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[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Eva May Foster Photograph Album, 1934-1941, SC 0308, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.
The photograph album and loose photographs were part of a larger transfer of alumni materials made by the Centennial Office to Special Collections in July 2008.
Accroding to a sticky note that accompanied the photograph album, the album was contributed by the estate of Eva F. Foster to the Centennial Office at an unknown date. Ten loose photographs were donated with a similar note.
According to a student practicum paper dated November 2018, during initial processing the photograph album was disbound due to it being "on the verge of physical decay." The loose album pages were numbered and housed in two folders according to their original order.
Eva May Foster (1915-2001), originally of Blackstone, Virginia, matriculated into the State Teachers College at Harrisonburg in the fall of 1934. Foster is listed in the 1935 and 1936 yearbooks. She is pictured in the 1937 yearbook as part of the junior class, but she is not present in any subsequent yearbooks or commencement programs making it unclear if she ever graduated. While a student at the State Teachers College, Foster resided in Johnston Hall and Junior Hall, and likely studied home economics.
An inscription on the back of a circa 1940 portrait photograph of Foster (along with her marriage certificate) confirms that she was employed as a home demonstration agent in Charles City and New Kent Counties.
She married Walter Marion Foster in 1948.
The Eva May Foster Photograph Album, 1934-1941, comprises a disbound photograph album of black-and-white photographs documenting Foster's time as a student at the State Teachers College at Harrisonburg. The album includes Foster's annotations describing the photographs including classmates names. The album is largely complete with only a few missing photographs.
The photographs document Class Day 1935; May Day events; snowscapes and students with skis; a camping trip to the university farm and other outings (including a photograph of horseback riding on "Miss [Margaret Vance] Hoffman's horses"); commencement and graduation; views of the quad and the campus gates; campus buildings including Wilson Hall, Junior Hall (now Cleveland Hall), the old Dining Hall located in Harrison Hall, Alumnae Hall, and the Practice House. Dormitory interiors are also heavily documented. Many of Foster's classmates are identified by name in the photographs.
While the photographs are largely informal and candid, a few portrait photographs of Foster and her classmates are included. A portrait photograph of Foster, circa 1940, includes an annotation suggesting that she either studied or worked at Virginia Tech. The back of the photograph describes Foster as a home demonstration agent for Charles City and New Kent Counties.
The disbound photograph album is housed across two folders and according to its original order. The ten loose photographs are housed in folder 2.
Includes ten loose photographs.