Skip to main content
COLLECTION Identifier: SC 117

Papers of Eleanor Gilbert Montgomery, 1919-1995 (inclusive), 1914-1938 (bulk)

Overview

Scrapbook, grade reports, correspondence, diaries, photographs, etc., of Eleanor Gilbert Montgomery, Radcliffe College Class of 1918.

Dates

  • Creation: 1919-1995
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1914-1938

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Eleanor Gilbert Montgomery as well as copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.

Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

Extent

1.59 linear feet ((1 + 1/2 file box, 1 folio box) plus 1 oversize folder)

This collection consists of a scrapbook 1914-22 of Eleanor Gilbert Montgomery's college years at Jackson, 1914-1916, and at Radcliffe, 1916-1919; grade reports 1916-1917, 1917-1918, photographs, and other school and college material. There is also biographical information about Montgomery and her family, Montgomery's correspondence with her family, 1914-1923, and her husband Spencer Bishop Montgomery's World War I correspondence with his family, 1917-1919, and with Montgomery, 1922-1978. Also included are two diaries documenting trips to Europe (1926 by Carrie Cooper Gilbert and 1927 by Montgomery), a scrapbook compiled by Montgomery's sister Marion C. Gilbert, 1922, and compilations of letters compiled and edited by Janet Montgomery Brooks documenting the lives of Montgomery and Spencer Bishop Montgomery. The collection also contains explanatory notes by her daughter Sally Montgomery. Additional material received in July 2016 (accession number 2016-M137) was added to the collection in July 2016 and is represented by folders 17, 18, and 19; individual items were also added to folders 5 and 9. Folders are listed in intellectual, not numerical order.

BIOGRAPHY

Eleanor Gilbert Montgomery was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey in 1896, the daughter of Carrie Cooper and Seymour Parker Gilbert. She was graduated from Bloomfield High School and attended Jackson College, Tufts University, for two years, 1914-1916, and then, at the insistence of her father, transferred to Radcliffe, graduating with the class of 1918.

Montgomery taught school in New Rochelle, New York, was a bank analyst for one year, and then married Spencer Bishop Montgomery in 1923, a graduate of Harvard Law School, class of 1916. They had three daughters and one son. She was a volunteer in scouting and in hospital work, and a member of Trinity Church, Copley Square. Her hobbies included drawing, tray painting, wood carving, and crewel embroidery.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession numbers: R92-10, R92-13, R93-2, R94-10, R94-19, R94-24, R96-1, R2002-6, 2016-M137

This collection was given to the Radcliffe College Archives between July 1992 and June 2002 by Jane Montgomery Brooks '47, daughter of Eleanor Gilbert Montgomery, and in July 2016 by Eleanor Gilbert Montgomery's daughter, Sally Montgomery.

Processing Information

Reprocessed: August 1997

By: Isabelle Bland Dry '35

Reprocessed: August 2008

By: Johanna Carll

Updated and additional materials added: July 2016

By: Anne Engelhart

Title
Montgomery, Eleanor Gilbert, 1896-1996. Papers of Eleanor Gilbert Montgomery, 1919-1995 (inclusive), 1914-1938 (bulk): A Finding Aid
Author
Radcliffe College Archives, Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
sch01047

Repository Details

Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository

The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.

Contact:
3 James St.
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
617-495-8540