This online exhibit has been made possible by Julie Rude Thomas' donation of her collection of documents and materials about Chevy Chase Junior College, part of the larger "Julie Rude Thomas Collection of Chevy Chase History" at the Chevy Chase Historical Society Archive and Research Center. Julie is a long-time resident of Chevy Chase, and a former CCHS Board Member and chair of the CCHS Oral History Project. Julie's interest in collecting historical documents and artifacts began as a child, when she played with the postcards her grandfather, Capt. Gilbert T. Rude, sent to her grandmother, Viola Britt Rude. These postcards were sent from locations around the world, during World War I and over the course of their marriage, and they also include cards which Capt. Rude sent to Julie's father, Dr. Gilbert B. Rude. Over time, Julie's interest in collecting postcards expanded to other historical documents and ephemera. The Chevy Chase Junior College collection includes postcards, college catalogs, yearbooks, brochures, and scrapbooks that date from the opening of the College in 1903 to its closing in 1950.
Julie's previous research and exhibits about Chevy Chase Junior College are the inspiration for this online exhibit, and we thank her for her generous donations to CCHS and for all her assistance. Julie shared her email correspondence with Joan Russell, who was a member of the last graduating class at Chevy Chase Junior College. And she contacted the daughter of Jean Rountree, a student in the 1940s. Special thanks to Joan Russell for letting us quote from her emails with Julie Thomas, and thank you also to Susan Rountree Doyle Leap, daughter of Jean Anderson Rountree Lechleiter, whose scrapbook and memorabilia we are fortunate to have in our collection.
This exhibit is funded in part by a grant from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Maryland. We also thank Angela Lancaster, President, and Mary Sheehan, Member at Large, and all of the Board Members of the Chevy Chase Historical Society for their interest and support of this project.
The curators and authors of this exhibit are Gail Sansbury, PhD, Director, and Danielle Swanson, MA, Deputy Director, of the Archive and Research Center, Chevy Chase Historical Society. All historical research and the digitization of images, documents and printed materials was done at the CCHS Archive and Research Center, located at the Chevy Chase Library, Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Sandglass Systems, Inc., designed and developed the website for this exhibit. Special thanks to Andrew Fraser, Principal, and the Sandglass staff for their assistance.
Elizabeth Jo Lampl and Kimberly Prothro Williams. Chevy Chase: A Home Suburb for the Nation's Capital. Crownsville, MD: Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission, The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, and Maryland Historical Trust Press, 1998.
Nina Mikhalevsky. Dear Daughters: A History of Mount Vernon Seminary and College. Washington: The George Washington University, 2001.
Joan Marsh and Frances Stickles. The Placenames of Chevy Chase, Maryland. Portsmouth, NH: Back Channel Press, 2011.
Dorothy B. Ryan. Picture Postcards in the United States, 1893-1918. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1982.
Lissa Smith, editor. Nike is a Goddess: The History of Women in Sports. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1998.
Barbara Miller Solomon. In the Company of Educated Women: A History of Women and Higher Education in America. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985.
Ann Wagner. Adversaries of Dance: From the Puritans to the Present. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
The Washington Herald (1906-1939). Accessed through "Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers," available online at the Library of Congress.
The Washington Post (1877-1995). Accessed through ProQuest Historical Newspapers, available online at the Montgomery County Public Library.