Letters, Senior Year, Semester II, 1921 February-April

This file discusses the first part of Henrietta’s second semester of her senior year. The topics of these letters include the scarlet fever epidemic, Henrietta’s health struggles, and her personal relationships.

These letters illuminate the impact of the scarlet fever epidemic at college. Since the college was under quarantine during the first half of this semester, Henrietta was unable to go dancing, enter any hotels or shops. She did, however, attend a conference on “Clinical Psychology and Trade Tests in the Industry.” As with the previous folder, Henrietta discusses the loss of feeling in her big toes, as well as the “medications” (strychnine, neoferrum, and nitroglycerin) she has taken to relieve the symptoms. Due to the use of nitroglycerin in explosives, Henrietta is teased by her friends Jim and Tom about being a “dangerous girl.”

Henrietta’s relationships with Jim and Tom feature prominently in this selection of letters. Researchers may find the social dynamics surrounding male-female relationships during this time to be of interest. For example, Henrietta brings Tom to the dining hall at Bryn Mawr, and then worries that this may have been misconstrued, since typically, the only men that students bring to the dining hall are brothers or suiters, and Tom is neither. Her personal agency is also a topic of interest, as she tells Jim that she is “in love with no man- never had been- and probably wouldn’t be for years and years.”

These letters provide an intriguing comparison between Henrietta’s male and female friendships, as she details a new friendship she begins with a first year student named Mary Louise White, who has just lost her mother. Henrietta describes Mary Louise’s attitude towards her as a “College-girl ‘crush’- but as a girl who has just lost her Mother would be apt to come to one who is sympathetic.”

She gets ready for her graduation, sending out her Garden Party invitations and attending President Thomas’ Senior Lectures.