About Ruth

These pages were designed to provide the surrounding context of the Ruth Mitchell Wunderly Scrapbook. The pages are listed in suggested reading order.

Ruth's College Years Ruth Mitchell was born in West Roxbury, Mass. on May 15, 1896 to Charles P. and Caroline (Dove) Mitchell. She studied home economics from Fall 1915 to Spring 1918 at Simmons College, where her tiny size earned her the nickname "Mousie" . . . Read more
The Simmons Landscape When Ruth Mitchell enrolled as a Freshman at Simmons College in 1915, the college was still very young. Its charter had been granted a mere 16 years earlier in 1899, and it had been in its home in the somewhat-remote Fenway area for about a decade . . . Read more
A Simmons Education From its founding, Simmons College had stood apart from many other women's colleges, reflecting the growing belief that "women must be prepared for 'life' -- not simply for 'society' . . . Read more
Simmons Social Life Students at the college enjoyed an active social life. It is instructive to review a sampling of activities undertaken during the fall of Ruth's Freshman year, as documented by The Persimmon . . . Read more
Simmons Reacts to World Events While students clearly enjoyed a lighthearted calendar of social events, they were also well aware of major events shaping their world. A nationwide outbreak of polio in 1916 . . . Read more
Ruth After College In 1918, when Albert served in the Air Force, Ruth was a bacteriologist at the base hospital at Camp Travis in Texas, and in 1919 she began working as the scientific secretary at Yale University's Department of Physiology . . . Read more
Winning Their Way A 1921 article from Simmons is Awake! providing details about Ruth Mitchell Wunderly's new Tavernette and showcasing the Simmons graduate as an "Illustration of What a Simmons Education Can Do" . . . Read more
Era in Context Articles written for the purpose of expounding upon the cultural significance and surroundings of the Ruth Mitchell Wunderly Scrapbook . . . Read more