Caroline Boa Henderson, Mount Holyoke College Class of 1901, farmed a land claim in the Oklahoma Panhandle from 1907 until 1966. She struggled against recurring droughts, dust storms, extreme blizzards, and other disasters. And yet, through all of these troubles, she and her husband chose to stay on their land. 

Caroline Boa, Class of 1901, in her graduation cap and gown. Original photograph owned by David Grandstaff, and used with his permission.

Henderson’s firsthand accounts of the Dust Bowl years are preserved in Archives and Special Collections through the letters she wrote to her Mount Holyoke classmate Rose Alden and to Alden’s mother, along with other writings that she published in Practical Farmer and the Atlantic Monthly. 

Credits

Curated by Leslie Fields, Head of Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections. Related schedule of events and reference sections written by Therese Kaufman, Class of 2016.