May Day at Bryn Mawr College

May Day is no small event at Bryn Mawr College. It has been a well-loved and much-anticipated annual tradition at the private Pennsylvania women's college since 1900.  The tradition is not limited to maypole dancing either, but includes all manner of events, including strawberries and cream with champagne, singing in the morning, processions, Morris dancing, and a variety of plays.

Here's an old photo and a postcard of the first May Day event at Bryn Mawr in 1900.

Courtesy of Bryn Mawr College Library

Here's Katherine Hepburn dressed up for Bryn Mawr's May Day in 1928.

Courtesy of Bryn Mawr College Library

 And Cornelia Otis Skinner dressed for a May Day play in the early 1920s.

Courtesy of Bryn Mawr College Library

Somewhere, there's a photo of me dancing around the maypole at Bryn Mawr (at a much later date, thank you), but I couldn't find it in time for this post.

I did find an old program of events though, which is too small to read. Suffice it to say that the events extended from 5:45 am until 9 pm.

Here are a few photos from May Day 1982, including President Mary Patterson McPherson on horseback.

If you head on over to Bryn Mawr this weekend, you can partake in the festivities and try to redeem this free dinner card. If you are unable to travel the distance, you can always celebrate May Day at home via Sepia Saturday.

Bird's Eye View from the Penitentiary

I tried to imagine some enterprising prisoner producing postcards from pictures photographed from his cell window, but I don't suppose that was the case.  Maybe it was the prisoner's mother, who took the photo and had postcards printed to make bail for her wayward son. Probably not that either. In any case, the view from the penitentiary isn't one that would inspire me to try to escape if I were a prisoner.

Will Rogers Motel

Who is that man wearing a suit and tie by the pool? It looks like Clark Gable. I'm sure it isn't, but I wonder why he is all dressed up.

This card was sent in 1966 from the Will Rogers Motel in lovely Tulsa, Oklahoma. The message reads:

Sat Eve.

Dear Folks,

Arrived in Tulsa about 3:00. Visited the zoo + then the kids went swimming here. We are living in luxury for $10. There are two high Meth churches here. One has a $120,000 organ in it - the other is one of the 5 most beautiful churches in the U.S. Don't know which we will attend. Hope you are both O.K. 

Love Lois and Chas