by Knapp while she was a student at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. Composition topics include "The Deserted Temple," "Little Things are Useful," "Twenty-Four Hours On Board a Canalboat," and "The Discoveries of Astronomy."
Arranged chronologically.
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The three notebooks in this series contain "Notes on Milton's Paradise Lost, 1847, notes about commencement exercises, 1847, and lists of students, possibly pupils of Knapp's, circa 1847-1848.
Arranged chronologically.
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The two commonplace books in this series, circa 1845-1847, contain essays, stories, and poems, written or copied by Mount Holyoke Female Seminary students, teachers and visiting lecturers, and by others, including works of popular authors.
Arranged chronologically.
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The autograph album, 1846-1847, was owned by Knapp and consists of autographs and short notes to her from classmates, teachers, visitors to Mount Holyoke, and others.
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This series contains a Mount Holyoke Female Seminary diploma given to Knapp in 1847 upon her graduation from the Seminary.
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The color portrait of Knapp probably dates from circa 1848-circa 1854. It is in an ornately decorated wooden frame, 16.5 inches long by 14.5 inches wide.