A history of the State Teachers College at Radford, Virginia, 1910-1930
Creator
Moffett, M'Ledge
M'Ledge Moffett was born in 1892, the only child of William Ledgerwood Moffett and Mary Stoops Moffett. The name M'Ledge was formed from shortened versions of her parent’s names, Mary and Ledgerwood. She attended the newly-opened State Normal School in Harrisonburg, Virginia (now James Madison University), graduating in 1910 with a Full Degree in Household Arts. Harrisonburg was the first school to offer such a degree in Virginia and Moffett was one of the first two graduates. From Harrisonburg, Moffett went to Columbia University's Teachers College in New York City. While working towards her Bachelor of Science degree in 1913 from Columbia, M'Ledge spent her summers as a Household Arts instructor at a Summer Normal School in Covington, Virginia. Moffett arrived in Radford on September 11, 1913, as the youngest faculty member and the only member of the Household Arts Department, a month after the school's formal dedication in August, 1913, and only a few days before classes began. She apparently quickly proved her ability to handle herself under pressure because McConnell almost immediately put her in charge of the school's sole dormitory. In Moffett's History of the State Teachers College at Radford, Virginia, 1910-1930, McConnell wrote in the third person of Moffett that, "in the judgment of the president, she was the most suitable person for this trying position, this she filled with great satisfaction to all concerned. This was the beginning of her official duties in the college." Among her many accomplishments while at Radford, President John P. McConnell appointed Moffett as the new Dean of Women, a year before she received her Master of Arts degree. She was the first person to hold that post at any of the Virginia institutions of higher education. She held the Dean's post until her retirement in 1962.
In her “A History of the State Teachers College at Radford, Virginia, 1910-1930, Moffett provides fascinating first-hand information about the school’s beginnings and daily life. The book was written by someone both partly responsible for the beginnings of the school, and someone actually living in the system and so provides us with a rare insight into it. This book has a very useful and complete index as well as an appendix with additional useful information.