Vashti School postcard


Descriptive Summary
Title: Vashti School postcard
Creator: Vashti Industrial School (Thomasville, Ga.)
Inclusive Dates: 1928
Language(s): English
Extent: 1 folder(s)
Collection Number: ms2621
Repository: Hargrett Library

Collection Description

Historical Note

The Vashti Center is a ministry of the United Methodist Church and a mission of the United Methodist Women. In 1903, Annie Heath, a Methodist missionary, recognized a need for a home and guidance for young "orphan, needy and dependent girls" in the Thomasville area. Mr. And Mrs. W.P. Blasingame gave her a nine-room house, and named it the "Vashti Industrial School for Girls" in memory of Mr. Blasingame's mother. In 1907, after outgrowing the house, La Cubana, an old cigar factory, was discovered and the Women's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church South bought 65 acres and buildings from the estate of Archibold T. Macintyre. The next year, seventy girls moved in. Vashti had waited patiently year after year for the heart of a great church to discover her needs and respond generously. And, in 1919, the Centenary Movement of the Methodist Episcopal Church South raised $75,000 to restore the old cigar factory. In 1953, the building was renovated again, and newer, more modern buildings rose up around her. Four new classrooms were added and all three floors were completely repaired and renovated. It continued to be used as a school and administration offices. The third floor became the teachers' apartments. In 1978, Vashti admitted its first boys. Today we are still a United Methodist non-profit organization offering a continuum of care for children in need. The Vashti Center Website. http://vashti.org/ (Retrieved 8/17/2009)

Scope and Content

The collection consists of a postcard depicting photographs of various buildings and students of the Vashti School of Thomasville, Georgia. According to the postcard, "this institution is twenty-five years old and is outstanding throughout the Southland because of the splendid young womanhood it has been able to develop and place in positions of usefulness."