Logistics

One informative source about the logistics of organizing the conference was the collection of telegrams between Liberal Club president Annamae V. Grant ‘33 and W.E.B Du Bois as they corresponded to arrange Du Bois’s visit. From the telegrams, we know the Liberal Club had initially planned for the conference to take place on February 28, 1931. By January 19, 1931, the committee had a list of speakers and a schedule in mind, but Du Bois would be unable to attend the conference in February.1 However, Grant’s subsequent telegram, sent to Du Bois on March 6, indicates the conference had been postponed to April 25, 1931.2 This change in plans allowed Du Bois to come to Bryn Mawr and may have interfered with other speakers’ commitments.3

The telegrams between the two raise additional questions about others who might have attended and how student delegates and speakers alike coordinated travel and accommodations. 


1. Bryn Mawr College. Letter from Bryn Mawr College to W. E. B. Du Bois, January 19, 1931. W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.

2. Bryn Mawr College. Letter from Bryn Mawr College Liberal Club to W. E. B. Du Bois, March 6, 1931. W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.

3. Bryn Mawr College. Letter from Bryn Mawr College Liberal Club to W. E. B. Du Bois, March 19, 1931. W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.

Logistics