UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #550
NEWMAN, EDITH HOWARD

NEWMAN, Edith Howard (1913-2000)
Student of Professor Merle Curti at Smith College
At Smith College: 1931-1935

Interviewed: 2000	
Interviewer: Barry Teicher
Length: 57 minutes

Childhood and education; Smith College; Merle Curti.

September 7, 2000: Tape 1

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:32	EN attended Miss Lowe and Miss Hayward's school in Stamford, Connecticut.  It was a private girls' boarding school.  She did not like the school, but her teachers were excellent.  An American history class in her senior year of high school caused her to become a Democrat, something “nice people” did not do.  

00:04:11	Upon graduation, EN followed one of her sisters to Smith College and began classes in 1931.  The Depression did not noticeably affect her family; she did not worry about money.  By her junior year at Smith, it was common practice to take baskets of provisions to “the needy,” but the Depression did not cause concern for EN.  

00:07:12	EN was lonely and homesick at college, though she did have one good friend there from elementary school.  EN did not have any outside activities or social life, but was focused on her studies, especially American history.

00:09:25	The first history course EN took at Smith was History 11.  In her freshman year, EN read The Education of Henry Adams and she began to think.  She enjoyed a course in American colonial history during her sophomore year.  

00:12:02	In her junior year, EN signed up to take a course from Merle Curti, which covered American history after the Civil War.  The class was a lecture course of about 40 students.  EN notes that Julia Child was in the class with her, though she did not know her.  Curti was an excellent lecturer.  

00:16:15	Dynamics on campus were quite formal during EN’s time at Smith.  She was addressed as “Miss Neilson.”  EN remarks on fashions at Smith College in the 1930s.

00:18:14	In her senior year at Smith College, EN took a seminar from Mr. Curti called “Force and Violence in American History.”  The courses from Mr. Curti caused her to become a radical.  EN reads an entry from her diary dated Wednesday, February 20, 1935.  Mr. Curti “opened up the world” for her.  

00:21:48	EN reads an entry from her diary dated Wednesday, February 13, 1935.  Mr. Curti offers words of praise for her work.  He encourages EN to be more venturesome in her scholarship and to continue her intellectual development.   

00:25:01	EN reads entries from her diary dated May 6 and May 7, 1935.  In a panel discussion at Smith College, Mr. Curti disagrees with the liberal view of Mr. Neilson, president of the college.  Later, in seminar with his students, Mr. Curti elaborates on his own radical position.  

00:27:00	During a dinner party, Mr. Curti shares a dream about Aristotle which he had while in graduate school.  EN relates this event in her diary entry from May 8, 1935. 

00:27:57	In an entry from May 27, 1935, EN describes one of Mr. Curti’s classes as the ideal lecture course.  

00:28:58	Mr. Curti suggests the possibility that EN help him with research for an upcoming book.  EN reads the June 5, 1935 passage from her diary.  

00:30:52	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:31:04	EN continues to read from her June 5, 1935 diary entry.  

00:31:05	A conversation between Mr. Curti and EN reveals Curti’s doubt about his ability and desire to teach history.  EN reads from her Wednesday, May 8, 1935 diary entry.

00:33:00	Mr. Curti expresses doubt to his students that he will return for the following school year.  He feels he is a failure in teaching history.  There is some concern among the class deans that Mr. Curti is too radical.  EN reads from her Monday, May 13, and Tuesday, May 14, 1935 diary entries.
 	
00:36:18	EN receives a complementary letter from Mr. Curti dated June 7, 1935, which she reads.    

00:37:25	Mr. Curti recommends EN to prepare a review of Jane Addams’ books for the magazine New Masses.  She reads the letter from New Masses dated October 25, 1935 which extends the invitation.  EN’s review was published in the magazine.  

00:38:36	EN reads a letter from Mr. Curti written en route to the Huntington Library in Pasadena, California.  The letter is dated January 1936.  

00:40:19	While still in Pasadena, Mr. Curti writes to EN.  She reads his letter of March 22, 1936.  Mr. Curti discusses his current projects, and shares a possible research idea with EN.  

00:43:59	When EN knew Mr. Curti, he had a reputation as a radical and held some Marxist views. He was not a pacificist.    

00:46:44	While working on Mr. Curti’s book Peace or War: the American Struggle, 1636-1936, EN lived in the Curti home from late summer through December 1935.  Her work included some research and writing the index for the book.  She describes the Curti family and life in their home.  

00:52:12	EN assisted Dorothy Douglas and Katherine Lumpkin at Smith College for a few years after finishing Mr. Curti’s book. She next had contact with Mr. Curti when her daughter attended UW-Madison.

00:56:42	EN credits Mr. Curti as the deciding influence on her life.  

00:57:19	End of side.  End of tape.  

END