One Student's Experience
Olive W. Hammer. 1935.
Letter from Olive Hammer to her sister, Flora. September 24, 1933.
Letter from Olive Hammer to her mother. Septermber 20, 1933.
When it came to public acknowledgement of the Depression, in general, the college was silent. Little mention is made in publications of the time including the campus newspaper, the alumnae magazine or yearbooks. However, evidence of the student experience can be found in letters home and oral history interviews.
Olive Walmsley Hammer, ‘37, was a student at Wilson College during the mid-thirties. One way that Hammer sheds light about the Depression at Wilson is through her letters. From Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, Hammer’s letters from her freshman year, 1933-34, were saved by her mother and were bound into a spiral bound book. Within some of these letters, Hammer was able to give a glimpse of campus life during the Depression. Hammer writes of school being simply great, with many social activities. On September 24, 1933, Hammer shares with her sister Flora that “I [Olive] like college much better that I did before – we are having such a grand time up here in fourth heaven. All the girls are grand and every night we have a midnight feast.”[1]
Good times were to be found within Hammer’s hall floor. Her letters reveal many events off campus including shopping trips, trips to the movies and dates with young men. Hammer and her friends were enjoying themselves. But while these students were having fun, they were still aware of the Depression and its effects on their place within the College. Along with Hammer, some of the girls at Wilson were receiving aid through scholarships. Even though Hammer was getting financial help, she still was using the spare money she received from her parents to indulge in food and shopping trips.
While Hammer felt fairly free to spend money, other students with whom she was close did not feel the same. In a letter to her mother, Hammer wrote, "my roommates won't spend a cent for anything as they are afraid the Dean will find out and think they have a lot of money, and consequently won't need the scholarship. Believe me, if I can't spend a nickel for a chocolate bar once every two months--the scholarship can go hang!"[2] It is clear that students were afraid of spending even a few cents because it would look as though they were too rich for a scholarship. In contrast, Hammer wrote of many shopping trips in Chambersburg and spending money on decorating her dorm room and decorating for the holidays. Even though it would seem as though Olive Hammer was just a typical teenager, spending her parents money, she was aware of the effects of the Depression. In a few letters to her family, Hammer wrote of how she was worried about her father’s business since it took a bit of a hit from the Depression.
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1. Olive Hammer to Flora Hammer, September 24, 1933, in Dearest Family: The Letters of Olive Walmsley Hammer, A Freshman at Wilson College. (Philadelphia, PA: Oshiver Studio Press, 1934).
2. Olive Hammer to Mrs. Hammer, September 20, 1933 in Dearest Family: The Letters of Olive Walmsley Hammer, A Freshman at Wilson College. (Philadelphia, PA: Oshiver Studio Press, 1934).