Mansfield Classroom Photo

CLASSROOM AT MANSFIELD, ARKANSAS

The writing on the back of the picture gives the date as 1911. Margaret Harrison (aunt Mag) is identified. She has the tiny head at the far corner of the room just to the right of the "8" on the blackboard. This writing was done by one of her nieces, Pauline Thomas Mullis. There are also 8 names written by aunt Mag herself, probably when the picture was new. Those names seem to be: Jim Brewster, Oneta Gracie, Myrtle Bonner, Dixon Graves, Mrs. Biccell, Effie Gardenhire, Maude French and Mrs. Pane. If you recognize any of these students, please let me know.

I would have guessed that the large "7" and "8" on the blackboard would indicate the seventh and eighth grades. If that were true, the picture would have been taken around 1906, since Margaret Harrison was born in 1893. I am dubious about the 1911 date, since she would have been 18 years old that year. Evidently my great aunt Mag, who was perhaps the sweetest tempered person I have ever known, was capable of a little mischief. The face of the girl sitting fourth from left in the row nearest the camera has been scratched out with a pin. Under a magnifying glass, some of the signs hanging above the board are readable. These say:

THINK
FIND A WAY OR MAKE A WAY
DO RIGHT

Anna Heath writes: "I believe the girl in the light colored plaid dress on the second row in front of the blackboard is my mother, Neva Lee Garrett, and the girl in front of her partly hidden by the big bow in the girls hair in 3rd row is her sister, Viva D. Garrett. My mother would have been 14 years old in 1911 and I know they lived in Mansfield that year, as her uncle E.S. McClain was a delegate to the Buckner Baptist Association that year. They lived up on the ridge in Mansfield above town.

This photo belongs to Tom Mullis