Mary Noel Arrowsmith Explained

Mary Noel Arrowsmith
Birth Date:May 28, 1890
Death Date:October 7, 1965

Mary Noel Arrowsmith (May 28, 1890 – October 7, 1965) was an American educator who was awarded a Croix de Guerre for her work with YMCA in France during World War I. Later she was active in promoting safety education and in the peace movement. She also served on the national staff of the YWCA.

Early life

Mary Noel Arrowsmith was born May 28, 1890, in Connecticut, the daughter of Harold Arrowsmith and Helen Fleming Smith Arrowsmith.[1] [2] Her father was an Episcopal clergyman.[3] She graduated from Smith College in 1913.[4] At Smith, she wrote about Hinduism, and wrote poetry, for the college magazine.[5] [6]

World War I

During World War I, Arrowsmith worked with YMCA in France in 1918, running a canteen near the front, alongside Gertrude Sumner Ely of Philadelphia.[7] She was awarded the Croix de Guerre for her "great spirit of duty and ability when in danger."[8] She shared a place of honor in a 1919 parade in New York, with fellow YMCA war workers Ely, Frances Gulick, Ethel Creighton Torrance, and Marjorie Skelding.[9]

Career

Education

After the war, Arrowsmith was an education specialist, who published several articles in the Teachers College Record and other professional journals in the 1920s.[10] She was assistant secretary of the education section of the National Safety Council in 1923 and 1924,[11] [12] which involved visiting local school districts to consult on safety education curricula.[13] "Safety education does three things," she explained: "First it makes the child alive to the dangers with which complex modern life surrounds him and skilful in combating them. Second, it helps to form safety habits which will protect him throughout his life. Third, it awakes in the child a sense of the value and preciousness of human life and his responsibility in keeping himself sound and whole, and in making his home, his school, and his community a safe place to live in."[14]

YWCA, peace, and human rights

Arrowsmith served on the national standards study commission of the YWCA in 1940.[15] She was secretary for international education on the YWCA's national staff during World War II.[16] [17]

In 1928, Arrowsmith wrote an article for The Nation titled "Irredentism in Hungary."[18] She was a member of the Commission to Study the Organization of Peace, headed by James T. Shotwell, and signed the commission's 1944 statement titled "International Safeguard of Human Rights."[19] She wrote "Are the United Nations Moving Toward a Governed World?", a leaflet published by the National Peace Conference.[20]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Banta, Theodore Melvin. Sayre Family: Lineage of Thomas Sayre, a Founder of Southampton. Mary Noel Arrowsmith.. 1901. De Vinne Press. 371. en.
  2. News: Mrs. Arrowsmith, Minister's Widow. November 30, 1950. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. September 16, 2019. 15. Newspapers.com.
  3. News: Rev. Harold Arrowsmith Dies. September 16, 1918. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. September 16, 2019. 2. Newspapers.com.
  4. February 1942. By the Alumnae. Smith Alumnae Quarterly. 115.
  5. Arrowsmith. Mary Noel. December 1912. The Nature of Brahma and His Relation to the Universe. Smith College Monthly. 20. 151–152. Internet Archive.
  6. Arrowsmith. Mary Noel. January 1913. To the Libe. Smith College Monthly. 20. 240.
  7. Book: Mayo, Katherine. "That damn Y": A record of overseas service. 1920. Boston : Houghton. University of California Libraries. 110, 124–125, 267.
  8. News: Miss Arrowsmith Wins War Cross from Petain. May 29, 1919. New-York Tribune. September 16, 2019. 9. Newspapers.com.
  9. News: Five Women in the Big Parade Today. Stevenson. Fay. September 10, 1919. The Evening World. September 16, 2019. 18. Newspapers.com.
  10. Day, Mary Bostwick, Mary Noel Arrowsmith, and Idabelle Stevenson. "An Annotated Bibliography of Safety Education" Teachers College Record (1926).
  11. News: 'Safety First' is Taught in Schools. April 30, 1923. Lawrence Journal-World. September 16, 2019. 3. Google News.
  12. Arrowsmith. Mary Noel. December 1923. Education in Accident Prevention. The Highway Engineer and Contractor. 9. 57–58.
  13. News: 76,000 Meet Death Yearly in Accidents. May 10, 1924. Journal and Courier. September 16, 2019. 2. Newspapers.com.
  14. News: Safety Plans Being Tried at Local Schools. April 15, 1923. Buffalo Morning Express and Illustrated Buffalo Express. September 16, 2019. 71. Newspapers.com.
  15. Book: Robertson, Nancy Marie. Christian Sisterhood, Race Relations, and the YWCA, 1906-46. 2007. University of Illinois Press. 9780252031939. 156. en.
  16. News: Local YWCA Groups Plan Week of Prayer and Fellowship. October 23, 1941. Bradford Evening Star and the Bradford Daily Record. September 16, 2019. 4. Newspapers.com.
  17. News: Phases of Post-War World Discussed. March 14, 1943. Hartford Courant. September 17, 2019. 59. Newspapers.com.
  18. Irredentism in Hungary. Arrowsmith. Mary Noel. May 9, 1928. The Nation.
  19. Commission to Study the Organization of Peace, Fourth Report, Part III: International Safeguard of Human Rights (May 1944).
  20. Arrowsmith, Mary Noel. (May 1943) "Are the United Nations Moving Toward a Governed World?" pamphlet published by the National Peace Conference.

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