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orange slip? EW 12/17/25
This collection is open for research.
This collection was a purchase from Caroliniana Rare Books to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on 12 August 2025.
Cora M. Aldridge was an African American Woman who attended Hartshorn Memorial College, a private school in Richmond, Virginia in 1926. She was from Vauxhall, New Jersey. The college existed from 1883 to 1932 and was known for its strict rules.
MSS 16932, Cora M. Aldridge scrapbook, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.
This collection contains the college scrapbook of Cora M. Aldridge, an African American student at Hartshorn Memorial College in Richmond, Virginia. Hartshorn Memorial College was a private college for African American women in Richmond, Virginia, active from 1883 until 1932, when it merged with Virginia Union University. The cover is titled "My Memories of School Days" in gilt. Alridge's name and her Vauxhall, New Jersey, address are written on the first endpage, as is the date of June 14, 1926. The content of the scrapbook chronicles Alridge's final year at Hartshorn. A photograph of Hartshorn, social and academic event programs, graduation cards, a flower, and newspaper clippings are tipped in and pasted throughout. The signatures of Cora's classmates, many with greetings and well wishes, are also present throughout the scrapbook. Cora describes her love for dancing, taking the streetcar, stealing food, going to shows in town, and other activities forbidden for students at the College. A tipped-in handwritten essay by Aldrige is titled "Do not simply be good – be good for something." There is a letter from 1956 relating to the 30th anniversary of the Class of 1926's graduation.