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Olive Moore Gambrill travel diary

 Collection
Identifier: MS 3288

Abstract

This collection contains the travel diary of Olive Moore (later Mrs. J. Montgomery Gambrill), a teacher from Baltimore. In 1928, she studied at the Geneva School of Foreign Relations on a scholarship from the Teacher's College of Columbia University. While there, she recorded her daily thoughts. Also included is a transcription of the diary.

Dates

  • 1928 August 17-September 15

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

The reproduction of materials in this collection may be subject to copyright restrictions. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine and satisfy copyright clearances or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections. For more information visit the MCHC’s Rights and Permissions page.

Biographical / Historical

Olive Moore Gambrill was born in Baltimore, Maryland on May 4, 1888 to Anna Gambrill (1852-1939) and John Rheese Moore (1850-1927). She entered the teaching profession in 1907 at the age of nineteen, and taught for ten years at rural and grammar schools in Baltimore county. She then went on to teach at Francis Parker School in Chicago; Lincoln School of Teachers College, Columbia University; and the Maryland State Normal School.

In 1925, Gambrill (still Miss Moore at the time), earned her bachelor of science degree from the Teachers College at Columbia, followed by her master of arts in history from the same institution in 1929. She headed the history department at Frostburg State Teacher's College from 1925 to 1929, and was an instructor at Yale University's department of education graduate school from 1929 to 1931. She later taught at Glen Burnie High School from 1942 until her retirement in 1958, where she taught history and social sciences.

On May 31, 1935, Olive Moore married John Montgomery Gambrill (1880-1953), a history professor at Columbia and Johns Hopkins University, and a distant cousin. She was 47 years old at the time of the marriage, while he was 55. After her husband's death in 1953, Mrs. Gambrill continued to live in their home at 2942 Wyman Parkway in Baltimore. She died on March 27, 1967 at the age of 78 and was buried at Camp Chapel United Methodist Cemetery.

Extent

0.01 Linear Feet (1 folder)

Language of Materials

English

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Provenance unknown. Accessioned in August, 1983, accession # 000327

Related Materials

MS 2547, Olive Moore Gambrill papers, 1923-1967

Scope and Contents

This collection contains Miss Moore's travel diary, along with a complete, 18-page transcription. The first page of the diary contains notes for her class schedule in Geneva, while the remainder of the volume is a day-by-day description of her days abroad, from August 17 to September 15, 1928. The remainder of the diary contains blank pages; however, there is a single photographic post card of The Hague Peace Palace slipped into the back cover pocket.

Miss Moore provides rich descriptions of her travels in France and Switzerland, as well as the "School of International Relations", where she studied. She notes that the "instructors are there engaged in the actual study of the problems on which they talk and hence there is a reality in their treatment which the average glib middle man teacher fails to achieve." While attending lectures and traveling, she also had the opportunity to observe the Assembly of the League of Nations. One notable event included the resignation of John Basset Moore as Judge of the Permanent Court of the League. Moore also describes a Tuesday meeting of the League, where the "chief interest [was] Lord Cushendun's speech, an old fashioned conservative British Victorian eulogy...sonorous but little said."

Olive Moore ends her diary in a reflective mood, writing, "If only trite words could recapture sensations and experiences. They cannot and so one cannot pass on the multiple experience, some minor but all of interest, which opens new doors."

Title
Guide to the Olive Moore Gambrill travel diary
Status
Completed
Author
Mallory Harwerth
Date
2023-06
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the H. Furlong Baldwin Library Repository

Contact:
H. Furlong Baldwin Library
Maryland Center for History and Culture
610 Park Avenue
Baltimore MD 21201 United States
4106853750