1892-1951
Guide to the Collection
Restrictions on Access
The N. Penrose Hallowell scrapbooks are stored offsite and must be requested at least two business days in advance via Portal1791. Researchers needing more than six items from offsite storage should provide additional advance notice. If you have questions about requesting materials from offsite storage, please contact the reference desk at 617-646-0532 or reference@masshist.org.
Abstract
This collection consists of three scrapbooks kept by N. Penrose Hallowell containing clippings and memorabilia related to his family, Harvard University students and sports, and current events, 1892-1951.
Biographical Sketch
N. Penrose Hallowell was born in West Medford, Massachusetts, in 1875, the son of Colonel Norwood Penrose "Pen" Hallowell and his wife Sarah Wharton Haydock Hallowell. He attended Hopkinson's School and was a member of the Class of 1897 at Harvard. After graduating, he went into banking in Boston, eventually joining the banking and brokerage house of Lee, Higginson & Co. In 1901, he married Margaret Ingersoll Bowditch, with whom he had four daughters and two sons: Mary Bowditch (1902-), Hannah Penrose (1904-), Ellen Rice (1906-), Norwood Penrose (1909-), Alfred Bowditch (1911-), and Margaret (1916-).
Hallowell and his family lived in Milton, Massachusetts, where he became a trustee of Milton Academy. He remained involved with Harvard, where he was an overseer. After the death of his wife Margaret in 1953, he married Cornelia Fitch (Middlebrook) Baekeland. He died in New York City on 13 February 1961.
Sources
Harvard University. Class of 1897. Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report, 1897-1922. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1922.
Collection Description
This collection consists of three scrapbooks kept by N. Penrose Hallowell containing clippings and memorabilia related to his family, Harvard University students and sports, and current events, 1892-1951.
Acquisition Information
This collection was donated by Dinah Hallowell Barlow, March 2000.
Restrictions on Access
The N. Penrose Hallowell scrapbooks are stored offsite and must be requested at least two business days in advance via Portal1791. Researchers needing more than six items from offsite storage should provide additional advance notice. If you have questions about requesting materials from offsite storage, please contact the reference desk at 617-646-0532 or reference@masshist.org.
Detailed Description of the Collection
Scrapbook, 1892-July 1917
This scrapbook is inscribed "Book IV From March 16th 1896 to July 1917. N. Penrose Hallowell '97 25 Holyoke St. Cambridge" on the front cover. This volume documents the final year of his Harvard career (and earlier academic career at Hopkinson's School), his marriage to Margaret Ingersoll Bowditch and the birth of his children, and the beginning of his career with Lee, Higginson & Co. There are a great number of clippings and memorabilia from Harvard sports teams and clubs (including Hasty Pudding, Dickie, Delta Phi, and Porcellian), as well as a death notice for Harvard's beloved "Orangeman," John Lovett. Other topics include the 1910 Grahame-White aeromeet, the Athens Olympics of 1896, and the First Corps of Cadets.
Scrapbook, April 1917-June 1931
This volume begins with President Wilson's declaration of war and Marshal Joffe's visit to Boston and documents Hallowell's involvement with the Liberty Loan Committee and Margaret Hallowell's involvement with Liberty Bonds. The volume contains Liberty Loan flyers in multiple foreign languages issued by the Boston office and photographs of women hanging Liberty Loan posters in the city. Other clippings document the death of Theodore Roosevelt, the homecoming of the 26th "Yankee" Division, and the Boston Police Strike of 1919 (Hallowell was a volunteer policeman during the strike). The volume also contains clippings on the death of Henry Lee Higginson, the marriage of Hallowell's daughter Mary, and clippings about his son Norwood's Harvard track exploits. National topics include a January 1925 eclipse, Charles Lindbergh's flight, and the stock market crash.
Scrapbook, June 1931-April 1951
Volume 3 covers Norwood Penrose Hallowell III's performance at an inter-university meet in England where he set the record for fastest mile in collegiate history. Subsequent clippings cover his qualification for the Los Angeles Olympics in the 1500-meter race, where he finished sixth. The volume contains a large amount of information about Harvard's tercentenary in 1936. Topics of wider interest include the abdication of Edward VIII, the 1938 New England hurricane, and the visit of George VI to the United States. World War II clippings cover Hallowell's service on the draft board and his son Norwood's naval service.
Preferred Citation
N. Penrose Hallowell scrapbooks, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Access Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.