Name/Title
Belmont College PostcardEntry/Object ID
2023.143Tags
Ward-BelmontScope and Content
A postcard featuring an image of the northern front of Belmont College for Young Women in Nashville, Tennessee. The card states that "Belmont College is a typically Colonial structure, attractively located on noble elevation. It was established in 1894, and has had a tremendous success, which is evidenced by the long list of women awaiting admission." The postcard was sent to a Miss [Winona?] Buck at the Columbia Institute in Columbia, Tennessee. Brief handwritten correspondence on the front of the card is signed "love and Merry Christmas" by someone with the initials M.E.T. or M.E.J. The postcard was stamped with a one cent stamp featuring Benjamin Franklin.
The postcard, a "Raphotype," originates from Raphael Tuck & Sons, a greeting card and postcard business that was based in the City of London, United Kingdom. The business was highly successful in the "postcard boom" of the late 1890s and early 1900s.Context
Columbia Institute refers to the Columbia Female Institute, an Episcopal all-girls school in Maury County, Tennessee. Construction of the Institute began in 1835, and the first class was admitted under the administration of Rev. Franklin Gillette Smith in 1837. The school continued for nearly 100 years before shuttering in 1932 due to the Great Depression. Left without a function, the building would serve several purposes over its remaining years, including housing WPA workers, providing classrooms and offices for a local business college, and as a nursery school. The old Institute was even the location of the Maury County Library for a short period. In 1944, the City of Columbia purchased the property from the Episcopal Diocese for $35,000. On the evening of March 13th, 1959, the school’s main building and attached chapel caught fire and were destroyed. At the time of the fire, the main building of the old campus was being used as storage by the county school system. (Source: Historic Maury County)Collection
Harpeth Hall School ArchivesLexicon
Search Terms
Belmont College, Belmont College for Young Women, Columbia Institute, Columbia Female Institute, Postcard, 1906
