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© 2003 Mount Holyoke College. All rights reserved.
Grace Warner Gray was born November 20, 1924 in Chicago, Illinois to William Scott Gray, a professor at the University of Chicago, and Beatrice Warner Jardine Gray. She attended the University of Chicago High School from 1937-1941. She entered Mount Holyoke College in 1941 and in 1945 received her B.A. in zoology. Gray worked as a junior pharmacologist for two years at the William S. Merrell Company until she entered the University of Michigan in 1947. She earned her Ph.D. in pharmacology in 1951 and worked as a research scientist from 1951-1953 at Bristol Laboratories, Inc. From 1954-1959 she taught pharmacology at Marquette University School of Medicine in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She attended Marquette University Medical School from 1954-1959. In 1963-1964 she was a postdoctoral trainee at the University of Tennessee Medical Units studying lipid metabolism. In 1965 Gray worked at the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania as an assistant professor of pharmacology. She became a professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota in 1968. After retiring in 1986, she became an avid Elderhosteler and member of civic and conservation organizations. She died on May 21, 2001 at the age of seventy-six in Shoreview, Minnesota.
The Grace W. Gray papers consist of correspondence, course records, writings, memorabilia, biographical information, and a photograph. The materials in this collection relate chiefly to Gray's years as a student at Mount Holyoke College, 1941-1945. In letters to her family she discusses her studies (particularly in zoology) classmates, social activities, faculty, visiting lecturers, horseback riding, parties, dances, food, her jobs on campus, and College traditions such as Mountain Day, Faculty Show, Founder's Day, freshman hazing, and Junior Show. She mentions College President Roswell Gray Ham and professors Elizabeth M. Boyd, Leonora Branch, Ann Haven Morgan, Christianna Smith, Kathryn F. Stein and others. She also refers to motion pictures that she has seen and to political issues, such as the campaign for U.S. president in 1944. Many letters reflect the impact of World War II on the College. She mentions air raid drills, rationing, blackouts, blood drives, members of the U.S. Naval Reserve Women's Reserve (WAVES) training on campus, farm work and a war stamp drive. Course records are for zoology and English classes and a physical education class. Materials include notebooks, an annotated laboratory manual, a project, papers (including one about canoeing), examinations, and microscope slides that she prepared for histology courses. Writings in this collection consists of published articles by Gray dating from 1954-1975 which chiefly concern her scientific research on the effect of various drugs on intestinal muscle. Memorabilia, 1941-1945, consists of correspondence from College administrators to her parents concerning her course work, correspondence about her awards, and a receipt for her enrollment fee. Biographical information consists of two clippings about her from 1945 and an obituary dated 2001. The photograph is her Mount Holyoke senior portrait taken in 1945.
This collection is organized into six series:
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Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
Grace W. Gray Papers, Mount Holyoke College, Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, MA.
Arranged chronologically.
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Correspondence dates from 1941-1945 and reflects Gray's social and academic activities as a student at Mount Holyoke College. Letters are written to her parents and brother. They discuss courses, lectures by Robert Frost, Janet Murrow, and Eleanor Roosevelt, sermons, horseback riding, food, dances, student employment, and movies that she saw on campus. She talks about College traditions such as Mountain Day, Founder's Day, Junior Show, and Faculty Show. She mentions College President Roswell Gray Ham, and faculty members including Elizabeth M. Boyd, Leonora Branch, Ann Haven Morgan, and Christianna Smith, and several of her friends including Barbara Calhoun Ransom, Freddie (Frances) Chamberlin Carter, Gladys Fish Kurtz, Bobbie (Barbara) M. Moore, Doris-Jane Fondahl, Margaret Prideaux Cartmell, Virginia H. Hands, and Barbara Stoke Betts. Gray also describes the impact of World War II on the College. She discusses WAVES training on campus, air raid drills and blackouts, energy conservation efforts, food rationing, blood drives, a War Stamp Drive, farm work, and travel restrictions.
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Course records consist of notebooks, projects, papers, examinations, notes, and glass slides for courses in zoology, English, and physical education at Mount Holyoke College, 1941-1945. Most of the records are for zoology courses in histology, embryology, ecology, and ornithology taught by Christianna Smith and Elizabeth M. Boyd. Materials for English and physical education classes consist of papers written as writing assisnments and a paper about canoeing. Some of these materials contain notes and comments made by professors.
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Writings consist of published articles written by Gray between 1954-1975. Most of the articles concern scientific research. In an article written for the "Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly" in 1964 she also discusses her work as a teacher.
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Memorabilia dates from 1941-1945 and consists of correspondence between the college officials and Gray's family concerning her course work and other correspondence announcing awards.
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Biographical information consists of newspaper clippings announcing her graduation and an obituary dated May 2001.
Arranged chronologically.
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Photograph is Gray's senior portrait taken at Mount Holyoke in 1945.