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Sloan attended the College for Women in Columbia, South Carolina, and during her interview talks about her first teaching jobs, one of which was where she met J. Edward Johnston. Before entering the army, Johnston taught in eastern North Carolina. After WWI, Johnston became superintendent of the Reynolda School. The school opened in 1918 and started with two teachers, according to Sloan, who were Hal Morrison (March) and Ina Anderson. The next year Lucy Hadley (Cash) was hired. Sloan mentions Lucy Hadley throughout the interview, as well as the fact that the original three teachers lived at the main house when they were first hired, and that ensuing teachers would be invited regularly to Sunday dinners there.
With increased interest from those living in Winston and Forsyth County, Reynolda School expanded, hiring Johnston as superintendent. According to Sloan, Johnston then hired her and others to come work at Reynolda. Eight teachers worked under Johnston, others of which included Mabel Beatty, Elizabeth Faris, Sallie D. Hayes, and Alma Sparger. After his engagement to Katharine Reynolds Johnston stepped down and C. M. Campbell became the superintendent. Sadie Trotter (Conrad), Frances Morris (Hayworth), and Elizabeth Manson were hired to teach. By that time, Sloan says, there were about 150 students at the school. Children living at Reynolda attended the school for free while the other students paid tuition. The Reynolda School was very well supplied with educational materials, and Sloan describes having to provide her own teaching supplies at other schools where she worked. Sloan briefly mentions the school at Five Row and its first principal, Lovey Eaton.
In her first year, the teacher’s cottage, meant to board Reynolda’s teachers, was not yet complete and so the teachers roomed in the Old Francis Hotel in town. In the evenings the women would mingle with the men who were rooming nearby, and this is how she met her husband, Alex T. Sloan, who, with his older brother, worked for the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Once the teacher’s building was complete, all the teachers lived together and had access to the Reynolda grounds. Sloan says that the men they had befriended would visit at Reynolda some evenings and that “... it was kind of a house party going on all the time.” She said there wasn’t a lot else to do, since their only transportation to town was on Saturdays when they had to buy all of their food for the week. Sloan earned a $1,000 yearly salary, plus a Christmas bonus. She stayed at Reynolda School until December 1922 when she married, returning to substitute on occasion before the school closed in June 1924.
Queried about her memory of Katharine Smith Reynolds, Sloan describes Katharine as a “magnetic person...with wonderful ideas.” And while agreeing that Katharine could be stern, she was also “very charming” and “always very good to us.” Sloan also recounts the many parties hosted by Katharine Reynolds in Reynolda Gardens, including night parties, an operetta, and dances. She also mentions the Hiawatha play staged by Reynolda School at Lake Katharine that Katharine Reynolds intended to be a community event.
Sloan describes the different clubs she joined after she was married, including the Twin City Garden Club and the YWCA. During this time, the YWCA located on Glade Street was open to everyone and catered especially to children. Sloan discusses the YWCA lunchroom that she helped run along with Katherine Johnson, daughter of Dr. Wingate Johnson. Sloan also tells that Katharine Smith Reynolds had been involved with an earlier YWCA located near the Reynolds Tobacco factory district that aided women working at the tobacco factories.
The interview ends with descriptions Sloan shares of the Reynolds children. She remarks that Smith was quiet but very funny when he did speak; that Mary and Nancy were both sweet but that Mary was most like her mother; and that Dick was a “hail-fellow-well-met,” and so very outgoing.
ProvenanceThe Reynolda House Museum of American Art Oral History Project, established in 1980, gathered recollections from Reynolds family members and former employees, residents, and guests of the Reynolda estate. The interviews explore life at Reynolda and in Winston-Salem, N.C., during the early and mid-twentieth century, touching on the area’s socioeconomic, political, business, and cultural history. Early interviews conducted in 1980 were done by Lu Ann Jones; later interviews were conducted by museum staff.
DepartmentEstate Archives
Ethel Brock Sloan Interview
DateJuly 9, 1980
MediumDocument
Credit LineReynolda House Museum of American Art Archives
CopyrightPublic Domain
Object numberOH.01.001.1
DescriptionEthel Brock Sloan (1891-1983), a teacher at Reynolda School, was interviewed by Lu Ann Jones and Patty Dilley on July 9, 1980 as part of the Reynolda Oral History Project. In the interview, Sloan discusses her early education and the start of her teaching career, how she came to Reynolda School, and what it was like to live and teach at Reynolda. She shares her memories of Katharine Smith Reynolds, J. Edward Johnston, her fellow teachers, and the Reynolds children. Glimpses of what Winston was like in the early 1920s, the role of the Young Women’s Charity Association (YWCA) in town, and the volunteer work Sloan did there is also discussed.Sloan attended the College for Women in Columbia, South Carolina, and during her interview talks about her first teaching jobs, one of which was where she met J. Edward Johnston. Before entering the army, Johnston taught in eastern North Carolina. After WWI, Johnston became superintendent of the Reynolda School. The school opened in 1918 and started with two teachers, according to Sloan, who were Hal Morrison (March) and Ina Anderson. The next year Lucy Hadley (Cash) was hired. Sloan mentions Lucy Hadley throughout the interview, as well as the fact that the original three teachers lived at the main house when they were first hired, and that ensuing teachers would be invited regularly to Sunday dinners there.
With increased interest from those living in Winston and Forsyth County, Reynolda School expanded, hiring Johnston as superintendent. According to Sloan, Johnston then hired her and others to come work at Reynolda. Eight teachers worked under Johnston, others of which included Mabel Beatty, Elizabeth Faris, Sallie D. Hayes, and Alma Sparger. After his engagement to Katharine Reynolds Johnston stepped down and C. M. Campbell became the superintendent. Sadie Trotter (Conrad), Frances Morris (Hayworth), and Elizabeth Manson were hired to teach. By that time, Sloan says, there were about 150 students at the school. Children living at Reynolda attended the school for free while the other students paid tuition. The Reynolda School was very well supplied with educational materials, and Sloan describes having to provide her own teaching supplies at other schools where she worked. Sloan briefly mentions the school at Five Row and its first principal, Lovey Eaton.
In her first year, the teacher’s cottage, meant to board Reynolda’s teachers, was not yet complete and so the teachers roomed in the Old Francis Hotel in town. In the evenings the women would mingle with the men who were rooming nearby, and this is how she met her husband, Alex T. Sloan, who, with his older brother, worked for the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Once the teacher’s building was complete, all the teachers lived together and had access to the Reynolda grounds. Sloan says that the men they had befriended would visit at Reynolda some evenings and that “... it was kind of a house party going on all the time.” She said there wasn’t a lot else to do, since their only transportation to town was on Saturdays when they had to buy all of their food for the week. Sloan earned a $1,000 yearly salary, plus a Christmas bonus. She stayed at Reynolda School until December 1922 when she married, returning to substitute on occasion before the school closed in June 1924.
Queried about her memory of Katharine Smith Reynolds, Sloan describes Katharine as a “magnetic person...with wonderful ideas.” And while agreeing that Katharine could be stern, she was also “very charming” and “always very good to us.” Sloan also recounts the many parties hosted by Katharine Reynolds in Reynolda Gardens, including night parties, an operetta, and dances. She also mentions the Hiawatha play staged by Reynolda School at Lake Katharine that Katharine Reynolds intended to be a community event.
Sloan describes the different clubs she joined after she was married, including the Twin City Garden Club and the YWCA. During this time, the YWCA located on Glade Street was open to everyone and catered especially to children. Sloan discusses the YWCA lunchroom that she helped run along with Katherine Johnson, daughter of Dr. Wingate Johnson. Sloan also tells that Katharine Smith Reynolds had been involved with an earlier YWCA located near the Reynolds Tobacco factory district that aided women working at the tobacco factories.
The interview ends with descriptions Sloan shares of the Reynolds children. She remarks that Smith was quiet but very funny when he did speak; that Mary and Nancy were both sweet but that Mary was most like her mother; and that Dick was a “hail-fellow-well-met,” and so very outgoing.
ProvenanceThe Reynolda House Museum of American Art Oral History Project, established in 1980, gathered recollections from Reynolds family members and former employees, residents, and guests of the Reynolda estate. The interviews explore life at Reynolda and in Winston-Salem, N.C., during the early and mid-twentieth century, touching on the area’s socioeconomic, political, business, and cultural history. Early interviews conducted in 1980 were done by Lu Ann Jones; later interviews were conducted by museum staff.
Status
Not on viewCollections
July 30, 1980
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