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Through our digital collections, Vassar College Libraries aim to provide access to high-quality digital content generated by the Libraries for research and study, as open as possible; support the teaching, learning, and research needs of the College; preserve at-risk or fragile physical collections through digitization, or at-risk born-digital collections through reformatting; expose hidden, less-used physical collections through access to digital surrogates; and foster experimental, cutting-edge, and innovative projects through technology. Learn More

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Wolven Glass Plate Negative Collection

Field Hockey team portrait

95764-Service File.jpg
Date
1933-04-01
Content Warning
The Vassar College Archives within the Digital Library include some images, texts, and material items that are racist, xenophobic, or otherwise harmful. The Vassar Libraries have provided descriptive text and additional notes whenever possible to alert Digital Library users to these items. The Engaged Pluralism Initiative Race and Racism in Historical Collections Project Group is working with the library on contextualizing and facilitating community conversations about these materials. For more information see: https://library.vassar.edu/rrhc
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Class of 1936 Field Hockey Team

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Field, C. | oral history, June 30, 2015 (part 1)

Date
2015-06-30
Abstract

Field of study: neuroscience and behavior. Current occupation: Freshkills Park Manager for Science and Research Development, Freshkills Park, Staten Island, N.Y. Born and raised on Long Island, lived in San Francisco briefly after Vassar College, moved to Brooklyn. Keywords: LGBTQ; oral history

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Field, C. | oral history, June 30, 2015 (part 2)

Date
2015-06-30
Abstract

Field of study: neuroscience and behavior. Current occupation: Freshkills Park Manager for Science and Research Development, Freshkills Park, Staten Island, N.Y. Born and raised on Long Island, lived in San Francisco briefly after Vassar College, moved to Brooklyn. Keywords: LGBTQ;oral history

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Field, C. | oral history, June 30, 2015 (part 3)

Date
2015-06-30
Abstract

Field of study: neuroscience and behavior. Current occupation: Freshkills Park Manager for Science and Research Development, Freshkills Park, Staten Island, N.Y. Born and raised on Long Island, lived in San Francisco briefly after Vassar College, moved to Brooklyn. Keywords: LGBTQ;oral history

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Field, C. | oral history, June 30, 2015 (part 4)

Date
2015-06-30
Abstract

Field of study: neuroscience and behavior. Current occupation: Freshkills Park Manager for Science and Research Development, Freshkills Park, Staten Island, N.Y. Born and raised on Long Island, lived in San Francisco briefly after Vassar College, moved to Brooklyn. Keywords: LGBTQ;oral history

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Field, C. | oral history, June 30, 2015 (part 5)

Date
2015-06-30
Abstract

Field of study: neuroscience and behavior. Current occupation: Freshkills Park Manager for Science and Research Development, Freshkills Park, Staten Island, N.Y. Born and raised on Long Island, lived in San Francisco briefly after Vassar College, moved to Brooklyn. Keywords: LGBTQ;oral history

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Field, C. | oral history, June 30, 2015 (part 6)

Date
2015-06-30
Abstract

Field of study: neuroscience and behavior. Current occupation: Freshkills Park Manager for Science and Research Development, Freshkills Park, Staten Island, N.Y. Born and raised on Long Island, lived in San Francisco briefly after Vassar College, moved to Brooklyn. Keywords: LGBTQ;oral history

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Field, C. | oral history, June 30, 2015 (part 7)

Date
2015-06-30
Abstract

Field of study: neuroscience and behavior. Current occupation: Freshkills Park Manager for Science and Research Development, Freshkills Park, Staten Island, N.Y. Born and raised on Long Island, lived in San Francisco briefly after Vassar College, moved to Brooklyn. Keywords: LGBTQ;oral history

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Field, C. | oral history, June 30, 2015 (part 8)

Date
2015-06-30
Abstract

Field of study: neuroscience and behavior. Current occupation: Freshkills Park Manager for Science and Research Development, Freshkills Park, Staten Island, N.Y. Born and raised on Long Island, lived in San Francisco briefly after Vassar College, moved to Brooklyn. Keywords: LGBTQ;oral history

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Field, C. | oral history, June 30, 2015 (part 9)

Date
2015-06-30
Abstract

Field of study: neuroscience and behavior. Current occupation: Freshkills Park Manager for Science and Research Development, Freshkills Park, Staten Island, N.Y. Born and raised on Long Island, lived in San Francisco briefly after Vassar College, moved to Brooklyn. Keywords: LGBTQ;oral history

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Field, C. | Oral History: June 30, 2015

84610-Service File.jpg
Date
2015-06-30
Abstract

Field of study: neuroscience and behavior. Current occupation: Freshkills Park Manager for Science and Research Development. Born and raised on Long Island; lived in San Francisco briefly after Vassar; moved to Brooklyn. Keywords: LGBTQ; oral history; queer; Long Island; San Francisco; Colgate

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Field, Cait

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Date
June 30, 2015
Abstract

Picture of Cait Fields during interview.

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Jaspar Parrish Papers

Fielder Ridgeway | to Jasper Parrish, 1813 Oct 3

13214-Service File.jpg
Date
1813-10-03
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Finding Aid Collection

Guide to the Ruth Lamb Atkinson Papers, 1781-1975 (bulk 1928-1947)

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Repository: Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries
Creator: Atkinson, Ruth Lamb, 1896-1978
Title: Ruth Lamb Atkinson Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1781-1975
Bulk Dates: 1928-1947
Quantity: 10.2 cubic feet (20 boxes)
Abstract: Correspondence, clippings, reports, speeches, articles, pamphlets, and government documents relating to Atkinson's work in advertising and with the Food and Drug Administration. Also includes collected Americana and Indian art and manuscripts.
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Biographical Note

Ruth de Forest Lamb (1896-1978) was born in Hallstead, PA. She graduated from Vassar College in 1918 and worked as a copywriter for various advertising agencies from 1918 to 1926. After some years as a consultant on food, drug, and cosmetic advertising, she joined the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1933 as Chief Educational Officer. During this period she wrote American Chamber of Horrors (1936) and The Devil's Candle (1937). After leaving the FDA in 1942, she became the Washington lobbyist for the National Congress of Parents and Teachers and other consumer groups (1942-1945) and a director of Food for Freedom, Ind. (1943-1946). She married Henry R. Atkinson in 1942 and went with him to India for several years after World War II. Subsequently, she was active in consumer groups in Massachusetts. Ruth Lamb Atkinson died on June 17, 1978.

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Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of correspondence, clippings, reports, speeches, articles, pamphlets, and government documents pertaining to food and drug legislation, the drug "krebiozen," the seafood industry, ergot, consumer groups, Food for Freedom, Ralph Nader, and drug industry propaganda, 1928-1970. Major correspondents include Rachel Lynn Palmer and William Allen White. Also included are notes, articles, pamphlets, and clippings used in writing Atkinson's books; drafts and galley proofs; correspondence with her publisher Farrar & Rinehart; and reviews and letters received about American Chamber of Horrors, 1934-1937, and The Devil's Candle. Other items include clippings and government reports concerning India's independence, 1945-1947; Indian manuscripts; a scrapbook of the drug and cosmetic advertisements she wrote in the 1920s; and miscellaneous Americana she collected including 1781 military communication of General William Heath, 1830 sheet music, and Benson J. Lossing prints of the Hudson River.

Note: The Revolutionary War fife listed under Miscellaneous Americana is missing as of 13 November 2006.

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Access and Use

Access

This collection is open for research according to the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library without any additional restrictions.

Restrictions on Use

Permission to quote (publish) from unpublished or previously published material must be obtained as described in the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library.

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Related Material

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Subject Headings

Names:

  • Heath, William, 1737-1814
  • Lossing, Benson J. (Benson John), 1813-1891
  • Nader, Ralph
  • Palmer, Rachel Lynn
  • White, William Allen, 1868-1944

Organizations:

  • Farrar and Rinehart
  • Food for Freedom, Inc
  • National Congress of Parents and Teachers
  • United States. Food and Drug Administration

Subjects:

  • Advertising--Cosmetics
  • Advertising--Drugs
  • Consumer education
  • Consumers--Societies, etc.
  • Drugs--Law and legislation
  • Ergot
  • Fishery processing
  • Food law and legislation
  • Krebiozen
  • Manuscripts, Sanskrit
  • Seafood
  • Women in politics

Places:

  • Hudson River (N.Y. and N.J.)--Pictorial works
  • India--History--1947-
  • India--History--British occupation, 1765-1947
  • United States--Politics and government

Document Types:

  • Advertisements
  • Correspondence
  • Illuminated manuscripts
  • Prints (visual works)
  • Realia
  • Scrapbooks
  • Sheet music

VCL Categories:

  • East Asia, South Asia, and India
  • Politics
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Encoding Information

Encoded by Laura Streett and Elizabeth Clarke, November 2006. Updated by Emma Gronbeck, May 2025.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Ruth Lamb Atkinson Papers, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries.

Processing Information

Collection is partially processed.

Updated by Dean Rogers, September 2006.

Updated by Emma Gronbeck, June 2023 and May 2025.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Ruth Lamb Atkinson, 1975, 1977.

Additional correspondence of Atkinson's transferred from the VC Anthropology Department, 1992.

A Sanskrit manuscript donated by Atkinson at an unknown time was added to the collection, January 2024.

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Container List

Folder 1.1 "Personal Miscellany" - degree, awards, Food and Drug Act, childhood writings, circa 1939
Folder 1.2 Farrar & Rinehart - correspondence with publisher regarding American Chamber of Horrors, 1934-1937
Folder 1.3 Copies of speeches: "What Educators Should Know about...the Food and Drug Administration," and others
Folder 1.4 "Magic Oyster," manuscript of an unpublished novel, 1928
Folder 1.5 Typescripts of articles and speeches - early history of food and drug legislation
Folder 1.6 Publications containing articles by Mrs. Atkinson, 1928-1940
Box 1 52 publications and publishers' brochures (primarily 1936) containing articles by or about Ruth Lamb Atkinson, the FDA, reviews and comments on American Chamber of Horrors, and testimony before Congressional committees
Box 1 Large green box of reviews and letters about American Chamber of Horrors, circa 1936
Box 2 Notes, photostats of articles, pamphlets etc., used in writing American Chamber of Horrors. Also typescript of chapter 7 (11 folders)
Box 3 Typescript of The Devil's Candle: An Informal History of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and Its Operation in Our Social Economy. 23 folders of materials used in writing this book, as well as some clippings, etc., on drug and food legislation, 1960-1963
Folders 4.1-4.3 Historical and other materials on food and drug legislation and regulation
Folder 4.4 "Krebiozen" - clippings, reports, etc., on rejection of this drug, by Ruth Lamb Atkinson, 1961-1966
Folder 4.5 Seafood - clippings, reports, etc., on regulation of this industry
Folder 4.6 "Consumers" - clippings on Ralph Nader, circa 1970
Folder 4.7-4.9 Material, including bibliography, on food and drug legislation
Box 4 Envelope of American Chamber of Horrors Photographs: exhibition, Food and Drug Administration
Box 4 Photostats of articles on ergot, food, and whiskey adulteration (22 items)
Box 4 Copies of bills before Congress on regulation of food, drugs, and cosmetics, 1933-1939 (32 items)
Boxes 5-6 Subject files which include material on food and drug regulation (folders 5, 11, 20, 36, 37, 44)
Boxes 5-6 Subject files which include material on the fight to get a strong food and drug bill through Congress, 1933-1938 (folders 4, 12, 16-19, 25, 31, 32, 34, 35, 43, 47, 48)
Boxes 5-6 Subject files which include material on Ruth Lamb Atkinson's work with Massachusetts and other consumer groups (folders 15, 23, 27, 29)
Boxes 5-6 Subject files which include material on Food for Freedom, Inc. (folder 26)
Box 5 16 pamphlets on food and drug regulation, and a copy of "The Chemical Feast" by James Turner (folder 51; see also folders 18-19)
Boxes 5-5a Materials relating to drug industry's propaganda
Boxes 8a-8b Carbon copies of letters, 1934-1939
Box 9 American Chamber of Horrors, galley proof
Boxes 10-12 Government documents relating to food and drug laws
Box 12 Advertising & Selling, 1933-1934 (5 issues)
Box 12 Tide, 1935-1939 (6 issues)
Box 12 Trained Nurse and Hospital Review, 1938 Feb
Box 13 Indian Miscellany — Indian government document: "Report of the Health Survey and Development Committee" (Vol. I Survey; Vol. II Recommendations; Vol. III Appendices; Vol. IV Summary)
Box 13 Indian Miscellany — 10 miscellaneous publications (mostly about art)
Box 13 Indian Miscellany — Portfolio of Indian manuscript pages, drawings and paintings, (8 leaves)
Box 13 Indian Miscellany — Portfolio of 12 illustrations of individual Indians
Box 13 Indian Miscellany — Chips from the poet's tomb - Chene-ka-Ranja (?) on the approach to Agra. (Few pieces in small plastic bag)
Box 14 Indian Miscellany — Press clippings relating to Indian independence, 1945-1947
Box 15 Miscellaneous Americana — Communication of General William Heath to Governor Clinton from Head Quarters Continental Village (mounted on cardboard), 1781 Oct 28
Box 15 Miscellaneous Americana — Portfolio of 6 Benson J. Lossing prints of the Hudson
Box 15 Miscellaneous Americana — Facsimile of George Washington's communication on the defense of Boston
Box 15 Miscellaneous Americana — 3 pieces sheet music published in Boston. Includes "Grand Centennial March," 1830
Box 17 Miscellaneous Americana — Antique wooden fife with brass fittings, circa 1800
Box 17 Miscellaneous Americana — Correspondence on the antique wooden fife, 1975
Box 15 Large scrapbook of drug and cosmetic advertisements, etc., written by Ruth Lamb Atkinson - "Madame X Reducing Girdle," etc., circa 1920-1929
Box 16 Sanskrit Manuscript, illuminated and illustrated, undated

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Details
Abstract

Correspondence, clippings, reports, speeches, articles, pamphlets, and government documents relating to Atkinson's work in advertising and with the Food and Drug Administration. Also includes collected Americana and Indian art and manuscripts.

Member of
Finding Aid Collection
Finding Aid Date
Inclusive Dates: 1781-1975
Document Types
Advertisements
Correspondence
Illuminated manuscripts
Prints (visual works)
Realia
Scrapbooks
Sheet music
Names
Heath, William, 1737-1814
Palmer, Rachel Lynn
Nader, Ralph
White, William Allen, 1868-1944
Lossing, Benson J. (Benson John), 1813-1891
Places
India--History--1947-
United States--Politics and government
Hudson River (N.Y. and N.J.)--Pictorial works
India--History--British occupation, 1765-1947
Subject (Topical)
Consumers--Societies, etc.
Advertising--Drugs
Women in politics
Advertising--Cosmetics
Drugs--Law and legislation
Food law and legislation
Seafood
Fishery processing
Ergot
Krebiozen
Consumer education
Manuscripts, Sanskrit
East Asia, South Asia, and India
Politics
Organization
National Congress of Parents and Teachers
United States. Food and Drug Administration
Food for Freedom, Inc
Farrar and Rinehart
Collection Title
Ruth Lamb Atkinson Papers
Creator
Atkinson, Ruth Lamb, 1896-1978
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Vassar Scholarship

Finding Feminism: The Ideologies of Hip-Hop from Black Women in Spaces of Higher Education

Publication Date
2014-January-01
Document Type
Senior Capstone Projects
Authors
Dickens, Tiarra
Department or Program
Sociology Department
Document Type
Senior Capstone Project
Access Level
Vassar Only
Abstract

Hip-hop is the most affluent subset of Black Culture today. The globalization and mass appeal of hip-hop has made this genre bigger than music; it's style, it's dance, it's art, and even literature. Hip-Hop music is a genre that is...

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Vassar College Student Letters

Finley, Charlotte (Deming) — to Cousin, Thanksgiving 1886

76709-Service File.jpg
Date
25 Nov 1886
Content Warning
The Vassar College Archives within the Digital Library include some images, texts, and material items that are racist, xenophobic, or otherwise harmful. The Vassar Libraries have provided descriptive text and additional notes whenever possible to alert Digital Library users to these items. The Engaged Pluralism Initiative Race and Racism in Historical Collections Project Group is working with the library on contextualizing and facilitating community conversations about these materials. For more information see: https://library.vassar.edu/rrhc
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Vassar College Student Letters

Finley, Charlotte (Deming). Letter, 1886

Content Warning
The Vassar College Archives within the Digital Library include some images, texts, and material items that are racist, xenophobic, or otherwise harmful. The Vassar Libraries have provided descriptive text and additional notes whenever possible to alert Digital Library users to these items. The Engaged Pluralism Initiative Race and Racism in Historical Collections Project Group is working with the library on contextualizing and facilitating community conversations about these materials. For more information see: https://library.vassar.edu/rrhc
Abstract

1 letter, dated "Thanksgiving Night 1886," from Finley (VC 1889) to her cousin "Effie." Finley writes that an excellent Thanksgiving dinner was served at Vassar College, during which the students costumed themselves as English ladies and gentlemen. She describes the events after dinner as including

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