Title: Katharine Hayden Salter Papers, 1915-1989

ID: RG 30/335

Extent: 1.4 Linear Feet

Katharine Hayden Salter was born Katharine Shepard Hayden on June 19, 1896, in Reading, PA, to Harry Johnson Hayden (OC academy, 1880-81, 1883-85) and Jessie Hinds Hayden. She graduated from Oberlin College in 1918 and pursued a career as a published writer and political, feministic, radical activist. She received both her A.B. in English Literature and her Master’s (1920) degrees from Oberlin College, and pursued additional studies beyond. As a student at Oberlin College, Katharine Shepard Hayden was a member of the Phi Alpha Phi Literary Society, secretary of the Student Government League, member of the Honor Court and League Council, Vice-President of the Union Library Association, member of the board of editors of the Literary Magazine, member of the YWCA Board, and a singer in the Musical Union. During her time as a student, she wrote poetry, and according to the 1919 edition of the Oberlin Alumni Magazine, a college anthology called The Poets of the Future included some of her poems. The Oberlin College Library holds some of her writings, including her poetry.

She attended a training camp at Vassar College (1918-1919) in order to become a nurse, and followed this training with two months of nursing at Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York City. After this brief career in nursing, Katharine Shepard Hayden worked as an assistant Professor of English at Berea College, in Berea, Kentucky (1920-21), then ceased working professionally once she married John Thomas Salter (A.B. Oberlin College 1921).

The end of her professional career by no means heralded the end of her scholarly endeavors. Katharine Hayden Salter went on to write, disseminate, and occasionally publish a large number of essays, letters, and other writings, many of which expressed strong opposition to the censorship of women writers and encouraged open democratic acceptance of dissenting voices, especially female voices. These strong statements resulted in a great deal of criticism, including that of someone who referred to himself as “A Simple Man,” whose letter was published publicly in the newspaper and ultimately prompted Salter to write Her Kitchen Fort. Some of her writings, then, were considered quite controversial.

Her later writings, those that followed her marriage to John Thomas Salter, include “American Democracy and its Antecedents in England and America” (written in tandem with her husband and published in 1947), a number of essays, letters to the editors of newspapers including The Oberlin Times, her manuscript “The War on Republics and on the Individual,” and several manuscripts of poetry. She also wrote a great number of inflammatory political pamphlets, including “A Letter to Dr. ****,” “And Laurel Gardens Fall,” and “The Key to Carlson.” Towards the end of her life, the criticism against her increased, partly as a result of her inflammatory, pointed, or highly accusatory letters to various individuals including Presidents William E. Stevenson and Robert Kenneth Carr of Oberlin College.

She and her husband had five children between the years of 1922 and 1938: Katharine Shepard, Patricia Learned, Jean Hayden, Joel Hayden, and Christopher Lord. Both Patricia and Christopher attended Oberlin College, the former in 1941-42, and the latter graduating in 1961. Katharine Salter died at the age of 92 in Greenfield, Massachusetts in 1988.

Sources Consulted

Student file of Katharine Hayden Salter, Alumni Records (RG 28/2)

Biographical Files, 1921-89, n.d.,

Katharine Hayden Salter Papers, Series I (RG 30/335)

Author: Tyler Cassidy-Heacock

Forms of Material (links to similar genres)

Languages of Materials

Administrative Information

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Katharine Hayden Salter document her career and life as a political writer, feminist, radical, and activist. They consist of biographical materials, correspondence, writings by Katharine Hayden Salter such as her poetry, pamphlets, letters to the editors of various publications, and books, and writings about Salter. The materials cover the period from 1915, the time of Salter’s earliest writings, to 1988, the year of her death. Her pamphlets and writings span topics including democracy in the United States, a “counter-action to Catholic Action,” and discrimination against atheistic public sentiment. These writings make up the largest portion of the collection and are a fairly complete collection of what Salter considered her life’s work.

Many of the writings express her strong belief that one should speak out against injustices committed by publications, such as those of conservative Catholic groups, and by individuals, including the President of the United States, other members of government, and individuals who wielded power in educational institutions including Oberlin College. Her writings and writings by others included in the collection provide a look at the contrasting opinions that were engaged in dialogue by her publications. This engagement in dialogue was a strong motivating force behind her writing.

The correspondence in this collection includes her letters to Oberlin College personnel, such as the Director of the Library, members of the Alumni Office, and the College President, as well as letters to officials at other colleges and universities, letters to the editor of a variety of newspapers, and open letters intended to provoke discussion and voice her political stances and concerns.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

The collection is organized into five series: Biographical Files; Correspondence Files; Subject Files; Writings by Katharine Hayden Salter; and Writings about Salter and her publications.

Series I. Biographical Files, 1921-89, n.d.

This series consists of papers documenting the life of Katharine Hayden Salter, and primarily includes official forms and reports from the Oberlin College student records and alumni surveys.

Series II. Correspondence Files, 1943-78

These letters include those written by Katharine Hayden Salter as criticisms of Oberlin College and the handling, by its officials, of her own writings. The majority of the letters are official in nature, and include “open letters” intended as public statements. However, some personal correspondence is also included in the series.

Series III. Subject Files, 1945-46, 1955, 1967-87

The contents of this series are somewhat diverse and range from pamphlets written by Salter to writings in reaction to her letters to the editors of several newspapers. They are grouped together because they are the components of original files kept on Salter by Oberlin College prior to the accumulation of the existing collection.

Series IV. Writings by Katharine Hayden Salter, 1915-65

This series makes up the bulk of the collection and spans from her earliest poems as an undergraduate student of Oberlin College to her late publications and letters. Most of these writings were published, either privately, as pamphlets to be distributed as part of a “pamphlet war” against conservative Catholic publications, or publicly, as letters in various newspapers or as books. They provide an accurate depiction of both Salter’s opinions on current events and the political climate of the era as well as a fairly comprehensive view of her work.

Series V. Writings about Salter and her publications, 1943-46, 1975-78

Writing by others about Katharine Hayden Salter and her writings make up the final series. This series includes advertisements for her writing, as well as newspaper articles reacting to her published letters and articles about her during the latter period of her life that describe her activity in the community and memories of Oberlin College.

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