Mildred Bard Charlesworth Pepper Papers

2 linear feet (1 half-sized document box and 1 oversized box)

The bulk of the collection pertains to Mildred’s time at the New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton from 1913-1915. Of special note is her diary, which begins with a daily account of camping in Shawmont, Pennsylvania (now Roxborough, Northwest Philadelphia) before going off to Normal where she writes of her classroom and social activities. Her copy of the Seal yearbook is heavily signed and annotated with alumni information up to 1980. Her photograph collection documents students in their everyday lives on campus including in their dorm rooms, wearing gym uniforms, performing a Japanese Tea ceremony, and a possible inside joke of her and her friends enacting characters based on their teacher William N. Mumper (the yearbook is inscribed to indicate “Mumpers” characters). There also are several photographs of faculty members (before they were pictured in the yearbooks).

There are some additional materials from the late 1970s including Normal School alumni lists and photographs of her paintings from her post-retirement career as an artist.

The collection is arranged in five series: Diaries, Yearbooks, Alumni, Photographs, and Certificates and Diplomas, and chronologically within each folder when applicable.

This collection is open for research.

The items in this collection may be used by patrons who abide by the Archives and Special Collections Use Policy of the R. Barbara Gitenstein Library at TCNJ.

Portions of the collection have been digitized and are available for viewing in the library on a provided computer, or on this site.

Copyright restrictions apply. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the College Archivist and Special Collections Librarian,Archives and Special Collections, R. Barbara Gitenstein Library, The College of New Jersey, PO Box 7718, Ewing, NJ 08628-0718, email: Ask a Librarian via the library’s website https://library.tcnj.edu/

• English

Unknown - there is an entry for the collection in the old Accessions Register dated May 1, 2003, but it has no additional information.

Abstract: Mildred Bard was a New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton student from 1913 to 1915, a teacher in Millville, New Jersey for decades (after marrying a Charlesworth), and a prolific painter and traveler in retirement (after marrying a Pepper). She documented her time at the Normal School through a diary, candid photographs of students and faculty, and an annotated yearbook. Her collection extends to a few alumni materials and a few photographs of her paintings up to 1980.

Biographical information/Organizational History:
Mildred Eleanor Bard was born on May 11, 1895, to Elmer Bard, a glassblower, and Ella V. Boogar, in Millville, Cumberland County, New Jersey. She had three siblings: Leon, Helen, and Ethel (1891-1980) who also attended New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton and graduated in June 1911. Ethel taught at South 4th Street Elementary School in Millville and later in a private kindergarten. She married Lloyd Cassell, lived in various locations in the Northeast, and died in Massachusetts.

Mildred graduated from Millville High School then began Normal School in the fall of 1913, where she had an active social life with friends and fellow students from Millville. She participated in school and social clubs including “The Fates.” She was Vice-President of Theta Phi, a literary society, and helped to win one of their debates against the Shakespeare Society with her short story “Death’s Hill,” which she described in her diary as about “camp life in Shawmont with an adventure mixed in.” She studied the Domestic Science course and graduated in June 1915, with her final assessment in Grade Books and Reports, volume III, reading: “Bright and a good student but conceited. Always self-conscious and self-centered. State report very good.”

In 1918, Mildred married Harry M. Charlesworth, who was approximately 20 years her senior and worked as a glass mold maker in the Whitall Tatum glass company in Millville. They had a son Kenneth, in 1920. Harry died in 1953.

She began teaching in Millville schools, but she continued her education in Home Economics and received a bachelor's degree with a Phi Alpha Phi award in 1941 from Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University) in Philadelphia. She also completed a masters degree at Drexel, with the thesis “A Study to Determine the Nutritional Background and Needs of Students in Order to Plan a Functional Unit at the Senior High School Level” in 1947.

For nearly 41 years until her retirement in 1957, Mildred taught Home Economics at Millville High School, later becoming a supervisor of that department. Shortly before her retirement she took up painting and quickly became a prolific artist who created over 500 paintings during her lifetime.

In June of 1960, she married George Vernon Pepper (1896-1979), who worked for the New Jersey Employment Service and also was a real estate broker and author. Prior to Mildred, George was married to Dorothy Adams (1901-1949), with whom he had two daughters. George and Mildred began to travel extensively after they both reached age 65. He wrote the book: Help There’s an Artist in my Cabin, about their world travels via freighter ship. Mildred painted throughout despite the challenges of traveling with wet canvases and palettes. Throughout her career and after, she also was active as a participant and volunteer in community service clubs and local arts organizations. She died on August 12, 1985, in Millville, New Jersey.

DACS, AAT, LCSH

Debra Schiff, Archivist, and Kerin Shellenbarger, Project Archivist, April 2024.