Porter book illuminates the work and world of Skidmore's founder

Friends and fans of Skidmore College - as well as those interested in Saratoga Springs history, women's roles in early 20th-century America, and the evolution of higher education - have a new resource to explore: In Her Own Words: The Date Books of Lucy Skidmore Scribner, Founder of Skidmore College, by Helen and David Porter.

The husband and wife authors have strong ties to Skidmore. David Porter was the college's president from 1987 to 1999, and he currently serves as the school's Tisch Family Distinguished Professor. Over a number of years Helen Porter has conducted extensive research into the early years of the college, with a focus on the life of founder Lucy Scribner.

Mrs. Scribner's date books, kept from 1916 until her death in 1931, reveal a life of courage and devotion to her cause, as she shepherded her school of arts through its development into a fully accredited four-year college in 1922, and then worked tirelessly to ensure the young college's stability and growth.

In Her Own Words includes transcriptions of portions of the date books with commentary by the Porters and selected news stories, advertisements, photos, and postcards that reveal the social and political happenings of the day, from women's suffrage, the outbreak of WWI, and the 1918 flu epidemic to local politics and social events.

A treasure trove of information about Skidmore's growth as a school, the city of Saratoga Springs, and the wider world inhabited by the school's founder, In Her Own Words brings to light a resource long available but never fully explored - until former Skidmore first lady Helen Porter took up the cause. She meticulously deciphered and transcribed the date book entries and surrounded them with cultural references and newspaper articles culled from, literally, years of research. Convinced that the daily details taken as a whole told an important story, she collaborated with husband David to add further context with supplementary text.

"It is important to understand from the start that these are date books, not diaries; they deal with Lucy Scribner's daily schedule, with the stuff of her everyday life," write the Porters in Chapter 1 of their book. "That said, they provide unique insights into both her character and the gradual process by which her college evolved. The words are the founder's own, written for the most part in her own distinctive and often inscrutable hand."

The daily details range from the seemingly mundane to the extraordinary. Mrs. Scribner notes the weather, her errands, her dining companions, her walks and drives, and her trips to Atlantic City and New York. Her entries include the myriad Skidmore details she oversaw— faculty and staff comings and goings, trustee meetings, building alterations, fundraising dinners, commencement celebrations, lectures and performances, and seemingly endless trips to the bank for loans to fund school operations. The date books reveal her illnesses, the hotel rooms she likes and the occasional speaker or musician she does not like ("never again," she writes about one particular lecture-concert she attended), sermons well delivered and friends much loved, her great affection for Saratoga Springs, and the larger sweep of historic events.

On April 6, 1917, Mrs. Scribner comments on the weather ("Temp. 50. Heavy fog."), her order for a new piano, her social visits— and the U.S. entry into World War I ("War declared by Congress 3 a.m.") Her entry for May 16, 1922, shows that she is caught up in the business of her school: "Meeting with Building Committee at Skidmore— Dr. Hawk, Mr. Wilmarth, Pres. K. (President Keyes), and self. Miss Goddard and I borrowed from Trust Co. $10,000 for New Dormitory."

Amidst the details of her busy life, Mrs. Scribner reveals her ongoing struggles with illness. Wrote the Porters, "A juxtaposition that is omnipresent and moving is that between the constant mentions of Lucy's wide-ranging and serious medical conditions - her back, her eyes, her digestion, her teeth, her knees, her heart - and the pace and intensity of the life she leads."

Skidmore President Philip A. Glotzbach and his wife, Marie Glotzbach, writing in their foreword to the book, call it a "singular achievement that adds substantially to our knowledge of this remarkable person" and a story deeply meaningful to "anyone who cares about the history of Skidmore College." But it is also, they stress, a narrative that "deserves a broader audience comprising anyone who might want to learn what it was like to be a high-achieving woman born into the high society of late nineteenth-century new York City, who lived through the first three decades of the 20th century, and who did her part in the struggle to create new social roles and opportunities for women."

Skidmore Professor of American Studies Mary C. Lynn, author of Make No Small Plans: A History of Skidmore College, notes in her foreword to In Her Own Words, "There are only a few people left who truly remember this college's founder, but the date books— and the stories behind them as told by the Porters in this book— are here for the rest of us."

In her Own Wordsis published by Skidmore College. Reference copies have been provided to Skidmore's Scribner Library and the Saratoga Springs Public Library. Copies are available for purchase at the Skidmore Shop in Case Center on the college's campus and at two locations in downtown Saratoga Springs?the Lyrical Ballad Bookstore, 7 Phila St., and the gift shop at Saratoga Springs History Museum, in Congress Park.

All proceeds from the sale of the book will support student scholarships at Skidmore College.

For more information contact the Office of Community Relations, Skidmore College, 518-580-5744, info@skidmore.edu.