Shortt Family Papers 1869-1928

Access and use

Location of collection:
Wytheville Community College
F.B. Kegley Library
Wytheville Community College
Smyth Hall, Room 103
1000 East Main Street
Wytheville, VA 24382
Contact for questions and access:
POC: William A. “Bill” Veselik
Phone: (276) 223-4876
POC: George Mattis
Phone: (276) 223-4744
Fax: (276) 223-4745

Summary

Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Items in Folder 1, correspondence (1887-1926) includes four letters from correspondents August Bernard of Perforated Stamping Patterns, Joseph C. Shaffer of the University of Virginia Law School, Susie L. Gleaves, and a letter from an unknown student. Folder 2 contains a ledger with diary entries and poems by Laura Shortt and a log kept by telegraph operator Benjamin Shortt. Finally, Folder 3, contains a roll book and diary used as a records book of Plumer Memorial College students, notes on weather, and notes on local events.

Biographical / historical:

Benjamin B. Shortt, a telegraph operator for Western Union Company, and Catherine Gillespie Shortt, a milliner, inculcated in their five children a respect for education. The couple enable the Wythe County School Board to operate a one room school on their property on what is now Fish Hatchery Road. Their oldest daughter Laura Shortt (1864-1945) exemplified the family love of learning; she attended Plumer Memorial College and Peabody Institute in Memphis, Tennessee before returning home to Wytheville in 1895. Laura Shortt purchased Plumer Memorial College in 1897 for $3,600 from the Presbyterian Church.

She opened Plumer Memorial Female College in the autumn of 1897, operating a boarding school for girls and a coed day school. Her three sisters assisted her with the school. Catherine Gillespie Shortt (1865-1959) taught the primary grades as well as art and Roman history. She attended several art schools in New York City including Cooper Union and offered students instruction in oil, pastel, and watercolor. Alberta Shortt (1869-1954) supervised the primary grades while her younger sister Olive Shortt (1870-1953) managed the kitchen, garden, and custodial duties of the household and school.

In 1914 of 1915, Laura Shortt ceased the boarding school operation of the College but continued the day school until her retirement in 1929. Summer boarders such as Dr. William A. R. Goodwin, proponent of Colonial Williamsburg, provided the sisters with financial support after the closure of the College. In 1948 local entrepreneurs purchased the Plumer College building and converted it into apartments.

Acquisition information:
Donated by Ruth Ann Chitwood in 2001 as part of the W. R. Chitwood Collection.
Physical description:
3 folders.