by Marjorie "Bonnie" Hurd Smith
Marjorie Hurd was born in Boston in 1886; she was the daughter of Alfred Dennis Hurd and Louisa Maria Coolidge Hurd. Two years later, in 1888, her beloved brother John Coolidge Hurd ("Jack") was born. Her niece and nephews called her "Marnie" as did their own families later on -- but no one else did! She was always "Marjorie."
Marjorie's paternal grandfather was Melancthon Montgomery Hurd, whose publishing company, Hurd & Houghton, evolved into today's Houghton Mifflin Company. On the Coolidge side of her family, Marjorie's grandfather was Horace Hopkins Coolidge. Described as an "eminent lawyer" by the Coolidge family genealogy, he was a member of the Massachusetts legislature for five years and president of the Massachusetts Senate from 1870-72. Writing, the law, and politics would shape Marjorie's life in the years to come.
The Hurds lived in Boston's Hotel Copley on Huntington Avenue (a residential hotel) for a few years before moving in with Horace Hopkins Coolidge and his family at 162 Newbury Street, Boston. In 1886, the year of Marjorie's birth, her father was a bookseller and publisher along with Joseph G. Cupples. Cupples & Hurd were located at 94 Boylston Street. The Hurd family moved briefly to Cohasset, Massachusetts, between 1891-1893, but by 1894 they had returned to the Coolidge home on Newbury Street and Marjorie's father was selling insurance in Boston.
From the ages of eight to ten, Marjorie attended the school kept by Bertha Hazard and Elizabeth J. Woodward in Boston's Back Bay. In 1896, when Marjorie was ten years old, the Hurds moved to Salem, Massachusetts, where Marjorie attended "Miss B. M. Howe's" Hamilton Hall School on Salems prestigious Chestnut Street. The Hurds lived nearby, at 10 Carpenter Street, which connects Salem's North River and Bridge Street to Federal Street and Salem's most historical neighborhood where the Salem Athenaeum and Public Library are located. Marjorie's uncle, William Williamson Coolidge, lived next door. He was an attorney, broker, and solicitor for the City of Salem. William had also climbed the Matterhorn with his father, Marjorie's grandfather. This mountaineering achievement was an important influence on young Marjorie. Across the street from the Hurds and Coolidges stood the Seaman's Orphan and Children's Friend Society, a social service agency Marjorie was able to observe first-hand. While Marjorie's father managed an insurance office on Boylston Street in Boston among her mother's interests was the Salem Woman's Club, an organization that promoted women's formal and informal education. Marjorie's mother was an incorporator of the Club.
Marjorie graduated from Salem High School in 1904 and entered Radcliffe College later that year, taking the train from Salem to Boston and a streetcar across the Charles River to the Radcliffe campus. (Two years later, her brother, Jack, entered Harvard.). Marjorie majored in history and economics at Radcliffe. According to her write-up in Radcliffe's 1908 yearbook, she was involved in basketball (but only as manager given her less-than-five-foot height), the English Club, History Club, Radcliffe Magazine (serving as assistant manager), and hockey. She graduated magna cum laude in 1908. Her motto, published in the yearbook, was: I am not daunted, no; I will engage." In the "Class Prophecy" section, the following vignette was published:
(Sounds of strife are heard issuing from a neighboring thicket.)
H.T.: Why, what's the matter?
Mrs. M.: Oh, Marjorie Hurd is trying to fight single-handed in a dispute over some problem of economics or other.
Mrs. G.: Well, why on earth is Marjorie tryng to cope with such combatants?
Mrs. M.: Just because she is fond of dispute, I guess. She's such a bright little thing, I shouldn't be surprised if she won out as it is.
In 1910, Marjorie joined The House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association in Salem, a social service organization dedicated to assisting immigrant families. She returned to Radcliffe to earn an advanced degree, and watched her brother graduate from Harvard that year. She also joined the Appalachian Mountain Club, indulging her passion for mountain climbing and the outdoors -- her avocation, as she called it. Later that year, her family moved to Cambridge, to a striking, gothic-style brick house at 44 Walker Street.
In 1911, Marjorie earned her A.M. from Radcliffe in government and economics. She also took the civil service examination, and received the highest percentage among her fellow test-takers.
Marjorie's first job was as a "special agent" for the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission. There, she conducted investigations and performed statistical work for the State School Commissions, the Women's Municipal League, and the Women's Educational and Industrial Union (WEIU). She also started offering an informal course in current events, although it is unclear where and for whom. Marjorie studied statistics with Professor William Z. Ripley at Harvard from 1912-13, and in 1915 she was one of nine students to enroll in the first graduate level law school for women with undergraduate degrees in America -- the Cambridge Law School for Women, founded in 1915 by Professor Joseph H. Beale of the Harvard Law School (HLS). The new school's rigorous curriculum was based on the methods and texts of the Harvard Law School (which did not admit women until 1950). The Cambridge Law School for Women's professors included HLS instructors and graduate students. Marjorie attended classes in the morning, on the Radcliffe campus, worked at the Cambridge Social Union in the afternoon on nearby Brattle Street (the precursor to today's Cambridge Center for Adult Education), and studied in the evening. As she described these years, "That program meant omitting all domestic work and social pleasures and left me rather tired by spring. Last year and this year I have devoted myself exclusively to the study of law." Also in 1915, Marjorie was elected to the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa.
Unfortunately, the Cambridge Law School for Women was short-lived. However, undaunted, in 1917 and 1918 Marjorie took courses at the Portia School of Law on Boston's Beacon Hill -- the first law school in the country to admit women with or without a college degree. Marjorie passed exams in private corporations, bailments, carriers, pleading, Massachusetts practice, agency, and partnership. At the same time, she was working as a law clerk in Richard W. Hale's law office (Hale & Dorr), and taking bar review courses with Helen W. Bradlee, an early female member of the Massachusetts Bar.
In 1918, at the age of 32, Marjorie was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar. Because she did not possess an actual law degree (as few women could in 1918), Professor Beale wrote a letter on Marjorie's behalf, stating, "I am prepared to certify that she has studied law for two years in a law school identical as to curriculum and methods with the Harvard Law School, that until April 1 of this year she has diligently studied law under my direction; and that if she continues in Mr. Hale's office until the first day of July she will have had a legal education fully complying with requirements of your rules." In another letter he wrote, "I have known Miss Hurd for more than three years [and] I believe her to be a woman of high moral character well fitted for admission to the bar."
During the war years, Marjorie served on the lawyers' committee that helped drafted men fill out their "papers." As she wrote in her 25th Radcliffe Reunion write-up, she "entertained hordes of the 'radio boys' stationed in Cambridge."
Between 1919 and 1920, Marjorie worked for the law firm of Dunbar, Nutter & McClennen. One of their clients (meaning, Marjorie's) was the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, for whom Marnie had worked earlier. In 1920, Marjorie joined the staff of the Boston Legal Aid Society (BLAS) as its first female attorney. Founded in 1900 by Reginald Heber Smith, the distinguished attorney and author of Justice and the Poor, the BLAS was "a law office which makes justice for men and women a reality to whom it would otherwise be denied through their inability to afford private counsel," according to organizational literature. Further, one of their publications states, "Not only is the Boston Legal Aid Society bringing happiness to thousands of harassed clients, but it is also a big factor in preserving our institutions and creating respect for our laws." Also in 1920, Marnie and her family moved to 4 Mercer Circle in Cambridge. Their new home was a handsome Victorian mansion off historical Brattle Street and within easy walking distance of Harvard Square and Radcliffe College.
Marjorie remained on the staff of BLAS for thirty-five years. In 1926, she became a notary public. From 1932-33, she served as the president of the Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers. She was a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association for the rest of her life.
Marjorie also pursued her passion for mountaineering whenever she could, either through the Appalachian Mountain Club or the Alpine Club; among the members of both organizations was her friend H. Bradford Washburn, the founder and director of Boston's Museum of Science. Marjorie climbed all over the White Mountains, often bringing her niece and nephews along. In 1924, when she climbed in the Canadian Rockies, she considered this adventure her "introduction to true mountaineering." In 1930, she was described by the American Alpine Club's Journal as "one of an enterprising group affiliated with the Appalachian Mountain Club who have developed a number of excellent rock climbs in New England." The Journal continued, "Miss Hurd made three new climbs to Pamola and the Knife-Edge (Katahdin); also the east cliff of Mt. Hedgehog (Albany Intervale)."
Marjorie was described in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor as a "petite sportswoman." As she explained her climbing ability to the reporter, "shortness doesn't make any difference in climbing. It is more a question of balance than of reach. Some of the most brilliant climbers have been short men." Along with mountain climbing and rock climbing, Marjorie was also an avid swimmer, snow shoe-r (as a member of the "Bemis Club," named after the train station where a group of friends would meet to go off snow shoeing), sailor (as an early member of the Boston Sailing Club), and canoeist, happily tackling both white water and flat water in the White Mountains. She also enjoyed English Country Dancing, knitting, playing bridge and reading -- especially out loud to her increasingly ailing mother.
Marjorie's many "climbs" included the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc, mountains in the Sierra Nevada and British Columbia, and every 4,000-footer in the White Mountains. In 1925, 1927, and 1930, she ‚Äúcombined mountain climbing and sight seeing,‚Äù as she put it, in the French and Swiss Alps. According to her niece, Lydia, ‚ "one of her most important rock climbing exploits was among the Dolomites, a group of craggy, vertical peaks in the Alps which challenged the best climbers of the day. It was there that she was one of three small women climbers who impressed the local guides very much. While the big mountains like the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc are not very challenging (although one does need adequate skill and endurance), the Dolomites are lower, and difficult, and require a high degree of technical skill."
Sight seeing, or traveling, was another passion of Marjorie's. During the course of her life, she journeyed to Hawaii, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, India, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Mexico, Tahiti, Polynesia, New Zealand, Australia, Greece, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Iceland, The Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Italy, France, Ireland, Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Portugal, and almost every country in South America. Marjorie often camped when she traveled, and always brought along a bathing suit to swim wherever she could‚ "collecting swims," as she called it. She also collected coins during her travels, as well as small mementoes she called her "little things‚" which she kept on a specially designed shelf at 4 Mercer Circle.
In 1935, Marjorie's brother, Jack, his wife, Mary Knap Hough Hurd, and their four children, John, Lydia, Alfred, and Sam, moved in with Marjorie to allow John and Lydia to attend nearby Buckingham School. As long as Marjorie lived, family holidays now revolved around 4 Mercer Circle and Marjorie.
In 1940, Marjorie became a life member of the AMC; she had already served as corresponding secretary, recording secretary, and a contributing writer and editor of Appalachia, the AMC's journal. That same year, the Alpine Club published a list of Marjorie's ascents, and she won a gold medal in the AMC's white water canoeing competition with her partner, Ken Henderson. Many years later, at the age of 79, Marjorie climbed Mount Washington's Crawford Path to attend the dedication of the AMC's new Mizpah Springs Hut. At age 80, escorted by Lydia and Lydia's husband, Alan, she stayed at the Lakes of the Clouds Hut on Mount Washington via the Ammonoosuc Trail. The next morning, she climbed to the summit of Mount Washington where the Observatory "crew" served her a birthday cake -- complete with toothpicks for candles -- in the old Observatory building. "All the family knew she wanted to do this," Lydia is still fond of saying.
Marjorie's volunteer activities during and after her days at the Boston Legal Aid Society were numerous. She was a self-described "joiner." She was the recording secretary for the Business Women's Club, secretary for "Cheap & Hungry" Dances, vice president of the Radcliffe Club of Boston, clerk for the Greater Boston Council for Camp Fire Girls (which recognized her devotion on numerous occasions), treasurer of Phi Beta Kappa, Iota of Massachusetts, vice president and president of the Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers, and secretary of the Business Women's Club. Marjorie was also a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Women's Travel Club (founded by a group of Harvard faculty wives who were not welcome at the Harvard Travel Club), the Cambridge Civic Association, the Cambridge League of Women Voters (which met in her home at 4 Mercer Circle), the Mycological Club (mushrooms), and the First Church in Cambridge, Unitarian. In 1972, as a member of First Church's Women's Alliance, Marjorie attended the International Association for Religious Freedom Congress in Heidelberg.Late in life, she volunteered at the Mount Auburn Hospital Coffee Shop.
Marjorie never married, but she was devoted to her niece and nephews even after they moved to nearby Belmont. Marjorie took a special interest in Lydia, making sure she received a high quality education and had the opportunity to pursue higher learning as far as she chose to go. Thanks to Marjorie, Lydia attended the Buckingham School and Radcliffe College. She earned a Master's degree and an Ed. D. from Harvard's School of Education -- the first member of the Hurd family to earn a doctorate. Lydia had a family of her own, and she named her oldest daughter (and the author of this article) after Marjorie. Lydia's family life centered around Marjorie and 4 Mercer Circle, along with camping, canoeing, and swimming in the White Mountains. In 1964, Marjorie, Jack, Mary, Lydia, and Alan bought a handsome shingle style "summer cottage" in Chocorua, New Hampshire, at the base of Mount Chocorua and near Lake Chocorua -- a gorgeous spot in the heart of the Mount Washington Valley. There, Marjorie taught her great nieces and nephews to love the outdoors.
Marjorie died on April 1, 1977, at the age of 90 after a bout with cancer; she is buried in the Coolidge plot at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge. Her memorial service was held at the First Church in Cambridge. Among the tributes to her were these words from Francis Belcher, director of special affairs for the AMC:
"The Appalachian Mountain Club, mountains, streams and the preservation of our environment were a part of Marjorie's fiber. Long before I first knew her, I was warned to have my case in order before I consulted her. Although I never was in her canoe or on her rope, I have consulted, conferred and climbed with her off and on for twenty-five years. All of us, including myself, are better persons for her flint that sparked our steel. Climbing the historic Crawford Path to the dedication of the Club's new Mizpah Springs Hut in 1965, Marjorie was shaken to know the U. S. Forest Service was monitoring our ascent with radios, and had strategically placed stretchers off the trail to protect the Supervisor of the White Mountain National Forest and the Chief of the U. S. Forest Service. At one of the infrequent social stops en route she admonished these two men, then in their sixties, 'If we can do it without emergency insurance, so can you.' There were no artificial aids in the outdoor life of Marjorie Hurd."
She demanded the best in everyone of us and concisely. Her writings were equally clear and concise. Her telephone conversations and her judgments were likewise ... Her editorship of the Club's semi-annual journal was superlative ... Her legal training made Marjorie a very realistic person in her daily associations, while at the same time she was a good sport in whatever was her lot ... Marjorie was a pragmatist with a wry sense of humor. By Marjorie Hurd's example, our lives and hundreds of others are the wiser and richer."
Marjorie's friend Christine L. Reid wrote, "her infectious laugh, her quick wit, her keen, incisive, legally trained mind, and her overflowing enthusiasm for the many and varied activities in which she participated won her countless friends and admirers during her long and productive life. Her sometimes brusque manner concealed her warm and generous heart, and she will be long remembered with deep admiration by those of us who were privileged to have known her.
Emily Sibley of the First Church in Cambridge's Women's Alliance wrote, "To me the words that march forward at the mention of her name will always be: Loyalty, Ability, Courage, Responsibility, and warm Hospitality ... Marjorie showed courage in her choice of law as a profession ... Her years with the Legal Aid Society gave valuable service to others."
In 1933, in Marjorie's 25th Radcliffe Reunion write-up, she wrote, "I haven't accomplished anything of importance -- no children, no books, no works of art." Her descendants disagree. When Lydia published her first book, she dedicated it to Marjorie writing, "To Marnie, who has made so much possible."
* * * * *
Marjorie Hurd's key contributions
• Her early professional years working for Dunbar, Nutter & McClennen when she was legal counsel for the WEIU and maintained a lifelong relationship with that organization.
• Her 35 years with the Boston Legal Aid Society as the first female staff attorney; it is impossible to know how many people she helped by giving them low cost or free excellent legal services.
• Her work for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as an investigator on family conditions and as a "children's worker‚" for the Cambridge Social Union.
• Her avocation as a mountain climber who traveled and climbed all over the world primarily with the Appalachian Mountain Club and American Alpine Club. We have no way of knowing how many times she was the only woman on a climb, and how many times she encountered native citizens of a foreign country who had never seen a woman do what she was doing. There are many kinds of ambassadors, and I think she provided that service albeit unintentionally.
• Her influence on the next generations of women in her family. Even though she had no children of her own, she encouraged and paid for the education of her beloved niece, Lydia Hurd, who became the first member of the family to earn a doctorate from Harvard. Lydia went on to enjoy a lifelong career as an educator, author, and the founder of the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program at Simmons College, Boston. Lydia, in turn, made sure her own daughters were well educated and understood their unlimited potential.
Sources
Kohn, Nina A. "Cambridge Law School for Women: The Evolution and Legacy of the Nation's First Graduate Law School Exclusively for Women." Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, Vol. 12, Issue 1, 2005.
Yearbook, Cambridge Law School for Women, 1916-17
The American Alpine Journal. Vol. I. The American Alpine Club, 1930.
Book of the Class of Nineteen Hundred and Eight, Radcliffe College, 1908.
Twenty-fifth Anniversary Book of the Class of Radcliffe 1908. Radcliffe College, 1908.
Application for Admission to the Bar for Marjorie Hurd, #16094, filed June 18, 1918.
Greater Boston Legal Services Papers (Boston Legal Aid Society).
Marjorie Hurd Papers, 1905-1910, housed at the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women, Radcliffe College Archives:
A Remembrance of Marjorie Hurd by Francis Belcher.
Marjorie Hurd, 1887-1977 by Emily Sibley, Women’s Alliance, First Church in Cambridge.
Some Sources and Information on Activities of Miss Marjorie Hurd.
Travels of Marjorie Hurd, Women's Travel Club Records, 1934-58.
Radcliffe College Alumnae Information, 1937 and 1940.
"Hi, Hiker‚ Since 1910," interview in the Christian Science Monitor, undated.
obituaries (Boston Herald, Cambridge Chronicle, New York Times)
Other sources consulted:
The American Alpine Club
Boston City Directory
Cambridge City Directory
Cambridge Historical Commission
Coolidge, Emma Downing. Descendants of John and Mary Coolidge of Watertown, Massachusetts. Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1930.
The House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association
Hurd family genealogy, compiled by John Coolidge Hurd Jr.
Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers
Massachusetts Vital Records
New England School of Law
Phi Beta Kappa
Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.
Salem City Directory
Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University
Supreme Judicial Court Archives and Records Preservation Department/Social Law Library