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From: DC0165s, Clifford, Mary Scofield. Reminiscences, 1920 (View Finding Aid)
Transcript
Clifford Seminary [1]
[Marian B. G]
May 28, 1920 [2]
My dear Miss Shaw [3]:
As you may have head I am not at all strong these days. I received your letter in reference to “Recollections” of days past at Davidson, and am much interested in the work. I do not know that I can do much towards it, but as soon as my strength will permit, I’ll try to write something along that line for you. With best wishes for your success in this work I am
Very Sincerely Yours,
Mrs. B.G Clifford [4] or as I sometimes myself
Mrs. Mary Scofield Clifford
Original
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Annotations
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[1] Clifford Seminary- In 1881 Mary Scofield Clifford and her husband B.G. Clifford established this private school in Union, South Carolina (Chester News 4-10). The school was used to give women educational opportunities like the ones Clifford strived for in her time at Davidson.
[2] In 1920, Mary Clifford would have been 74 years old. During this time, Cornelia Shaw was gathering the history of early Davidson, as many of the first to experience it were deceased or as old as Mrs. Clifford. The time period that Mrs. Clifford writes about is more than likely the late 1860’s and early 1870’s, where she would have been in her late teens and early twenties. At this time Davidson’s faculty was the largest it had ever been in hopes of improving its academic program. In 1869, Davidson College had a full curriculum (A History of Davison College, Beaty).
[3] Miss Shaw- Cornelia Shaw became the first Davidson Librarian in 1907 and also acted as the college registrar until 1921. Shaw remained the college librarian for 15 more years, retiring in 1936. Shaw would keep up with alumni and members of the Davidson community, including Mary Scofield Clifford, Anne Sampson, and Lucy Russell. Shaw published a history of the town incorporating information from these letters (Carpenter et. Al.). For more information visit: https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/encyclopedia/cornelia-shaw
[4] B.G. Clifford- Born in 1849 in Salisbury, NC, Reverend Branch Greenleaf Clifford graduated from Davidson College in 1870. He was a member of the Philanthropic Literary Society while at Davidson (Lingle 91) and later served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War (Chester News 6). He married Mary Clifford in 1874 and helped to found the Clifford Female Seminary in Union, SC (Chester News 5).
Biography:
Mary Scofield Clifford was born in Columbia, South Carolina in 1846. Her father, John N. Scofield, was the contractor for the building of Old Chambers in the Davidson College campus (Finding Aid 1). Her mother, Sarah C. Scofield ran a boarding house, Barnes House, which is still standing in 2014, at Davidson College (Last of the Scofields 1-2). The family, with six other children at the time moved to Davidson and Mt.Mourne, North Carolina before the construction of Chambers and remained here throughout Mary’s childhood (Scofield Genealogy 1). She was tutored by Davidson Faculty and attended the Lincolnton Female Seminary (Finding Aid 1). Mary Scofield later became a teacher and was the principal of the Female Academy in Union, South Carolina. She married Davidson Alum and Civil War veteran, Reverend B.G Clifford on January 2, 1874 in Chester, South Carolina. In 1881, both her and her husband organized the Clifford Seminary, a private school in Union, South Carolina for educational and religious purposes (Chester News 4-10). She died in 1922, two years after this correspondence with Cornelia Shaw.
Works cited
Beaty, Mary D. A History of Davidson College. Davidson: Briarpatch Press, 1988. Print.
Carpenter, Blair and Haley DeLuca, Chandler Gray, Dawei Gu “Cornelia Shaw,” Davidson Encyclopedia, October 2011< https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/encyclopedia/cornelia-shaw/ >.
Chester News. Scofield Family Collection, 1883-1962. DC0190S. Davidson College Archives, Davidson College, NC.
Finding Aid for Mary Scofield Clifford. DC0165s. Davidson College Archives, Davidson College, NC.
“Historic Union Post Card Exhibit.” Union County Museum » Home Page. Union Museum, 2014. Web. 06 May 2014. <http://unioncountymuseum.com/>.
Last of the Scofields. Scofield Family Collection, 1883-1962. DC0190s. Davidson College Archives, Davidson College, NC.
Lingle, Thomas W. ET. Al. Alumni Catalogue of Davidson College Davidson,N.C. 1837-1924. Charlotte, NC: Presbyterian, 1924. Print.
Scofield Genealogy. Scofield Family Collection, 1883-1962. DC0190S. Davidson College Archives, Davidson College, NC.
Transcription and annotation author: Ryan Zoldowski.
Date: May 2014.
Cite as: Zoldowski, Ryan, annotator. 28 May 1920 Mary S. Clifford letter to Miss Shaw. DC0165s.
Available: https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/digital-collections/mary-s-clifford-letter-28-May-1920.
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