From the Archives ARTIFACT
Dipping Into Past Customs
AMANDA MAHNKE
Dip pens and inkwells like this one were used at Agnes Irwin for writing sums and penning letters from the founding of the school in 1869 into the mid-20th century. This inkwell belonged to Sophia Dallas Irwin, younger sister of Agnes Irwin and the second headmistress of The Agnes Irwin School. It was gifted to Bertha M. Laws, the fourth headmistress, who served from 1928 to 1944 and who later donated the inkstand to the school. This inkstand “belonged to Miss Sophy and always stood on her desk,” Laws said. “When she died, it was given to me and now I am passing
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AGNES IRWIN MAGAZINE
FALL 2015
it on to you for the Alumnae Room, where she, I know, would be happy to have it stay.” —A manda Mahnke, based on “From Miss Sophy’s Inkwell: A Collection of Agnes Irwin Memories,” by Elise Artelt ’60 and Martha Rowland Goppelt ’50 (May 2008)
