Despite the many advancements of the last 125 years, the concerns of modern students are not so dissimilar from the concerns of students in 1900. Grades, essays, and making time for extracurricular activities were important to that year’s class, just as they were major concerns for the class of 2025.
In 1900, Nellie Lawrence Tiffany (1883-1966) delivered this graduation essay, which attests to her scholastic efforts.
Nellie, born and raised here, was one of only four students making up East Hampton High School’s graduating class of 1900. By all accounts, she was an excellent student, maintaining straight As and Bs from eighth grade on, and earning a spot on the honor roll from 1897 to 1899.
The culmination of her efforts resulted in a 14-page essay titled “The Poet’s Mission,” which we see here. It was read aloud at the commencement exercises for the class of 1900, held at Clinton Hall.
Aside from her academic achievements, Nellie had an interest in performance, reciting prose at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church Sunday school’s 1888 Christmas entertainment. She continued to perform throughout her educational career and after her graduation, appearing in a pantomime performance at the graduation exercises for East Hampton’s class of 1902.
Nellie also displayed a lifelong passion for learning, even after the conclusion of her formal education. Soon after graduating, she joined the Ramblers, a women’s literary society here, for which she often gave presentations, and she acted in skits. She was also a member of the Ladies Village Improvement Society, the Eastern Gate Garden Club, and the Women’s Association of the Presbyterian Church, as well as a former president of the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, a charitable organization related to the Freemasons.
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Julia Tyson is a librarian and archivist with the Long Island Collection.
