Louise Norcross Lucas

Louise Lucas

The correspondence to and from Louise Norcross Lucas extends from 1914  through 1920. The letters reveal that by early 1914 Mr. and Mrs. Lucas, often referred to as Monsieur and Madame Lucas in the correspondence, and Dr. Anna J. McKeag were friends and that Mrs. Lucas’ husband, Francois, had taught or was currently teaching French at the college, although the letters refer to him only in general greetings and in perfunctory courtesies. Mr. and Mrs. Lucas had dined with Dr. McKeag and attended a lecture by William Butler Yeats at the college that spring. In August 1914 Dr. McKeag wrote to Mrs. Lucas to ask her whether as a student at Bryn Mawr College she had studied art history but reminded her that she had in mind other colleges in which she would seek applicants. In the fall semester of that year Mrs. Lucas began to teach a course in art history at Wilson, a course of three hours for the students and two hours for Mrs. Lucas.  In the third hour, in which Mrs. Lucas was not present, the students  had one hour of what Dr. McKeag referred to as a “laboratory,” in which they drew illustrations of the works they were studying. For her work Mrs. Lucas was paid $300 yearly and was reimbursed for her traveling expenses by train between her home at 130 W. Pomfret Street in Carlisle and Chambersburg. Dr. McKeag in scheduling Mrs. Lucas’s two hours on Saturday afternoons was considerate in having her classes at a time that would fit the  train timetable and that, therefore, would be most convenient for Mrs. Lucas.  Mrs. Lucas enjoyed her classes but was daunted by the use of the magic lantern.

Mrs. Lucas’ correspondence with Dr. McKeag was always generous and gracious; however, her correspondence with Dr. Ethelbert Warfield was more relaxed, included more of her thoughts and emotions about her work, and was at times light-hearted. Their correspondence also reveals that they were comfortable in sharing information about their family activities such as vacation plans and  reactions to social events.  In communicating thoughts about her work she indicated that she would like to teach an additional course in art history; however, when Dr. Warfield stated that he would like her to teach a course in Gothic architecture, she demurred and said that she would prefer to teach the course she was currently teaching. Dr. Warfield graciously acceded to her wishes. In stating their vacation experiences they greeted each other kindly as she and her husband spent time each summer in Annisquam, Massachusetts, and Dr. Warfield remarked that he and Mrs. Warfield had had a restful time in the mountains near Luray, Virginia. In 1919 Dr. Warfield asked Mrs. Lucas to ask Monsieur Lucas if he would be willing to have Dr. Warfield’s son, Ethelbert, who was to enter Dickinson College Law School, come to their home in order to review and study French.

Current events affected the college. In 1916 she wished to acquire a projectorscope for use in her classes but was unable to do so as the war in Europe caused a scarcity of technical devices including those made by Bausch and Lomb. Another event that affected the work of the college was an outbreak in the autumn of 1916 of what was then known as infantile paralysis so that Dr. Warfield was unsure when the fall semester could begin.

The discussion about course offerings in the art department continued. In July 1920 Mrs. Lucas wrote to Dr. Warfield outlining two possible plans for increasing course offerings in art and in a gracious manner told him that the choice of acceptance, rejection, or alteration was his. In an equally gracious manner Dr. Warfield replied that he appreciated her work, that he was unsure of the steps to take, but that he wanted her to teach a second course. He added that he hoped to raise salaries and that he valued her work for the college. By the time she ended her teaching at the college, however, she was still teaching her one course in general art history but with the knowledge that course offerings in art would increase.