Name/Title
"First French Book"Entry/Object ID
2007.8.2Description
Green-covered book with black spine. The book, "First French Book After the Natural or Pestalozzian Method for Schools and Home Instruction," was written by Dr. James H. Wortman and published by the American Book Company in 1881. There are several handwritten names crossed out on the first page; the last entry is "Emma Baker, 10th Grade." A handwritten course schedule is on the second page.Context
This book was owned and used by Emma Richardson Baker (1891–1967) during her tenth-grade year. Emma later studied at the Presbyterian College for Women in Columbia, South Carolina which began operating out of the Hampton-Preston Mansion around 1890. Originally known as the South Carolina Presbyterian Institute for Young Ladies, the college later merged with Greenville's Chicora College in 1915. Emma graduated in 1911, four years before the merger.
Emma was not the only member of her family to live on the grounds of the Hampton-Preston Mansion. Her grandfather, Franklin J. Moses, Jr. (1838–1906), served as a Reconstruction era governor from 1872 to 1874 and used state funds to purchase the property from the Preston family in January 1873. As a result, the Hampton-Preston Mansion served as the governor’s mansion until 1874, when Moses faced financial ruin and the property fell under the control of the state’s Sinking Fund Commission.Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
InscriptionLocation
First PageRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Emma Richardson Baker
