Notification Day, July 27, 1920
June 8-12, 1920 the Republican National Convention was held in Chicago and nominated Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding for President and Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge for Vice-President. The convention format at the time only included the 940 delegates and the candidates were not there to campaign, give speeches or accept the nomination at the convention. A committee of delegates would then do a hometown notification to the candidates. On July 27, 1920, a delegation led by Governor Edwin Morrow of Kentucky arrived at 21 Massasoit Street and notified Calvin Coolidge he was the Republican nominee for Vice President. The notification day event committee led by Smith College President Emeritus L. Clark Seylee organized band concerts, luncheons for the official delegates, a parade through downtown Northampton to the Coolidge home and then to Smith College’s Allen Field for formal ceremonies where Morrow delivered the speech on nomination and Coolidge delivered his speech of acceptance. The 1920 census population for Northampton was 21,951 and local newspapers estimated there were 15,000 people in town and due to the heat about 7000 spectators stayed in the open field for the ceremony. Harding and Coolidge were elected on November 2, 1920 and inaugurated on March 4, 1921.

Special thank you to Smith College Praxis Summer Internship Funding for a remote internship and Smith College archives for research assistance.

Exhibit created by Forbes Library Archivist Julie Bartlett Nelson and Eavan McNeil, Smith College class of 2022