Guide to the Mary Octavine (Thompson) Cowper Papers, 1895-1969
[top]Descriptive Summary
TitleMary Octavine (Thompson) Cowper Papers, 1895-1969
Creator
Cowper, Mary Octavine (Thompson), 1881-1968
Extent
4.8 Linear Feet
3,600 Items
Repository
3,600 Items
Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library
Language
English.
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Administrative Information
Access RestrictionsCollection is open for research.
However, patrons must sign the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this
collection.
Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library to use this collection.
Use Restrictions
The status of the copyright interests in the papers of Mary O. T. Cowper is unknown. For further information, see the section on copyright in the Regulations and Procedures of the Manuscript Department.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], The Papers of Mary Octavine (Thompson) Cowper, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.
Provenance
The papers of Mary O. T. Cowper, social activist and Executive Director of the Durham Nursery School Association, Durham, N.C., were acquired by the Manuscript Department between 1968 and 1978 by gift and through transfer from the Duke University Archives.
Processing Information
Processed by: Janie C. Morris
Completed July 29, 1987
Encoded by Stephen Douglas Miller
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
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Biographical Note
| 1881, May 20 | Born Shelbyville, Bedford County, Tennessee. |
| 1904 | Bachelor of Letters, Drury College, Springfield, Missouri. |
| 1907 | M.A., Drury College, English as major, French as minor. |
| 1909, April 17 | Married Frederick Augustus Grant Cowper, Asst. Professor, Modern Language Dept., Drury College. |
| 1911 | Elected Chairman, Douglas Co., Kansas Woman Suffrage Association. |
| 1914 | M.A., sociology, University of Kansas. |
| 1914-1916 | Completed course work for Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Chicago. |
| 1918 | Moved to Durham with her husband who taught French at Trinity College (now Duke University). |
| 1920 | Helped organize the North Carolina Chapter of the League of Women Voters. |
| 1923-1931 | Edited the N.C. League of Women Voters Monthly Bulletin. |
| 1924-1925 | Awarded a writing fellowship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she wrote a study of cotton mill villages. |
| 1925 | Became Regional Director for the National League of Women Voters. |
| 1934 | American Association of University Women representative on the Citizens Council of Durham. |
| 1937 | Chair of the Durham branch, American Association of University Women Social Studies Committee. |
| 1938-1962 | Executive Director, Durham Nursery School Association. |
| 1939-1945 | Chair of the Durham office of Civilian Defense - Child Welfare Division. |
| 1944 | Instrumental in founding Southside Child Care Center. |
| 1958 | Southside Child Care Center, Durham, N.C., renamed the Mary O. Cowper Child Care Center |
| 1968, Oct. 26 | Died Durham, N.C. |
Collection Overview
The papers of Mary Octavine (Thompson) Cowper span the years 1895-1969, although the bulk of the material begins in 1938 when Mrs. Cowper became Executive Director of the Durham Nursery School Association, Inc., a post which she held until 1962. Included in the collection are five series: personal correspondence; writings; topical series; miscellany; and photographs.
Mrs. Cowper's personal life is best documented in the personal correspondence. Letters are primarily to Mrs. Cowper from family and friends but chiefly from her husband, Dr. Frederick Cowper. Most of his correspondence dates from 1918 when he was Director of French at the U.S. Army Y.M.C.A. camp at Camp Grant, Rockford, Illinois, and during 1952-1960 when he was visiting France, England, and other parts of Europe. There are a few letters from Mrs. Cowper to her husband, and several to her mother, written while Mrs. Cowper was in Europe, Feb. to Sept., 1928.
The writings series includes a biography of Eleanor of Acquitaine, which Mrs. Cowper attempted unsuccessfully to have published in 1936, plus several other writings and an undated travel journal.
The topical series is divided into three subseries: the Durham Nursery School Association, Inc., 1938-1966; Suffrage, Industrial Labor Concerns, Social Legislation, 1910-1968; and the Durham Milk Delivery Controversy, 1948-1949.
The Durham Nursery School Association section forms the largest group of papers in the collection. The organization's formation came about as an outgrowth of Mrs. Cowper's work with the Durham branch of the American Association of University Women Social Studies Committee. A study conducted by this group in the Durham area indicated a great need for a nursery school for children of working mothers. The result was the establishment of the Durham Nursery School in May, 1938. This section of the collection provides insight into the organization's operations and activities through correspondence, bylaws and reports, minutes, financial data, case studies, public relations papers, newsclippings and other papers. This subseries also furnishes information about Mrs. Cowper's work as chairman of the Child Welfare Division of the Office of Civilian Defense in Durham (1939-1945), which was instrumental in getting federal funds for the Emergency Child Care Center that operated several nursery schools in Durham during the Second World War. Although several of them closed after the war, one which remained, the Southside Child Care Center, was renamed the Mary O. Cowper Child Care Center in her honor in 1958.
The Suffrage, Industrial Labor Concerns, Social Legislation section, 1910-1968, provides information about Cowper's efforts on behalf of a number of social causes. Her work for women's suffrage and better working conditions in textile mills and her advocacy for labor legislation for women and children are reflected in this section's correspondence, writings, and newsclippings. Her involvement with different organizations, including the American Association of University Women and the League of Women Voters is also represented. Included are separate folders for the American Association of University Women and the League of Women Voters, containing bylaws, membership lists, reports, and information about conferences and meetings. Because the Durham Nursery School Association was begun as an outgrowth of the American Association of University Women Social Studies Committee, there is also some correspondence in this section relating to nursery schools. Although Mrs. Cowper worked to establish a juvenile court for youths in Durham, there is very little documentation for this in the papers. Correspondents include Gertrude Weil, President of the N.C. League of Women voters, Belle Sherwin, first vice-president of the National League of Women Voters, and other officers at the local, state, and national level of organization. There are also some letters from Howard Odum, Director of the School of Public Welfare at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The bulk of the correspondence in this section dates from 1924, when Mrs. Cowper was executive secretary of the North Carolina League of Women Voters.
The Durham Milk Delivery Controversy series, 1948-1949, centers around the controversy created when Durham milk companies changed home milk deliveries from every other day to three times a week, with milkmen not beginning their route service until 7:00 a.m. Citizens protested that many people did not have enough space in their iceboxes for a three day supply of milk and further that the delivery of milk to homes after 7:00 a.m. meant that some people's milk would spoil because it would arrive after customers had already left for work. Mrs. Cowper was co-chairman of a citizen's committee that investigated the problem and suggested solutions. This section includes correspondence, minutes of the citizen's group meetings, newsclippings, and other papers.
The two remaining series are miscellany and photographs. The miscellany section primarily contains reports of Mrs. Cowper's grades and information about the Thompson family. Photographs are chiefly of Mrs. Cowper and members of her family, including her parents, and her brother Herbert, and his family.
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Subject Headings
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
- Durham Nursery School Association.
- Nursery schools--North Carolina--Durham.
- Women--Suffrage.
- Textile industry.
- Textile workers--Social conditions.
- Milk trade--North Carolina--Durham.
- American Association of University Women.--Durham, N.C. Branch.
- League of Women Voters of North Carolina.
- Cowper, Mary Octavine (Thompson), 1881-1968.
- Sherwin, Belle, 1868-1955.
- Weil, Gertrude.
- Odum, Howard Washington, 1884-1954.
- Cowper, Frederick Augustus Grant, 1883-1978.
- Thompson family.
- Women school administrators
- North Carolina--Durham County--Durham.
 | List of Series in Collection | |||||||
 |  | Personal correspondence, 1900-1969 and undated | ||||||
| | Writings: | ||||||
| | Topical Series: | ||||||
| | Miscellany: | ||||||
 | | Photographs: | ||||||
Detailed Description of Collection
Personal correspondence, 1900-1969 and undated
(6 folders)
Chiefly letters to Cowper from her husband, Dr. Frederick Cowper, but also including letters from other relatives and friends.
Box 1
Correspondence
Writings:
Consists of Mrs. Cowper's writings, including a biography of Eleanor of Acquitaine (1936), several short stories, and a travel journal.
Box 2
"Eleanor of Aquitaine, Duchess and Queen,"
1936
"Queen of Two Realms: Eleanor of Aquitaine,"
1936
"Social Life of Women in France in the Middle Ages,"
undated
Short Stories, Journal, undated
Topical Series:
This series is divided into three subseries: the Durham Nursery School Association;
Suffrage,
Industrial Labor Concerns,
Social Legislation; and the Durham Milk Delivery Controversy. Each subseries is further subdivided into subgroups either by topic or type of material, including correspondence, minutes, financial and legal papers, committee reports, organizations, writings and notes, newsclippings, printed material, photographs, and miscellany. Arrangement within the subgroups is primarily chronological.
Durham Nursery School Association
Correspondence, 1927-1942
(3 folders)
Box 3
Correspondence, 1943-1966, and undated
(6 folders)
Box 4
Bylaws, Reports, 1938-1962, and undated
(5 folders)
Minutes, 1939-1962, and undated
Box 5
Minutes, Volumes
(2 folders)
Financial and Legal Papers, 1938-1960
(6 folders)
Box 6
Financial and Legal Papers, 1961-1965 and undated
Financial and Legal Papers (Volumes) 1960-1961
Financial and Legal Papers: Salaries, (Volumes) 1955-1959
Financial and Legal Papers: Donations,
1938-1950 and undated
(2 folders)
Financial and Legal Papers: Donations, (Volumes) 1938-1959
(2 folders)
Financial and Legal Papers: Rebecca Sprinkle Memorial Fund,
1954-1960, and undated
Box 7
History,
1937-1956 and undated
Operational Procedures and Personnel, 1944-1961 and undated
Public Relations, 1938-1963 and undated
School Programs, 1940-1962 and undated
(2 folders)
School Programs (Volumes) undated
Radio Broadcast Programs, 1939-1951
Committee Lists, 1937-1967 and undated
Box 8
Committee Lists, Volumes and undated
Enrollment Lists, 1953-1961 and undated
Case Studies and Parents' Comments
Mother's Club,
1941-1957 and undated
Mother's Club (Volumes) 1953-1962
Testimonial Dinner, 1963, Jan. 11
Testimonial Dinner, 1963, Jan. 11, Photographs
Clippings, 1938-1969 and undated
(3 folders)
Photographs
(2 folders)
Miscellany, 1941-1972 and undated
Box 9
Miscellany, Volumes, 1947
Suffrage, Industrial Labor Concerns, Social Legislation:
Correspondence, 1913-1967 and undated
(12 folders)
Box 10
Writings and Notes:
"Cotton Cloth,"
1925
Writings and Notes:
"The Heritage of Cotton,"
undated
Writings and Notes:
"A History of Woman Suffrage in Kansas,"
1914
Writings and Notes: Interviews with textile workers, undated
Writings and Notes:
"Our Tariff vs. Elizabethan Monopolies,"
ca. 1930
Writings and Notes:
"A Plea for Logic in Prohibition Law Discussions,"
undated
Writings and Notes: Social Science, undated
Writings and Notes:
"What Are These Cotton Mill Operatives?,"
1929
Printed Material, 1910-1933 and undated
(2 folders)
American Association of University Women,
1943-1968 and undated
Box 11
League of Women Voters,
1922-1930 and undated
League of Women Voters: Memberships, 1923-1931
League of Women Voters: Monthly News: Bulletin of the North Carolina League of Women Voters,
1923-1931
Clippings
(2 folders)
Miscellany, 1913-1953 and undated
Miscellany (Volumes), 1936-1945
(3 folders)
Box 12
Miscellany (Volumes), 1948and undated
(2 folders)
Photographs
Durham Milk Delivery Controversy
Correspondence, 1948-1949
Clippings, 1948-1949 and undated
Minutes, Miscellany, 1948 and undated
Miscellany:
Includes papers relating to Mrs. Cowper; among them reports of her school grades, legal papers, information about her family, the Thompsons, her obituary, and other material.
Box 12
1902-1968 and undated
Clippings
Photographs:
Primarily photographs of Mrs. Cowper and members of her family, including her father, Rev. John Thompson, and her brother Herbert, and his family.
Box 12
1895-1953 and undated
(2 folders)
