New to the Archive: a map of Harcum College from 1941

A new map recently donated to the Archive Collection (click to expand).

Recently the Archive Collection at the Charles H. Trout Library received a donation of a map of Harcum College campus at Bryn Mawr from approximately 1941. It is hand-drawn and hand-lettered in ink. The map shows the major roads of the Main Line from Philadelphia to Valley Forge Park. The Harcum campus is shown in an inset in the bottom-left corner.

The campus map does not much resemble the current campus map. In the 1940s the Harcum campus consisted of just three buildings, Hatcher Hall, Melville Hall, and Bedford Hall. The buildings on the map are not labeled but thanks to the research recently completed for the Harcum Mile project, we can determine the other two buildings. Melville Hall has a distinct building footprint so it is easy to identify as the middle of the three buildings. The building on the corner of Morris Avenue and Montgomery Avenue was once owned by Harcum College. It was called Hatcher Hall, after Edith Hatcher Harcum's family in Virginia. It was used as a dormitory but also had classroom space and may have housed the library as well. An image of Hatcher Hall can be found in the 1954 yearbook and the digital archive. Hatcher was designed and built by a well-known local architect Addison Hutton who designed buildings on the Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College campuses. Harcum College sold the building in 2002. It is still standing and is now a condominium apartment building. 

The eastern-most building on the map is likely Bedford Hall. The name "Bedford" was likely inspired by Bedford County, Virginia, the birthplace of Edith Hatcher Harcum's father, Rev. Dr. W. E. Hatcher. Initially, Bedford was used as a dormitory. It could accommodate fourteen students and one house director. Today, we know Bedford Hall as home to Institutional Advancement. You can read more about the history of Bedford Hall and all of the buildings on the Harcum campus in the digital exhibit of the Harcum Mile.