CHARLES HODGE MATHES MEMORIAL VOLUME LETTERS AND MEMORABILIA
March -July 1951

East Tennessee State University
University Archives
P. O. Box 70295
Johnson City, Tennessee 37614

E-mail: archives@etsu.edu
Telephone: (423) 439-4338

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INTRODUCTION

Title: Charles Hodge Mathes Memorial Volume Letters and Memorabilia
Collection Number: Accession No. 172
Physical Descriptin: 1 bound volume
Creator: Student from Charles Hodge Mathes Class
Repository: University Archives, East Tennessee State University

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Provenance: The Charles Hodge Mathes Memorial Volume was transferred to the University Archives from Locked Stacks at the request of the director of the archives, in July 1983. Processing of the collection was completed in 1986.

Access: The collection is open for research.

Processing Information: J.Shelton completed processing the collection in 1986. Marie Tedesco revised the collection in 1994.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Charles Hodge Mathes was born in Maryville, Tennessee on April 3, 1879. The son of a Presbyterian minister, Mathes received his B.A. degree from Washington College in 1897. He taught there from 1897 to 1903, during which time he completed most of the requirements for a master's degree at the University of Wooster in Ohio. In 1903 he began teaching at Maryville College. He transferred his master's credits from Wooster to Maryville, and thus was able to take a master's degree at Maryville College in 1904. He studied classical archaeology at Harvard University in the summer of 1906. In 1935 and 1936 he studied at McGill University, Montreal, and Middleburg College, respectively.

Mathes was one of the original faculty members at East Tennessee State Normal School, forerunner of East Tennessee State University. He taught English and served as the dean of the school from 1911 to 1920, when he resigned to enter business. After a few months he returned to the school where he remained until statutory retirement in 1949. Mathes held various positions at East Tennessee State, among them dean, registrar, professor of education, and professor and chairperson of the modern language department.

After his retirement from East Tennessee State College, Mathes taught languages at Milligan College, from 1949-1951. He married in 1902 and had two children, Mildred Dalton and a son, Ralph. He died on February 11, 1951 in Johnson City, Tennessee.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The Charles Hodge Mathes Memorial Volume consists of a collection of thirty letters from students Mathes taught at the normal school, 1911-15. These students took classes at the normal school while the Science Hill High School building was being constructed. They graduated in 1915 as the first class of the new high school. These letters were specifically written for this commemorative book and presented to Mrs. Mathes in honor of the memory of their teacher. The letters date from March to July 1951. The volume also includes a brief biographical sketch of Mathes and a list of names and addresses of the class of 1911.

Important subject covered in the collection include:

Mathes, Charles Hodge, 1879-1951
East Tennessee State Normal School--Students