The 1910s

World Events

On this page of her diary, student Mabel Grant mentions her experience recovering from Spanish Influenza.  There was a deadly outbreak of this disease in Greenville, North Carolina in 1918.  She also mentions receiving a letter from a gentleman currently serving in the military during World War I.

UA70-10 Mabel Grant Papers, Diary page 3, 1918. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/60884

May Day

May Day is celebrated on May 1st as a spring festival in parts of the United States and Europe.  Its origins lie in Roman and Germanic spring festivals dating back to 2nd and 9th centuries respectively.  During the late 1800s and early 1900s, May Day celebrations frequently occurred at women's colleges and academic institutions in the United States, including East Carolina Teachers Training School and East Carolina Teachers College, and may have included singing, dancing around a maypole, plays, and parades.

UA70-10 Mabel Grant Papers, Scrapbook page 14, 1918. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/60886

UA70-17 Helen Virginia Wootton Photographs, Photograph of May Day Play, 1914. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/61047

Theater

In 1855 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published a well-received epic poem entitled “The Song of Hiawatha,” which focused on the life of Native American character Hiawatha. Multiple dramatic adaptations of this poem, including one by the ECTTS Edgar Allan Poe Literary Society, were created during the early 1900s.

UA45-04 Edgar Allan Poe Literary Society, Hiawatha Play Program, 1914

Male Visitors

The college only had a handful of male students through the 1930s.  Female students often had male visitors from other colleges during certain hours as allowed by the college.  It is unknown if the two men in this photograph attended ECTTS or if they were visitors to campus.

UA70-10 Mabel Grant Papers, Scrapbook page 19, https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/60886

 

 

Scenes of Campus

UA45-03 Student Ephemera, Senior Tree Planting Program, 1913.

UA70-10 Mabel Grant Papers, Scrapbook page 18, 1919. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/60886

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