Robertson, Sara Claire Scrapbook MC357

Contributing Institution: University of California, Davis Library, Dept. of Special Collections

Title: Robertson, Sara Claire Scrapbook

source: McBride Rare Books

Creator: Robertson, Sara Claire

Identifier/Call Number: MC357

Physical Description: 1 scrapbook [14] leaves, illustrated with a voluminous collection of manuscript entries, typescripts, photographs (many captioned in ink), manuscript letters in envelopes, and various printed ephemera, some mounted and some laid in.

Date: 1944

Abstract: A scrapbook and photograph album documenting the experiences of Sara Clair Robertson of New Albany, Mississippi, a young college student traveling to the Pacific Northwest as a member of Methodist Youth Caravans.

Physical Location: Researchers should contact Archives and Special Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.

Language of Material: English .

Collection is open for research.

Purchased from McBride Rare Books, 2023.

[Identification of item], Robertson, Sara Claire Scrapbook, MC357, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Vanessa Cardona Ocegueda created this finding aid with information supplied by McBride Rare Books.

A scrapbook and photograph album documenting the experiences of Sara Claire Robertson of New Albany, Mississippi, a young college student traveling to the Pacific Northwest as a member of Methodist Youth Caravans. At the time she traveled west and northwest, Robertson had just finished her first year as a bacteriology major at Mississippi State College for Women (now Mississippi University for Women) in Columbus, Mississippi. The present album was apparently presented to Robertson just prior to her trip by Mrs. Charles Hatten, a caravan counselor.

Robertson's journal entries record her caravanning experiences beginning on June 24, 1944, when she departed New Albany by train. She notes that "Aunt Mary and Charlotte fixed up my box of food. Mother carried me down to the train. On the way I stopped at Aunt Dorothy's, and she gave me a box of candy...I stayed in the Pullman until I got to New Orleans." On the way west, in addition to New Orleans, Robertson visited Houston, Los Angeles, San Diego (met in these locations by church volunteers), the Monte Toyon training center at Aptos, California, where she underwent a rigorous week-long program along with other college students. In writing home to her mother, Robertson expresses her excitement about the upcoming experiences after training: "The thrilling moment is over. We had our picnic under a grove of redwood trees and the appointments were read. Everybody was so nervous that they could not sit still.... I have a wonderful batch to work with. I like my counselor a great deal.... Should I keep you in suspense any longer - I am going to Washington and Montana.... Mother, I am so excited I can hardly write. Caravan life is wonderful."

On July 7, Robertson was sent to Washington State where she stayed in church basements and with members of the congregations at Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco, Washington, as well as the Mountain Air Institute in Naches, a summer camp maintained by Yakima churches. Following that, she was sent to Montana, where she served congregations in Moares, Buffalo, and Halison. Her visits were not all consumed by duty, as Robertson recounts field trips to Mt. Rainier, visits to historic sites along her journey, meals at well-known hotels, including the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, where she notes that "This is where I saw my first pink champaigne, but we did not have any."

The material includes about fifty snapshot photographs and thirteen real photo postcards featuring Sara, her team, and places she stayed or visited, including the First Methodist Church of Kennewick, Washington. Some of the images are mounted in the album, with many loosely laid in; almost all of the mounted photographs are accompanied by manuscript captions. The photographs show groups at morning watch, Sara and her colleagues Ruth and June with Mrs. Hatten, images of the churches, a street scene in Pasco, Sara and others at training camp in Aptos and Mountain Air Institute, and many others. The album also contains mimeographed church bulletins and flyers (often mentioning the Caravaners); letters and invitations from Methodist Youth Caravans, including two typescript welcome letters signed by Harvey C. Brown, Chairman, and the Board of Education of the Montana Methodist Conference, and one handwritten welcome letter signed by the organization's executive secretary; schedules, evaluation sheets, and ephemera related to the program, part of which is filled out by Robertson, in which she gives specific feedback on the training and the level of interest and involvement of the various church members, noting that "Caravan week was during harvest time, and no one could get off from work;" short handwritten biographies for two of Robertson's team members, herself, and her Caravan counselor, Myrtle Canterbury Hatten; letters home written by Robertson to her mother in Mississippi, including one happily outlining her itinerary, in which she notes she is assigned to a team, each run by a counselor, with whom they would participate in missionary work and Bible study; a booklet titled, "Preparing for the Caravan: A Guide for the Host Church," by Lillian Hay for the Methodist Youth Caravans, detailing the preparations that congregations needed to make in order to best utilize the caravan teams; and miscellaneous travel ephemera such as a Burlington Route timetable, a Texaco touring map, an illustrated promotional bookmark for Ida Trapp (a Montana missionary with Sudan Interior Mission in Africa who hosted Robertson during her visit to Grass Range), a booklet on Mt. Rainier, plus tickets and other ephemera from the excursion.

All applicable copyrights for the collection are protected under chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California as the owner of the physical items. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.