Collection is open to research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.
The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collections Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).
[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Mary Lillian Arthur Fletcher Scrapbook, 1930-1940, (bulk 1930-1931) SC 0262, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.
Scrapbook was donated on January 18, 2005 by Mary Iglinsky, daughter of Lillian Arthur Fletcher.
Scrapbook was formerly assigned call number SU 2005-0118, Student Scrapbook, 1930-1931.
Mary Lillian Arthur, known as Lillian or Lil, was born on October 17, 1912 in Altavista, Virginia, to Leo Allen Arthur and Emma Franklin Vaughan Arthur. She attended the State Teachers College at Harrisonburg as a freshman from 1930-1931, where she was a member of the YWCA, took voice lessons, and was elected as "head class cheerleader" among the freshman class officers. Evidence suggests that Arthur was only enrolled during the 1930-1931 school year. An engagement announcement in the Danville Bee stated that Mary Lillian Arthur would marry William J. Fletcher of Enka, North Carolina, on September 17, 1938. In 1940, the couple had an address at the Violet Cottage on Woodlink Road in Asheville, North Carolina. In 1942, the couple moved to Arkansas. According to her daughter, Mary Iglinsky, Lillian spent the remainder of her life in Scott, Arizona. She passed away on June 23, 2003.
The Mary Lillian Arthur Fletcher scrapbook is comprised of letters, newspaper clippings, telegrams, drawings, programs, and other ephemera that document Arthur's activities as a freshman at the State Teachers College, from 1930-1931. The scrapbook documents campus events such as the New Girl-Old Girl wedding, a student voice recital, the freshman class play, the May Day festival, the dedication of Woodrow Wilson Hall, a Red Cross drive, and activities hosted by the YWCA, Stratford Dramatic Club and Cotillion Club. The scrapbook contains a bulletin from the Central Methodist Episcopal Church in Staunton (1931), and from the Central Methodist Sunday School of Staunton (1931). Ephemera include nut and candy wrappers, a popsicle stick, rolled tobacco, a box of matches, a napkin, bridge score cards, ribbons from a school dance, and a small plastic doll. The scrapbook also contains various paper pendants and seals from Virginia colleges and universities, such as the University of Virginia, Augusta Military Academy, Virginia Military Institute, and William and Mary College.
The scrapbook also contains a letter to Lillian from her mother, with a note that it was postmarked in 1940, and addressed to Mrs. W.J. Fletcher in Asheville, North Carolina. No envelope is found.
The scrapbook was printed by Staunton Novelty Company, Inc., of Staunton, Virginia under the series, "The Golden Book, Memories of my Campus Days." The cover contains a stitched leather seal of the State Teachers College at Harrisonburg.
The scrapbook remains bound and is housed in a flat box.