Louise Boyer scrapbooks

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Restrictions:

This collection is open for research.

Preferred citation:

MSS 14971, Louise Boyer scrapbooks, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Summary

Extent:
0.5 Cubic Feet two scrapbooks and folders in one legal size document box
Creator:
McCorkle, Louise Alberta Boyer, 1908- and Langdon Manor Books
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

MSS 14971, Louise Boyer scrapbooks, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains the college scrapbook of Louise Boyer who attended the School of Education at the Hampton Institute, now Hampton University, in Hampton, Virginia. Hampton Institute, a historically Black college, was founded in 1868 as the Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School by the American Missionary Association for the education of the formerly enslaved. Also included is an earlier collection of one scrapbook titled "Scrapbook of Louise Boyer at Hampton Institute. This scrapbook has more information about Hampton Institute included with Boyer's own scrapbook pages. There are pressed flowers, progams for music events and track meets, autographs, greeting cards, poetry, photographs, and newspaper clippings. There is also a poem dedicated to the memory of Hampton administrator Albert Howe.

Louise Alberta Boyer of Delaware City, Delaware, attended the Institute for the two-year teaching training matriculation, graduating first in her class in 1932.

Boyer's second scrapbook with gilt on its title on the cover, "The Girl Graduate's Journal," chronicles her final year and graduation at the Hampton Institute. Boyer completed many of the writing prompts of this commercial book, outlining her experience as a college student, noting her friends and studies, and her extracurricular activities. In the book's "About Myself" section, Boyer included a newspaper clipping documenting her award for the highest grade point average at the Institute among two-year program students. She also documented her role as class president within the book, calling fellow student officials "a fine staff of workers."

This scrapbook has thirty-nine autograph entries from peers, professors, and others who associated with Boyer, many with accompanying messages, poems, and wishes for her success. Also included is a photograph of Louise's class of School of Education students, each identified in a caption underneath. There are photographs, pennants, articles, and other ephemera associated with Boyer's participation in the school's field hockey team, local Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), and National Association for the Advancement of Colored people. Several of Boyer's grade reports are pasted towards the back of the scrapbook, as is a program for her 1932 graduation. Graduation cards given to Louise are tipped in throughout the book, with some pasted in at the back half. An uncaptioned postcard of three men, a 1942 Valentine's Day card signed "Edmund", and a 1936 calendar are tipped in at the front of the scrapbook. After graduating from the Hampton Institute, Louise Boyer returned to Delaware and taught in Wilmington Public Schools for several decades. She simultaneously remained active with the United Negro College Fund and the area NAACP chapter, from which she received an outstanding service certificate in 1948, tipped into her scrapbook.

Biographical / historical:

Louise Alberta Boyer McCorkle, born in 1908 in Delaware City, Delaware was a graduate of Hampton University and taught in the Wilmington school system for decades. She was also active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the United Negro College Fund. She was class president, won awards for the highest grades, and competed in track and field and field hockey.

Hampton Institute, now Hampton University, in Hampton, Virginia was a historically Black college. It was founded in 1868 as the Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School by the American Missionary Association for the education of the formerly enslaved. Booker T. Washington was also a graduate and teacher of the school.

Acquisition information:
The Hampton Institute scrapbook of Louise Boyer was a purchase from Jerry N. Showalter to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on 5 April 2010 and the Louise Boyer scrapbook (addition) was a purchase from Langdon Manor to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia on 29 July, 2025.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard