Laura Beaumont Moseley (née Hadley) Photo Album of her time at Vassar College

Poughkeepsie, NY, 1920. Very good. Minor flaws include toning, the occasional spot or short tear.. A small archive of material belonging to a spirited young woman by the name of Laura Beaumont Moseley (née Hadley, 1899-1989), giving insight into her time at Vassar College. Includes a couple of school assignments, photo negatives, and plenty of developed photos in an album. This archive is notable because it conveys a clear sense of joy experienced by Moseley during this period in her life, her intelligence, and her uncanny ability to catch her friend's personalities in candid snapshots. A brief excerpt in pencil from Henry Vaughn's "The World" shows Moseley's curious, erudite side, and appreciation beauty, no doubt fostered by her family of academics.

The main item featured in the archive is a photo album that Laura put together of her time at Vassar between 1918 and 1920. There are images of her fellow classmates and teachers, and some campus buildings such as Taylor Hall, the library, and what appears to be her dorm room (labeled as 403 Main). Some of the individuals of note in the photographs are Professor Burges Johnson, Minne Cumnock Blodgett (a school Trustee), and Ella McCaleb (the college's first dean in 1913). There are four large photographs of the 1919 Junior Party, an annual event at Vassar where plays and such were put on by the students. There is a paper doll chain in the album, that appears to to illustrate Laura and her four close girl friends: Pater, Cyr, Lucy, and Cherub. There are some family photographs in the album, most likely from when she was visiting the family farmstead, named Snake Rock Farm in Sandy Hook, CT. Additionally there are photographs of a large group of her friends and their beaus at an unknown lake. The majority of the photographs also have some notations by them such as "the three roommates" and "Delicious! May I have the recipe?" While the people in each photograph are often identified, it has been mostly done with either by a nickname or their initials. In addition to the album there several loose photographs, including what appears to be a class picture. Furthermore, there are over ten envelopes with negatives. These envelopes are addressed to one of Laura's three address, 93 Whitney Ave (where her parents lived), Snake Rock Farm in Sandy Hook, and 403 Main (her address at Vassar) and sometimes include receipts. There are just over a hundred black and white photographs, and approximately forty-five (45) corresponding film negatives. The photographs vary in size, ranging from 3" x 2" up to 9 ½" x 6". Additionally, there are 5 duplicate photographs (4 loose, 1 in the album) of the library at Vassar.

Also included in this collection are two homework assignments. One of the assignments is an essay on the symbolic meaning of a circle (undated), and the other is an essay in Italian (dated November 26, 1919), on several prominent figures who recently visited America, such as the King and Queen of Belgium. The latter assignment is typed and graded, while the former is handwritten with no additional marks. The handmade magazine dates from May 1912, and appears to have been created by Laura in humor. It is three pages long including the title page. The second page has a quote from a geometry book discussing how to find the angle of a triangle. Below it is a humorous interpretation of that geometrical problem entitled "The Horrible Result of Trying this Experiment in the Town of Groton, Triangle ABC." It shows an illustration of a street with two buildings, the town hall (with the sign "Who Enters Here Leaves Hope Behind, Town Hall") and the Police Department. Laura is depicted near the police department looking up a man identified as Peter Zeus who is standing on the roof of the town hall. The illustrations shows the reader how to calculate the angle between Laura on the ground and Peter on the roof. Beside the town hall, is a small figure falling, which is meant to illustrate Peter is falling or jumping from the roof. The last page of the magazine has a Sonnet that hilariously discusses how to write a sonnet for class.

To view this collection, please click on the following link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/133PStnHDt9EJrRs2. Laura Beaumont Moseley (née Hadley) was born on March 31 1899, in New Haven, CT, and was the youngest of three children of Helen Harrison Hadley (nee Morris) and Arthur Twining Hadley who was the 13th President of Yale University from 1899-1921. As a child she split her time between New Haven, living at the President's House at 93 Whitney Avenue, and the Hadley family farmstead, called Snake Rock Farm in Sandy Hook, CT. Like her mother, she attended Vassar, and graduated in 1920. Laura married Nicholas Moseley, a classics professor at Yale, on June 8th 1923. She became a freelance editorial worker whose majority of works were published by the Yale University Press. One of her publications was "Diary (1843-1852) of James Hadley" who along with being her grandfather, was a tutor and professor of Greek in Yale College from 1845 to 1872. She died March 15th, 1989.