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Agnes DeLano and Special Collections Room papers

 Collection
Identifier: MVC0020-MS

Scope and Contents

This collection contains correspondence, lectures, maps, notecards, invoices, invitations, programs, photographs and negatives. The material dates from 1953-1988. These are the records of Agnes DeLano and the opening of the Agnes DeLano Special Collections Room in Eckles Memorial Library at Mount Vernon College. DeLano served as a faculty member of the Mount Vernon Seminary and College from 1929-1954, and the material in the collection represents how the college honored her legacy with the creation of the Agnes DeLano Special Collections Room.

Dates

  • 1953-1988

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Some material may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the patron's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections.

Agnes DeLano Biographical note

Agnes DeLano(1889-1963) was a faculty member of the Mount Vernon Seminary and College. She taught English and Art History at Mt. Vernon from 1929-1954 and Art History and Christian Art at Howard University from 1955-1963.

DeLano earned her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Michigan in 1912 and 1913. She taught English in Michigan high schools, Paris, and Boston's Cambridge Haskell School for Girls. It was in Boston that she began her tradition of taking students on summer European tours of art galleries.

For the 20th anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, DeLano appeared on coast-to-coast television on the Dave Garroway Today show, conducting a television tour of the gallery.

Agenes DeLano wrote "Reflective Writing," a textbook on creative writing, that was published in 1937.

Mount Vernon Seminary and College Historical note

The Mount Vernon Seminary was officially established by Elizabeth Somers in 1875; she named it after her brother’s church in Baltimore, Mount Vernon Place Methodist. The Seminary began as a six year prepatory school, with four years of high school level classes, and two years of post-high school curriculum, calling it a “Family and Day School for Young Ladies.” In order to graduate, students had to complete a formal process of “Senior Essays” in which they completed primary research and wrote on a current political or social topic, including such provocative issues as child labor, prohibition, poverty, and women’s suffrage. In the 1920 graduating class, eight women continued their education at universities such as the University of Wisconsin, Stanford, Northwestern and the University of Texas; by 1923 graduates were going to such other prestigious universities as UC-Berkeley, Columbia, Cornell, Smith College and the University of Chicago. Such advancements in higher education were uncommon for women of the day, but Mount Vernon was one of the premier prepatory institutions in the country.

In 1927, Mount Vernon established a Junior College, and with its establishment, students no longer had to complete six years of courses to receive a diploma; they graduated from the Seminary after four years and could continue on to the Junior College for two more years of college preparation. After World War II began, the U.S. Navy took over the campus as a part of the war effort; in 1945 the school purchased 21 acres on Foxhall Road and surrounding areas, and had applied for accreditation to award Associates of Arts Degrees after completing two years of the Junior College.

Despite its expansion, by 1965 the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to dissolve the Seminary by 1969, as it could not financially support both institutions. During the 1960s, the Junior College developed new academic concentrations such as government, international relations and political science to reflect its location in the nation’s capital. At the same time, it began to phase out its vocational training such as home economics and secretarial skills to make room for these higher education courses.

By 1973, the Board of Higher Education licensed the college to award Bachelor of Arts (BA) degrees such as Public Affairs, Government, Business Administration, Childhood, Special Education, and the Visual Arts, as well as honorary Doctor of Humane Letters and Juris Doctor Degrees; in 1976, the college received initial accreditation as a four-year college and was reaccredited ten years later. However, by 1996 the college announced a plan to affiliate with George Washington University; in 1999 the last class of Mount Vernon College graduated. Today, as an affiliated campus of GWU, Mount Vernon offers special living accommodations, as well as learning and leadership programs for female students.

Extent

0.25 Linear Feet (1 slim document box)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

This collection contains material related to Agnes DeLano and the opening of the Agnes DeLano Special Collections Room in Eckles Memorial Library at Mount Vernon College. DeLano served as a faculty member of the Mount Vernon Seminary and College from 1929-1954. The material dates from 1953-1988.

Arrangement

Organized into 2 series: Agnes DeLano correspondence and personal materials and Agnes DeLano Special Collections Room opening reception

Physical Location

Materials are stored off-site, and will require additional retrieval time. Please contact the Special Collections Research Center for more information.

Other Finding Aids

Also see Finding Aid for MS2220 Agnes DeLano correspondence. http://library.gwu.edu/ead/ms2220.xml

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection came to Special Collections from the Mount Vernon campus in 2009.

Title
Guide to the Mount Vernon Seminary and College Agnes DeLano and Special Collections Room papers, 1958-1988
Status
Completed
Author
Special Collections Research Center, The George Washington University
Date
2015
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Research Center, The George Washington University Repository

Contact:
2130 H Street NW
Washington 20052 United States of America