“We all are aware that this is a distinct crisis in the history of our country….”

—President Russell to faculty and employees, October 15, 1918¹

Though the war occurred thousands of miles away, Fredericksburg was still affected in numerous ways, and the State Normal School was no exception.  With rising prices of goods and services, many faculty members found it difficult to provide for themselves and their families.  As a result, these members asked for salary increases, and many of the requests came around 1918 when engagement with the effort was at its highest.  The faculty members’ requests for raises are evidence that even though Fredericksburg and the State Normal School were in a sense removed from the action in Europe they were not free from the consequences that war wrought.

The first to ask for a salary increase along with her re-appointment was Mary Bailey Chew, who in February 1918 attributed the request to the high prices of goods due to the war effort.²  She was not alone in her request—other faculty members, including Edith M. Keller, J. Louise Louis, and Olive M. Hinman, also asked for salary raises in 1918,³ though Hinman had previously inquired about an increase in 1915 as well.⁴

Not only was the administration affected by petitions for salary increases, but they also suffered from the ability to successfully fulfill all positions at the school.  The November 30, 1918 report noted that student attendance numbers fell and that several faculty members did not return due to adverse effects of the war.⁵  The report also suggested that the outbreak of influenza influenced the number of faculty who decided to return, attributing factors other than the war to fewer teachers at the school.  The January 1919 bulletin made patriotic appeals to teachers to come to the Fredericksburg State Normal School, in an attempt to boost morale regarding the war effort and deal with problems of vacant positions.⁶

Many faculty members participated in activities to support the war effort alongside students, though those efforts are noted in their own pages in Student Life and Academics.  The June 1919 catalogue noted that the school had a War Activities Committee, chaired by B.Y. Tyner and also consisted of faculty members Ethel Black, Olive Hinman, J.H. Chiles, and Eula D. Atkinson.⁷  Faculty members also participated to local war efforts by contributing to United War Work Campaign and Relief Work in Armenia and the Near East, purchased War Savings Stamps and Liberty and Victory Bonds, helped stage parades, and even manage local war activity campaigns.⁸

The administration and faculty at the Fredericksburg State Normal School were adamant about supporting their soldiers abroad not only on a patriotic level but a personal one as well, since one of their own, Gunyon M. Harrison, left the school and the Rifle Club to train riflemen for the war.⁹  The October 1919 War Activities Bulletin was dedicated  to Harrison and Roy S. Cook, and not only discussed their efforts but also those of Dean Chandler, who spoke to surrounding communities asking for their support of the war, and Olive Hinman, who adopted two war orphans from Europe.¹⁰  These narratives show that even though Fredericksburg and the school might not have been in the midst of all of the hardships that the war wrought on the American people, these locals supported the war and the soldiers in any way that they could.

Despite the hardships that the war brought to the State Normal School in Fredericksburg, the administration overall operated smoothly and the hiccups along the way mostly centered on filling a few vacant positions and fulfilling desires for higher salaries.  President Russell’s correspondence with other administrators across the state of Virginia and with the faculty and staff at the State Normal School dictate a narrative that although the school remained largely unaffected by the war, at least directly, there were still some obstacles that the school had to address along the way.  Support for the war effort never waned, and both students and administration heeded President Russell’s call to participate in any way possible, including special clubs and academic courses, which are further explored in their own pages regarding the State Normal School.
 

Academics >>

 

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Notes

1.  Edward H. Russell to staff, October 15, 1918, Edward H. Russell Papers, 1909–1919, Folder 7, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington.

2.  Mary Bailey Chew to Edward H. Russell, February 1918, Edward H. Russell Papers, 1909–1919, Folder 2, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington.

3.  Olive M. Hinman to Edward H. Russell, 1918, Edward H. Russell Papers, 1909–1919, Folder 4,Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington.

4.  Olive M. Hinman to Edward H. Russell, 1915, Edward H. Russell Papers, 1909–1919, Folder 4, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington.

5.  Report by Edward H. Russell, November 30, 1918, Edward H. Russell Papers, 1909–1919, Folder 15, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington.

6.  Bulletin of the State Normal School for Women, Fredericksburg, VA, January 1919, 14–15, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington, https://archive.org/details/bulletinofstaten44univ (accessed March 19, 2014).

7.  Bulletin of the State Normal School for Women, Fredericksburg, VA: Ninth Annual Catalogue, June 1919, 16, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington.

8.  Edward H. Russell to staff, April 16, 1918, Edward H. Russell Papers, 1909–1919, Folder 7, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington.

9.  Battlefield Yearbook, 1917, 67, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington, https://archive.org/details/battlefield191700univ (accessed March 19, 2014).

10.  Bulletin of the State Normal School for Women, Fredericksburg, VA: War Activities, October 1919, 7, 12, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington, https://archive.org/details/bulletinofstaten53univ (accessed March 19, 2014).