Tag: Katharine Antolini

Lenna Lowe Yost’s Centennial Tour

 

This is a big year for voting. In particular, it marks 100 years for the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to participate.

The timeline includes these facts:

West Virginia Wesleyan has a direct connection to this story in Lenna Lowe Yost. Earlier this year, I wrote in more detail about her heroic work. You can read about Lenna’s Legacy here.

This year, Dr. Katharine Antolini has created a fun way for all of us to remember and to celebrate Lenna’s Legacy as we celebrate 100 years since the 19th Amendment became law.

Maria Benjamin, daughter of Jon Benjamin in the Art Department and granddaughter of Rob Rupp in the History Department, created this wonderful “Flat Lenna” which was reproduced and distributed to people all across the state. Lenna then “attended” many celebrations and visited many of her old haunts.The photos taken of Lenna became a way for her to revisit many places of importance to her story. 

 

 

“Flat Lenna” was scheduled to attend several suffrage celebrations over the summer of 2020, but the COVID crises sadly ended her travels.  In fact, the last event I attended at WVWC before the campus closed down was a wonderful celebration on March 10. Thanks to Katharine for providing this great tribute to Lenna, her spirit, passion, and her leadership.

 

Music – Methodists – Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day makes the news each year. We hear a lot about Anna Jarvis and the First Mother’s Day in 1908. But, as with most things, there are subplots to that story.

What do the things in the photo above have in common?

L.L. Loar

Lawson L. Loar was a successful merchant in Clarksburg, WV.  He was also the  Superintendent of the Sunday school of Andrews Methodist Episcopal church, in Grafton, W. Va. during the first Mother’s Day service held there in 1908, and gave of his time and money to help lead the plans for establishing the annual memorial to Motherhood. He died in 1938.

Until 1941, the West Virginia area was supporting two colleges: West Virginia Wesleyan and Morris Harvey College (now University of Charleston). With the uniting of the Methodist Episcopal North, the Methodist Episcopal South, and the Methodist Protestant Churches in 1939, it became obvious that the area could not support two colleges, and West Virginia Wesleyan was named the one college of what was then the fourth largest Conference in the Methodist Church.  1943, there was a campaign to help provide for the future and strengthening of the college (The Great Wesleyan Movement).

Through the close connection between West Virginia Wesleyan College and the Methodist Church, Mrs. Lawson L. Loar agreed in 1943 to provide funds for the Hall of Music as a memorial to the Loar Family. This was a great act of faith and commitment at a time when the nation was facing World War once again. The building was not finished until 1953, but the funds were assured.

L.L. Loar had a connection to Mother’s Day, and to the Methodist Church.

Mrs. L.L. Loar provided funds for the Hall of Music in memory of the family through her own strong connection with the Methodist Conference and her belief in West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Music — Methodists — Mother’s Day

There is another interesting connection between Mother’s Day and West Virginia Wesleyan College.  Dr. Katharine Antolini, Assistant Professor of History and Gender Studies, did her doctoral studies about Anna Jarvis and the Mother’s Day Shrine in Grafton, WV. According to Chapter 2, p. 46 of Antolini’s book, Jarvis was later offered a teaching position at the West Virginia Conference Seminary (now WVWC) to teach English and Shorthand. For reasons unknown, she did not come. Antolini is considered to be a primary expert on the subject of Anna Jarvis and serves on the Board of Trustees of the International Mother’s Day Shrine in Grafton.

 

Sources

Antolini, K. L. (2014). Memorializing motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the struggle for control of Mother’s Day. Morgantown, WV: WVU Press.

The Great Wesleyan Movement. (1943). The West Virginia Wesleyan College Bulletin, 36(3), 1-2. Retrieved May 14, 2018, from http://cdm16111.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16111coll2/id/482

Loar Memorial Hall Dedication Today. (1953). The Pharos, XLVII(6), 1-1. Retrieved from http://cdm16111.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p271901coll13/id/1653

West Virginia Wesleyan College Bulletin, 47 (2), Catalogue 1954-55, 23. (1954). Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/westvirginiawesl19541955west#page/22/mode/2up.

To find out more about the history of West Virginia Wesleyan College, check out https://DreamersAndGiants.com