by Sylvia Plath
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Eugenia Norris Powell (1899–1976), of 8 Locust Road, Weston, Mass.
*Robert Blakesley (1932– ); B.A. 1954, Amherst College; friend of SP from Wellesley.
*Guy Wyman Wilbor (1932– ); B.A. 1954, Amherst College; dated SP, 1950–1.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*‘if I didn’t have Xmas Thanksgiving vacation’ appears in the original.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Robert Hills Humphrey (1929– ); B.Arch. 1952, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; dated SP, 1950–1.
*SP’s classmate Lois Sisson Ames (1931– ); B.A. 1952, English, Smith College; M.A. 1958, University of Chicago; married Robert Webb Ames (divorced 1969).
*Clement Moore Henry (1937– ); Warren Plath’s roommate at Phillips Exeter Academy; A.B. 1957, Ph.D.1963, Harvard University; M.B.A. 1981, University of Michigan.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*The speaker in Chapel was Dr Florence King (1902–94) who taught at Ginling College in Nanjing, China, 1932–50.
*Elisabeth Ahlgrimm Koffka (1896–1994); history professor, Smith College, 1929–61. Koffka taught general European history (History 11) completed by SP, 1950–1.
*Sylvia Plath, ‘Bitter Strawberries’, Christian Science Monitor, 11 August 1950, 17; Sylvia Plath, ‘Rewards of a New England Summer’, Christian Science Monitor, 12 September 1950, 15.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
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*Dr Francesca M. Racioppi Benotti (1916–98); the Plaths’ family doctor, who practised in Wellesley, Mass., under her maiden name Francesca M. Racioppi.
*William Deming Nichols (1924–2006); World War II marine in command of an anti- aircraft battery on the Pacific Island of Tinian; B.A. 1951, Amherst College; LL.B 1954, Harvard University; dated SP in 1950.
*Malcolm Parrott Nichols (1891–1950).
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Charles Sullivan (1933– ); schoolmate of SP’s from Wellesley, class of 1951.
*Our Town (1938), by American playwright and novelist Thornton Wilder (1897–1975).
*Date supplied from postmark.
*See Olive Higgins Prouty to SP, 6 December 1950; held by Lilly Library.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from internal evidence.
*John Anthony Stout (1933–98); B.A. 1955, Harvard College, MAT 1956, Harvard University; SP’s friend from Wellesley.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Richard Allen Norton (1929– ); B.A. 1951, Yale, resident of Jonathan Edwards College; M.D. 1957, Harvard University; dated SP, 1951–3. There are very few letters from SP to Norton as they were not retained. There are many letters from Norton to SP held by Lilly Library.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from internal evidence.
*SP pasted this letter into her high school scrapbook, p. 37; held by Lilly Library.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*The Christmas Cotillion was held at the Wellesley Country Club.
*Date supplied from internal evidence.
*Sylvia Plath, ‘The Agony of Will’; held by Lilly Library.
*Date supplied from internal evidence.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Dated ‘Jan 51’ by Ann Davidow-Goodman.
*Eddie Cohen to SP, [3 January 1951]; held by Lilly Library. SP slightly misquotes Cohen, who wrote, ‘I still think you are a teriffic (sp) gal, but fortunately, you are not perfect. If you were, you couldn’t be bothered with me.’
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Sydney Webber Eddison (1932– ); B.A. 1954, theatre, Smith College.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Sylvia Plath, ‘The Dualism of Thomas Mann’; held by Lilly Library.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Letter misdated ‘Wellesley Sep 14, 51’ by Ann Davidow-Goodman. Date suplied from internal evidence.
*James Nathan Schaffner (1931–2010). After being stationed in the Philippines during the Korean War, Schaffner earned a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Colorado.
*Possibly Hélène Cattanès (1894–1977), professor of French, Smith College, 1921–63; launched the Junior Year Abroad programme in 1925.
*Being ‘pinned’ meant that a couple was in a serious, exclusive relationship. The typical progression was dating, being pinned, getting engaged, and then marriage. Often the man would give the woman his fraternity pin to wear.
*Diana Yates Lycette (1932–2008) withdrew from Smith College, June 1952.
*Rosamond Horton Lownes (1932– ); B.A. 1954, history, Smith College.
*Maureen Buckley O’Reilly (1933–64); B.A. 1954, history, Smith College.
*Elizabeth Blanton McGrath (1932– ); B.A. 1954, religion, Smith College; SP’s housemate at Haven House.
*Barbara Ingeborg Michelsen (1934–2000); B.A. 1954, education, Smith College.
*Caroline White Fenn (1932–2004); B.A. 1954, chemistry, Smith College; SP’s housemate at Haven House.
*Early education specialist Marcia Brown Stern (1932–2012); B.A. 1954, sociology, Smith College; M.A., early childhood education, Lesley University; SP’s friend and roommate at Haven House during her sophomore year. Only child of Archibald L. and Carol Taylor Brown. Marcia Brown married Davenport Plumer III in 1954 (divorced 1969) and later married Ernest Stern in 1971. Corresponded with SP, 1951–63.
*Ann Davidow-Goodman owned a blonde-coated Palomino horse whose barn name was ‘Sylvia’ and nicknamed ‘Sylvy’. Sylvy came to Smith with Davidow-Goodman.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Alice Thompson (Editor-in-Chief, Seventeen) to SP, 5 January 1951; see SP’s publications scrapbook, p. 9; held by Lilly Library.
*First prize: Lynne McKelvey, ‘The Threshold’, Seventeen 10 (May 1951), 106, 146–7. Second Prize: Lois Duncan, ‘The Corner’, Seventeen 10 (May 1951), 112–13, 150–2.
*American novelist and story writer Sarah-Elizabeth Rodger Moore (1909–85); B.A. 1931, Barnard College. Married Clement Sulivane Henry, Jr, 6 April 1933; divorced 1942. Married chemistry researcher Leonard Patrick Moore (1908–83) on 5 May 1945.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*The other third prize winners were: Patricia Cepress, ‘For Angelica’, Seventeen 10 (May 1951), 125, 153–4; and Claire Engelhard, ‘The Long Day’, Seventeen 10 (May 1951), 132, 140, 142, 165.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*All About Eve (1950) played at the Calvin Theatre, 19 King Street, Northampton, Mass.
*Date supplied from internal evidence.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*‘that I can’t to afford to’ appears in the original.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Bessie McAlpine Sullins (1932–55); B.A. 1954, government, Smith College; from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*According to SP’s calendar, the date was with David Gerard O’Brien (1932– ); B.B.A. 1953; University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from internal evidence.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Misdated ‘Jan. 51’ by Ann Davidow-Goodman. Midyear exams were held 24 January– 2 February 1951.
*See Eddie Cohen to SP
, [17 January 1951] and [24 January 1951]; held by Lilly Library.
*In Eddie Cohen to SP, [24 January 1951], Cohen wrote, ‘With two people of our emotional sensitivities, it would, I fear, be a rather powerful, all-pervading love affair.’
*Susan Slye Taylor (1930– ); B.A. 1952, English, Smith College; SP’s housemate at Haven House.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Harriet Taylor Bosworth (1903–96). Bosworth lived at 47 2nd New Hampshire Turnpike South, Francestown, New Hampshire.
*SP visited Colrain, Mass., with Betsy Powley and family from 27 February to 2 March 1947.
*Date supplied from internal evidence.
*Transcribed from the gallery’s catalogue. The letter first sold via Sotheby’s New York, Lot 105, on 6 April 1982. It then sold via Christie’s New York, Lot 52, on 12 November 1997. Rendell offered the letter in 1999. Where Rendell’s version has ‘white-New-England’, Sotheby’s excerpt printed ‘white-new-england’.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Harvey (1950) played at the Academy of Music Theatre, 274 Main Street, Northampton, Mass.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Dancer and choreographer Pearl Eileen Primus (1919–94); performed in John M. Greene Hall, Smith College.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Probably the Cleveland Orchestra, directed by George Szell, which performed Brahms’s First Symphony, Mozart’s Posthorn Serenade, and Casella’s ‘Paganiniana’ on 10 February 1951, at 8:30 p.m. in John M. Greene Hall.
*Jack August’s was a seafood restaurant and market then at 5 Bridge Street, Northampton, Mass.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Richard Norton to SP, 30 January 1951; held by Lilly Library.
*Richard Norton to SP, 7 February 1951; held by Lilly Library.
*Charlotte Kennedy Ehrenhaft (1932– ); B.A. 1954, religion, Smith College.
*Joan Strong Buell (1932– ); B.A. 1954, music, Smith College.
*Sarah Frank Chaffin (1932– ); B.A. 1954, sociology, Smith College.
*Sonya Zelinkoff Simon (1932– ); B.A. 1954, education, Smith College.
*Eleanor Starr Darcy (1932– ); B.A. 1954, history, Smith College.
*The enclosure is no longer with the letter.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*SP was making her first visit to Yale to see Richard Norton. See Richard Norton to SP, 7 February 1951; held by Lilly Library.
*Date supplied from internal evidence.
*Judicial Board held jurisdiction over all cases of infringement of the rules: curfew was midnight on Friday and Sunday and 1 a.m. on Saturday at Smith College.
*Mildred Smith Norton (1905–2001). The Nortons lived at 47 Cypress Road, Wellesley Hills, Mass., and were friends of ASP.
*William Bunnell Norton (1905–90).
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Sylvia Plath, ‘Modern Tragedy in the Classic Tradition’; held by Lilly Library.
*In 1876 Rally Day began as a way to celebrate the birth of the first president of the United States, George Washington, but has since come to celebrate Smith College with special events and speakers around the campus.
*American political scientist, diplomat, and academic Ralph Johnson Bunche (1903/4– 71); winner of Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. Bunche spoke at 10 a.m. on 22 February 1951, in John M. Greene Hall.
*A 1950 film version of D. H. Lawrence’s short story, first published in 1926.
*Joze Kostelec (1930–2014) born in Sˇentrupert, Yugoslavia (now Slovenia), came to the United States in 1950, and became a citizen in 1955; B.A. 1952, Yale College; M.S. 1958, physics, New York University; Yale roommate of Richard Norton, 1950–1.
*‘Doors open to a New Life’, Smith Alumnae Quarterly, February 1951, 77.
*‘part of my letter to Prouty got in anonymously! A bit too personal for an “open sandwich” card!’ appears in the original.
*Date supplied from postmark and internal evidence.
*Richard Norton to SP, 21 February 1951; held by Lilly Library.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Stookie Allen, ‘Teen-Age Triumphs’, Peoria Star, 23 January 1951, A–9.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*SP’s Smith College scrapbook, held by Lilly Library.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon (1940). Performed at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre), 250 W. 52nd Street, New York.
*The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo performed at the Boston Opera House for six days beginning 23 April 1951.
*Date supplied from internal evidence.
*Probably Sylvia Plath, ‘The Tragedy of Progress’; held by Lilly Library.
*The Cherry Orchard (1904) is a play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov (1860– 1904).
*In Richard Norton’s hand; SP and Norton shared letter space. The first 2½ pages by Norton not transcribed.
*Date supplied from internal evidence.
*Eddie Cohen to SP, [6 March 1951] and [13 March 1951]; held by Lilly Library.
*The Amherst Freshman Prom.
*The Yale Dramatic Association (Dramat) performed Kiss the Boys Goodbye, a musical comedy adaption of the play by Clare Booth Luce, in conjunction with the 95th Yale Junior Prom.
*Miss Mary Cronin, parlour maid at Haven House, 1948–54, Smith College; lived at 24 Winter Street, Northampton, Mass.
*Date supplied from postmark.
*Jane V. Anderson (1931–2010); B.A. 1955, art, Smith College; M.D. 1960, Boston University School of Medicine; SP’s classmate from Wellesley; dated Richard Norton, 1950–1. Anderson matriculated at Smith College with the Class of 1953. However, as a result of hospitalization she graduated with the Class of 1955.