Purcell, Mae Holloway, November 4, 1980
Scope and Contents
The Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture Oral History Project contains 44 oral history interviews arranged in three series based on the corresponding project or scope of the oral histories. The majority of the oral histories were conducted or coordinated by Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture members with the exception of Phase 2 of the Avery Normal Institute Oral History Project which was conducted by the Avery Research Center. Within each series, the oral histories are arranged alphabetically by last name. Greater details about the contents of each oral history can be found at the file level abstract of each interview. Each oral history, when available, includes a transcript and any supporting documentation like questions, notes, tape logs, and interview release forms. Transcripts do not currently exist for every interview and work to create them is ongoing.
Series I: Avery Normal Institute Oral History Project, 1980-1996 contains oral histories with former students, teachers, principals, and community members of the Avery Normal Institute discussing their attendance at the school including classes, teachers, extracurricular activities as well as perceptions of the school in the larger African American Charleston community and perceived reasons for why the school was closed. 12 of these oral histories are accessible on the Lowcountry Digital Library including the interviews with Ruby Cornwell, Julia Craft DeCosta, Marcellus Forrest, Dr. Joseph Hoffman, Felder Hutchinson, Anna D. Kelly, Louise Mouzon, Peter Poinsette, and both interviews with J. Michael Graves and Eugene C. Hunt.
Series II: Laing School oral histories, 1981 contains two oral histories with former students of the Laing School in which they discuss their time attending the school, their lives after graduation, and their impressions of the Avery Normal Institute.
Series III: Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture oral histories, 1983-1995 contains seven oral histories with members of the Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture discussing the founding of the organization and its grassroots efforts to acquire and preserve the Avery Normal Institute school buildings. There are also oral histories in this series with former students of the Avery Normal Institute and Immaculate Conception discussing their attendance at both institutions.
Dates
- Creation: November 4, 1980
Creator
- From the Collection: Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture (Organization)
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions to this collection; however, a cassette player is required to listen to the audiocassette tapes. A cassette player will be made available to researchers in our reading room.
Full Extent
From the Collection: .834 linear feet (2 Hollinger boxes, 79 audiocassettes, and 27.7 gigabytes (audio and transcripts))
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Abstract
Mae Holloway Purcell (1891 - 1982) discusses early family life, being born in Summerville, SC, as the daughter of Henry Holloway and Martha Hume Holloway. She goes into attending school in Summerville conducted by Emmaline Carr and moving to Charleston in 1903 to live with her uncle James Holloway, a harness maker. While attending Avery Normal Institute with Birdie Clyde as a teacher, she studied with students from Immaculate Conception School and Shaw Public School. She then discusses the history of Shaw school and her connection with Fannie Holloway and Sally Cruickshank, two of the few Black teachers there. She also refers to the Thomas Bonneau School on Beaufain St, which her father attended and elaborates on the Holloway family genealogy. She recalls going from Avery to Fisk University and subsequently teaching in Athens, GA, where she became the preceptress of Knox boarding school, an American Missionary Association school. She then discusses teaching at Voorhees College in Denmark, SC, as well as Burke and Shaw School in Charleston, SC, in particular mentioning the receptiveness of the students to learning. Purcell emphasizes being the first to receive a Palmer Writing Certificate and resigning from her teaching position after her marriage in 1935 because married women were not allowed to teach. She also recalls working at the Dart Hall Library under Susie Dart Butler describing its origins and the segregated library system in Charleston. Further, she recounts the history of the Brown Fellowship Society, of which her family members were founders, and what happened to the Brown Fellowship Society graveyard after it was sold. Other subjects include the role which the NAACP and Congressman Thomas Miller played in allowing Black teachers to teach in the 1910s.
The oral history is conducted by Dr. Edmund Drago and Eugene Hunt.
Repository Details
Part of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture Repository
125 Bull Street
Charleston South Carolina 29424 United States
843-953-7608
averyresearchcenter@cofc.edu