mshm287 Smith Papers, 1903-1984 (bulk 1920-1984) Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Ralitsa Donkova. Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections

South Hadley, MA

Finding aid encoded in NoteTab Pro. Encoded by Ralitsa Donkova. 2005-04-27 Finding aid written in English 2005-09-23 mshm287 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections Smith Papers, 1903-1984 (bulk 1920-1984) Finding Aid MS 0739 Ralitsa Donkova June 2004

Collection Overview Smith, Christianna Smith Papers 1903-1984 1920-1984 MS 0739 1 box (5 linear in.) Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections Smith, Christianna, 1893-1983; Zoologist and college teacher. Mount Holyoke College graduate, 1915. Mount Holyoke College faculty member, 1915-1958. Papers consist of writings, correspondence and memorabilia, tributes and information regarding her death, sampler of needlework, newspaper articles, resumes, and photographs. Primarily documenting her professional career as a researcher and professor at Mount Holyoke College. Also contains Helen A. Padykula's correspondence concerning the tribute she wrote to Smith and Isabelle B. Sprague's correspondence concerning the death of Smith. English. Biographical Note

Christianna Smith, a zoologist and Mount Holyoke College graduate and faculty member, was born on March 27, 1893 in Newark, New Jersey. Her father was William Smith, a teacher. After graduating from high school in New Bedford, Massachusetts she attended Mount Holyoke College from 1911-1915, where she majored in mathematics and zoology and received a B.A. degree. She subsequently received a M.A. (1920) and Ph.D. (1923) in zoology from Cornell University. Smith taught zoology at Mount Holyoke College from 1915 until her retirement in 1958, except for the years when she taught at Cornell University (1918-1919) and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts (1920, 1922, 1924). She received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Mount Holyoke in 1975. She died at ninety on August 16, 1983 in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Christianna Smith Papers contain writings, correspondence, memorabilia, tributes and recollections, a sampler of needlework, stiches, newspaper articles, resumes and photographs. Most of the collection consists of copies of published articles and a textbook written by Smith between 1920-1969 concerning various topics in zoology and cell biology. Tributes and recollections in these papers provide detailed information about Smith as a teacher, colleague and friend. Most of these documents consist of letters by Smith's former students written in 1983-1984 in response to requests for information about her from Helen A. Padykula, who received a M.A. degree from Mount Holyoke College in 1948, and Isabelle B. Sprague, a 1937 graduate and professor of Biological Sciences at Mount Holyoke. Rounding out the collection are a few personal letters and greeting cards sent to Smith, resumes that she compiled, newspaper articles about her, a sampler of needlework stiches that she made in 1903, and photographs dating from ca. 1915-1983 that are primarily portraits of Smith in her office or laboratory.

Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into six series:

Writings Correspondence Tributes and Recollections Sampler Biographical Information Photographs Information on Use Terms of Access and Use

Unrestricted.

Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Christianna Smith Papers, Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, MA.

Search Terms Smith, Christianna, 1893-1983. Mount Holyoke College Faculty Sources. Zoologists United States History Sources. Women zoologists United States History Sources. College teachers United States History Sources. Women college teachers United States History Sources. Letters. Photographs. Samplers. Padykula, Helen A., 1924-. Sprague, Isabelle B. (Isabelle Baird), 1916-.