Hindman Settlement School Records

Hindman Settlement School traces its origins to education – recreation programs conducted in Knott and Perry counties, Kentucky by Katherine Pettit and May Stone during the summers of 1899-1901. They were funded by the Kentucky Federation of Women’s Clubs and were aided by a group of women from urban areas. Programs were held in Hazard-1899 (Camp Cedar Grove), Hindman-1900 (Camp Industrial), and Sassafras in Knott County-1901. Working in large tents, they offered classes in sewing, cooking, housekeeping, health and child care. They organized nurseries, taught Sunday school, and hosted evening socials for young people and adults. These summer programs resulted in local citizens requesting Pettit and Stone to establish a permanent school in the region. The Hindman location was chosen, and on August 5, 1902, Hindman Settlement School officially opened with funding from the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Katherine Pettit and May Stone became the first Executive Committee of the school. The Settlement School remained under the sponsorship of the Kentucky WCTU until 1915. In that year, it was formally incorporated as a private, non-profit, non-sectarian, and non-denominational corporation. Its purpose was to “found, establish, carry on and maintain a school or schools for industrial, intellectual and moral training; to educate the youth of both sexes in habits of sobriety in the mountainous, destitute or needy portions of the State of Kentucky.” From the beginning, the Hindman philosophy and purpose included a positive emphasis on regional traditions and cultural identity. In order to accomplish their objectives, the school administration and staff developed an extensive curriculum and physical plant. The curriculum combined academic subjects with manual arts, home economics, agriculture, art, music, and folk art. The initial (1902) three acres and two buildings expanded into a physical plant that at various times included a high school, grade school, kindergarten, library, manual arts training shop, model farm, dairy, timber area - sawmill, hospital, and dormitories. The settlement school staff extended their efforts into the community with programs such as a bookmobile, medical clinics, and recreational activities. A particularly successful health care effort was the Trachoma treatment program organized by Dr. Joseph A. Stucky and Harriet Butler, which resulted in ridding the area of that serious eye disease. The school’s Fireside Industries encouraged and promoted traditional arts and crafts by providing a sales outlet for items made by students and local residents. The school encouraged creative writing about area people and culture by providing a home and jobs for such writers as Ann Cobb and Lucy Furman, and James Still. As a non-profit corporation, Hindman Settlement School has relied upon financial support by private sources from Kentucky and beyond. Local citizens supported the school with either money or services. Students paid minimal tuition, if they could afford it, and participated in a labor program, which provided work experience and helped to offset the cost of maintaining school grounds. Quite early (c. 1910), the Knott County Board of Education began cooperating with the settlement school by providing funds for school buildings. By the forties, the board was paying teacher salaries. From the outset, Hindman Settlement School was meant to support, rather than displace free public education. As the Knott County Public School System consolidated and assumed complete responsibility for educating the area’s young people (mid 1950’s) and as new roads made boarding facilities unnecessary (1960-early 70s), the school administration redirected its program. Currently, the school hires and provides room and board for art, music, and adult education teachers who conduct classes in the public schools. A public library and community center are located on the school grounds. Hindman Settlement School continues to promote Appalachian culture through various community activities, seminars, lectures, and workshops such as the yearly Appalachian Writers Workshop and the Appalachian Family Folk Week.