Madeline Mapp Warburton was born in 1895 in James City County, Virginia to John Cowles and Mary T. Warburton. In 1914, she enrolled as a student at then-State Normal School for Women in Farmville, Virginia and earned her diploma in 1916. While a student at the State Normal School, Warburton was involved in many activities and organizations, including membership in YWCA, serving on the Senior Committee of the Student Association, as Vice President and later President of the Cunningham Literary Society, Critic and later President of Ruffner Debating Society, and as Assistant Editor-in-Chief and later Editor-in-Chief of the Focus (student magazine).
After graduation Madeline Warburton taught at Hamilton High School in Cumberland County, Virginia, eventually becoming principal of the school. She later taught student teaching at Mary Washington College in Fredricksburg, Virginia.
In 1923, Warburton married Presbyterian minister Arthur D. Carswell from Abingdon, Virginia. They had seven children, and lived for many years in eastern North Carolina. After retiring in 1958, they moved to Providence Forge, Virginia where Madeline (Warburton) Carswell passed away in 1973.
The bulk of the items in this collection were donated to the Longwood Alumni Association in 2017 by Robert Carswell, the grandson of Madeline (Warburton) Carswell, with the exception of the photocopied journal in Folder 1, which was donated in 1997 by Dr. Jane T. Carswell, the daughter of Madeline (Warburton) Carswell. This collection was transferred to the Greenwood Library Archives and Special Collections in July 2021.
This collection consists of ephemeral items collected by Madeline Warburton while a student at State Normal School for Women, correspondence written by or to Warburton, and a photocopy of Madeline Warburton's journal, kept while a student.
There are no restrictions to access or use for research purposes.