Insider’s View: The Alumnae Quarterly Office
¶
Photo by James Gehrt
- In 1917 the Alumnae Association spent $2.60 on a brass plaque that now marks the office of the Alumnae Quarterly on the third floor of Mary E. Woolley Hall.
- The complete history of the magazine’s office space is unknown, but we know that the Alumnae Association offices were first located in Student-Alumnae Hall (the current Mary E. Woolley Hall) and later moved to Dwight Hall before returning to Mary Woolley in the eighties.
- We also know, from a conversation with Gale Stubbs McClung ’45 a few years before she died, that during her tenure as editor (1962–1989) much of the magazine production was done on the dining room table of her Amherst home.
- The current office, which has been the home of the magazine since 1989, features expansive windows over-looking Route 116 and views—if you peer out to the left—of one of the most colorful trees on campus during a few short weeks each fall.
Tonks, the office fish, and back issues. Photos by Millie Rossman and James Gehrt
- In addition to two work stations, the office includes a meeting space—a round table, where the Quarterly editorial staff comes together on a weekly basis to discuss ideas for upcoming issues, share updates on the progress of the current issue, and view design elements.
- A large bulletin board along one wall is a display of current layouts of magazine pages—for consideration and discussion and as an important visualization of an issue coming together as a whole.
- All back issues of the magazine—bound into hardcover volumes by year—are shelved in a closet that also houses Mount Holyoke yearbooks and a few other historical College publications, all referenced often.
—By Jess Ayer
This article appeared in the spring 2017 issue of the Alumnae Quarterly.
April 7, 2017
I knew about and imagined much of this. However, Tonks info was most appreciated and fresh.