Susanna Cocroft

(1862- ? )
Before she came to Asheville in support of the War effort, Susanna Cocroft had already established her record as an activist and an educator. When she arrived in Asheville she was 58 years old. Physically, she had led a very active life. In fact, her life is characterized by activity. It was her belief that a healthy body and a healthy mind are integrally bound together. Her ideas and practice grew out of her association with a group of individuals who belonged to the New Thought Movement. Devotees of the New Thought Movement continue to be active today, as well. A quasi philosophical-religious-mystical-healing idealism movement, the New Thought Movement is a unique blend of a variety of individual belief systems. Some have described it, in fact, as a point of view, rather than a movement or a closely organized institution. (Braden p.23-24) The Movement was begun by Phinias Parkhurst Quimby probably in 1838. Quimby was associated with Mary Baker Eddy, founder fo the Christian Science movement and pulled ideas from the philosophical writing of Emanuel Swedenborg, Franz Anton Mesmer, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Warren Felt Evans and Annetta and Julius Dresser were instrumental in spreading the ideas and culture of the Movement. In many ways the New Thought Movement was a Women's Movement, as the role of women in the founding and the leadership was significant. A central player, and often described as the true founder of the The New Thought Movement, Emma Curtis Hopkins also helped to shape the women's movement. Her school know as the Emma Hopkins College of Metaphysical Science graduated a class of twenty-two in 1889. Twenty of those who graduated were women. [possibly Susanna Cocroft?] Part of Hopkins theology included her interpretation of the Trinity a loosely derived from Joachim of Fiore. The first member of the Trinity was "God the Father", the second was Jesus who personified freedom, and the third was a "Spirit, Truth-Principle, Mother-Principle" which promoted the power of women. The New Thought does not, however, promote a creed or a form or even personalities. It is scholarly and religious and metaphysical and nonracial and promotes the well-being of the body and mind and spirit. Its central idea is that the mind has power over the body and and that the body may be healed through metaphysical powers.
1912 American Magazine ad for Susanna Cocroft weight loss program.		From Quimby's seven element list: "Disease is due to false reasoning in regard to sensations, which man unwittingly develops by impressing wrong thoughts and mental pictures upon the subconscious spiritual matter". "As disease is due to false reasoning, so health is due to knowledge of the truth. To remove disease permanently, it is necessary to know the cause, the error which led to it. 'The explanation is the cure.' " Henry James recognized the movement as "The Religion of Healthy-Mindedness" in his The Varieties of Religious Experience. The Movement promoted fullness of all aspects of living, through constructive thinking, meditating, and other ways of realizing the presence of God. There are also strong similarities to the Quaker movement and many Quakers were known to subscribe to The New Thought. [See Southern Historical Collection holdings. Mendenhall file] It is in this milieu that Susanna Cocroft evolved. A look at her publications indicates the degree to which she subscribed to the New Thought Movement and lived a "Religion of Healthy-Mindedness" (See bibliography below).
Cocroft was also engaged with another movement that began in late 1914 as an outgrowth of the First World War in Europe. This movement was the National Security League. Founded in December of 1914 by S. Stanwood Menken, it was a private initiative that sought to advocate for the conservative political and economic policies held by many of the most influential capitalists, industrialist in the country. Some of the more insidious activities of the group were its inquiries into the "loyalty" of educators and academe, in general. The organization waged a campaign to ferret out the "dangerous proletarians" and the "various disturbing elements generally masquerading under the guise of socialism." There were all the elements of early McCarthyism in this corporate body and indeed the industrial leaders who were active in the League are some of the same individuals who moved McCarthy into power. The power of this organization was only weakened when the leaders of the League were singled out by the Wilson Congress and publicity led to their reduction in their aggressive tactics. One of the leaders, Huidekoper, sought to document that the United States was unprepared, especially with regard to weapons and munitions. It is not surprising to also find that many of the industrialists would profit handsomely from the armaments business. The National Security League was composed mainly of men of social status who promoted military "preparedness". Much of the population saw this initiative as "fluff", as a recreational exercise and it did little to encourage recruitment or to prepare the country for war. Critics pointed out the cultural elitism of the founders and suggested that their sentiments were often belligerent when it came to war issues. The idea for a National Security League was begun during the T. Roosevelt era, but functioned in the Wilson years. It, however, found little sympathy in the Wilson contingent who were clearly for peaceful solutions to world conflict. It was not surprising that Wilson created the Federal Trade Commission in 1914, the same year the League was formed. Wilson's more dovish views carried the nation and in1916 he was endorsed by a narrow majority of the population (the smallest since Kennedy). A news account of the day asked feebly in 1917, "Are we decadent ..... ...indifferent to everything save personal business pursuits.?" But, how did Susanna Cocroft come to the League? This is a question that still needs answering, but from the small evidence at hand in the Biltmore files, she appears to have been deceived and diverted. In 1918 Susanna Cocroft addressed the National Security League in Chicago, Ill. The title of her address was, "Woman' Place in Our Crisis." Her views were consistent with those of the so-called "War-Hawks" but seemed softened by her New Thought idealism and even a Suffragette individualism. In many ways the "hawkish" stance of the League was inconsistent with the New Thought ideas and certainly with the women's movement. By 1900 the Women's Suffrage Movement was well energized and the activity culminated in the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on January 10, 1918. The "War-Hawks" were largely bankers and industrialists, the business elite of the country. They never took a direct stand against women's rights, but there is every evidence that they were disenchanted with the movement. Jane Addams, one of the leaders of the Suffrage Movement had taken a very dovish stand on the war. She suggested that all the social programs that were to assist women and children had been "Scattered to the winds by the war." She and other including Carrie Chapman Cat formed the Woman's Peace Party in 1915 which was intended to give voice to the growing protest against the war. Seely, a childhood friend of Henry Ford and a close friend of Firestone, Edison and other industrialists was most likely a supporter of the League, though no clear evidence may be found to date, except his support of Cocroft. The League seems to also run counter to Seely's character, though he often was swayed by the political winds of the day. Certainly the industrialists had much to gain in the production of armaments for the war and it is difficult to imagine that their "hawkishness" did not have an economic motivation. The Corps at Asheville was established to generate enthusiasm and support for the War but the actual mission of the Corps appears to have run into not a national political morass, but a local one. .
It is Cocroft's correspondence, related to the establishment of a National Security League U.S. Training Corps Camp in Asheville, that forms the core of the Cocroft material found in the Biltmore Industries files and the material that is of most interest to women's studies. .
Women during the First World War learned how to cope. They were often the main wage earner as families often suffered either the loss of the head of the family or the need to support a disabled partner. Women typically required very little capital to maintain a small business. Further, the small business could often be tailored to the women's home schedule and the flexible hours paved the way for the entrance of women into the work force. The small businesses and the maintenance of businesses for husbands and family members also allowed the returning men to take up their place in the industrial community. Women, even today, continue to dispel the myth that war depletes the work force. Women like Cocroft and other entrepreneurial spirits demonstrate that successful postwar economic re-conversion is very dependent on women in the work force.
On June 4, 1920, Cocroft's attempts to establish the U.S. Training Corps for Women camp are described in a letter from Harry P. Harrison, treasurer of the Redpath Bureau, a booking and trans-continental Chautauqua agency that specialized in entertainment. Mr. Harrison asked for Seely's advice regarding the controversial camp "Susanne [sic] Cocroft tells me that she is going to have charge of the Training Corps Camp at Ashville [sic], located near Grove Park Inn. She has been endeavoring for the past two or three months to get our Bureau interested in this work. I have only made a superficial investigation, but it seems to me to be a most worthy and needed work. I wish you would advise me as to whether you think the chautauqua movement should get back of this work. We cannot, of course, do it this summer, and would not if we could, because of the possibility that it might be considered a partisan movement. It is barely possible that I will come down to the Camp to see how it is working out. She just casually mentioned the fact that you were interested in the movement, and I am simply writing you to get your viewpoint in the matter. With best wishes, I am Sincerely yours, ..."
Seely replied "Dear Brother [a reference to Masonic Brotherhood] Harrison: It is good to see your name at the end of a letter. Yes, Mrs. Cocroft has been here, and I think they will have a successful camp. I have gone over the matter quite thoroughly and am impressed with the seriousness of it. I feel it is a good thing, and something with which you would like to be identified. Yours very respectfully, ..."
In early July 1920 Seely received a hand-written letter from Susanna Cocroft inviting him to the formal opening of the U.S.Traing Corps Camp. She wrote: "Just a little line to invite you specially to bring Mrs. Seely to the formal opening of the U.S. Training Corps Camp Saturday at 4 P.M. I hope you will encourage us by your presence. Governor Bickett and his adjutant with perhaps Capt. Young of the 119 Regiment will formally open the camp. Very truly, ...."		004ath 004bth
On July 16, 1920 Seely responded "Ever so many thanks for the invitation to the camp. I shall be there and wish to express my congratulation and appreciation over the work you have done in connection with it. Very sincerely yours, ..."
And, on July 20, 1920 Seely wrote Cocroft again "As I told you on Sunday, we would be very glad to have the ladies in your camp visit the Homespun Shops, and if you can arrange to have them come, one company each day, we will be only too glad to show them thru. It would suit us best if they would come at 3:30, and if you will telephone Miss Brookshire in advance, we will give them every attention. Very truly yours, ..."
On July 28th, 1921, a year later, Seely wrote a letter of introduction for Cocroft to General Pershing "It is a privilege to me to give this letter to Mrs. Sussanna [sic] Cocroft whom I am sure you know of and whom I commend to your acquaintance most highly. She is doing a very valuable work for humanity and while I do not know why she want to see you, except the extreme pleasure it would give any one to have that privilege, I can assure you that Mrs. Cocroft is worth of every consideration and confidence that may be given her. It has been a long time since we have seen you but the memory of your visit here grows sweeter with time. We are all just about the same and look forward to your return at some future time. Very sincerely yours, ..."
When the United States finally joined the War effort in 1921, patriotism rose but the numbers of recruits was not sufficient to support the War effort and the nation resorted to conscription. The League saw its mission as a recruitment agency. During the years of 1921-1922 women supported the war effort in a variety of ways; telephone support, nursing, administrative assistance, and other non-combative posting. Cocroft's traing program is rather vague, and even she found the mission of the corps to be unsatisfactory. Her dissatisfaction does not appear until some years after the Camp was founded. In a very revealing letter dated February 8, 1922 she goes into great detail about the failure of the Camp to live up to the original agreement. The letter also hints at Seely's unhappiness with the business end of the agreement. But, it was not Seely's views that created problems for Cocroft. It was the city of Asheville.
Letter of Feb 8. 1922 from Cocroft to Seely:
010ath	010bth	010cth
My Dear Mr. Seely: As a rule, I do not take my time to make explanations, because I believe that if you are right, the right will vindicate itself. If you are wrong, you simply have to acknowledge it and let drop, but you have been a friend to us and I prize your friendship most highly. I should feel sorry if you felt that your friendship was misplaced, hence my explanation: I have received a clipping of the action of the Rotarians and Kawanians in Asheville in deciding to turn over the camp and its equipment for an automobile camping ground instead of allowing its use by the U.S. Training Corps. There was a little misunderstanding last year due to the fact that the Board of Trade and the Mayor considered the U.S. Training Corps a party to an agreement, but failed to advise us of the agreement. Instead of last year's camp being a U.S. Training Corps Camp, we were given to understand when we reached Asheville that the entire business organization was under the Board of Trade. They put in their own secretary to collect the money and their own woman to run the dining room. They collected all the money and refused even to pay the salaries of instructors whom we employed. Toward the last of the camp they cut down on our rations until girls left the camp and went over to the hospital to get the proper food. This was due to the fact that they had gone so much in debt. They gave a contract for the mess hall for $15,000 plus. It was mostly plus. I believe it cost them something over $30,000, but they received from us rent for the grounds between $4,000 and $5,000. We turned the money over to them last year because they had been to such enormous expense that we were willing they should have it, but when it came to making arrangements for next year, we felt that it must be thoroughly understood that if it was a U.S. Training Corps Camp it must be run and the funds managed by the U.S. Training Corps, because we felt that we could not be responsible unless the girls were properly fed, etc. Governor Bickett came to Asheville and made two propositions to the Commissioners and the Board. Either one of the propositions would have given them about $4,000 a year rent for about two months' time. We agreed to take the land on a commission basis or we agreed to lease the land on a long time lease, assuming the obligations. The Board refused both. The simple question between us, Mr. Seeley [sic], was that if it was to be a U.S.Training Corps Camp, we must run it and we were willing to meet them more than half way, as you will recognize in the offer of $4,000 rental for the six weeks of camp and two weeks of preparation for camp. Not until Governor Bickett insisted upon it, would they consent to pay Miss Grimball for her pageantry work, yet they consented to her being hired. I feel sorry for them because the Mayor and the Board are in a very bad position, but the trouble was that they expected to make the campers pay for that big equipment in two or three years' time instead of extending it over a longer period. I wish them well with their project and I hope that as an automobile camping ground thaey will get their money back many times over. I am sorry, but they required us to agree to come there for five years before they put up the equipment. We agreed to come, but now they agree not to let us come. I really think they need Mr. Seely on that Board of Trade or a Mayor or Asheville, but I don't believe Mr. Seeley [sic] wants it. However, when they elect you we will come back to Asheville. I hope everything is well with you and yours. Watch the spring numbers of Ladies Home Journal. You remember you spoke to one of the Ladies Home Journal men and told him you thought they ought to have an article by Susanna Cocroft, that the ladies would appreciate it, and you will be very glad to kn0ow that that conversation resulted in my being invited to Philadelphia to see Mr. Currie, the Editor, that Mr. Currie referred the matter to Mr. Forrest Crissey, a feature writer for the Saturday Evening Post, and as a result I saw Forrest Crissey in Chicago last Monday and he is going to write up the U.S. Training Corps movement for the Ladies Home Journal in one of the spring numbers. I preferred to have an article on the U.S. Training Corps rather than to have Susanna Cocroft write an article, but that is the indirect result of your talk with Mr. Anderson of the Ladies Home Journal, and if the U.S. Training Corps was in battalion formation right now, they would give three cheers for Mr. Seeley [sic]. The Commandante gives you a lusty one. Very sincerely, ...."
December 15, 1921. Letter from Susanna Cocroft to Fred Seely. [cocroft008] My dear Mr. Seeley [sic]: What do you think of the enclosed? I am going to make some real, big money now. Of course I know you are making real, big money at present, but don't you want to make some bigger money"? Read over the enclosed, think about it, and send me you order for not more than 50,000 shares. Seriously, Mr. Seeley, I would love to have you interested in this because I would like to have th ehonor of having made money for Mr. Seeley. Very sincerely, ..."
008th	009ath	009bth
While in Asheville Susanne also worked on another area of interest. Pharmaceuticals. There is evidence that she was also misled in this area. The 1920's were characterized by their extravagance. This was the "Golden Age" of Asheville, when most of the remarkable architecture downtown was rapidly undertaken. E.W. Grove and Fred Seely were major players in the economic boom of Asheville during these years and their capital came largely through their "pharmaceutical" business, Grove's Chill Tonic, particularly. The American Medial Association library hold some of the correspondence, advertisements, articles and clippings, books and supplementary materials concerning Syrup Cocillana Compound, a patent medicine created by Cocroft. The medicine contained cocillana and heroin which was used by individuals to treat ailments of the respiratory system and was widely used between 1908-1944. She also promoted a patent medicines that contained cod liver oil. She ran afoul of the authorities when it was discovered that some of the medicines did not contain cod liver oil as advertised. These medicines were widely used between 1894 and 1954. Her various patents for diet supplements, diet fads, obesity "cures" and for cosmetics and beauty aids are widely covered in her many books and pamphlets (1910-1937).
Letters:
001	No image		001
002			002
003			003a 003b
004a 004b 004c	"Just a little line to invite you specially to bring Mrs. Seely to the formal opening of the U.S. Training Corps Camp Saturday at 4 P.M. I hope you will encourage us by your presence. Governor Bickett and his adjutant with perhaps Capt. Young of the 119 Regiment will formally open the camp. Very truly, ...."		004a 004b
005			005
006			006
007			007
008	December 15, 1921. Letter from Susanna Cocroft to Fred Seely.		008
009a 009b	December 15, 1921. Letter from Susanna Cocroft to Fred Seely. Attachment.		009a 009b
010a 010b	December 15, 1921. Letter from Susanna Cocroft to Fred Seely. Attachment.		010a 010b
011	Letter from Fred Seely to Susanna Cocroft, 215 N. Michigan Blvd., Chicago, Ills., February 1, 1933. Dear Miss Cocroft: We have received your letter intended for Mr. Seely's personal attention, and we regret to advise that he is away in Florida on a vacation. He is on his Houseboat, and we do not know just where to locate him at the present time. We will hand him your letter as soon as he returns. Yours truly, Grove Park Inn IGH-m		011
012
013	Letter from Fred Seely to Susanna Cocroft, n.d. "Business has been quite dull with the Hotel, but I am glad to say that the Homespun grows slowly and does not seem to take any backward steps. I still find the Ladies Home Journal about 100 per cent efficient and I don't know anything like it in the world, except Susanna Cocroft and Biltmore Homespun, for efficiency and results. We send lots of love and I beg to remain Very sincerely yours, [Fred Seely] ....President"		013

Bibliography:
Braden, Charles S. Spirits in Rebellion: The Rise and Development of New Thought. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1963.
Cocroft, Susanna. Habits, Their Effect Upon Life; The Nervous System. Headington Publishing Co., 1914.
___________. Aids to Beauty. Chicago: Headinton Pub. Co., 1914.
___________. Self-sufficiency --- Mental Poise. Chicago, Ill: Physical Culture Extension Soc., 1914.
___________.Foods, Nutrition and Digestion. Chicago, Ill: Physical Culture Extension Soc., 1914.
___________. The Woman Worthwhile: Her Ideals and Privileges. Chicago: Headington Pub. Co., 1913.
___________. Lectures. Chicago: Physical Culture Extension Society, 1907.
___________. Physical Education Schools for Women: Pamphlets. s.n.; 1902
___________. Motherhood. New York: Headington, 1906.
___________. Body Manikin and Position of Vital Organs. Chicago: Physical Culture Extension Society, 1905.
___________. The Art of Keeping Young: Beauty a Duty. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1900-1919[?]
___________. Woman' Place in Our Crisis: Address by Susanna Cocroft, Chicago, 1918. New York City: National Security League, 1918.
___________. Growth in Silence: The Undertone of Life. New York: G.P Putnam's Sons, 1917.
___________. Character as Expressed in the Body. Chicago: Headington, 1912.
___________. The Vital Organs: Their Use and Abuse. Chicago, Ill: Physical Culture Extension Society, 1911.
___________. . Chicago, Ill: Physical Culture Extension Society, 1911.
___________. Poise and Symmetry of Figure. Chicago, Ill: Headington Publishing Company, 1914.
UNC Chapel Hill, SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION #2493 HOBBS AND MENDENHALL FAMILY PAPERS Inventory Abstract: Family and personal letters, chiefly from 1870, concerning the political and religious activities, travels, and careers of members of the Mendenhall and Hobbs families of Guilford County, N.C. Central figures include Lewis Lyndon Hobbs (1849-1932), educator and writer, active Quaker, and president of Guilford College; his wife, Mary Mendenhall Hobbs (1852-1930), active in promoting women's education, pacifism, and Quaker philosophy; and Mary's father, Nereus Mendenhall (1819-1893), devout Quaker, physician, teacher at New Garden School (Greensboro, N.C.), and legislator active in the construction of the state asylum at Morganton in the 1870s and other reforms. The papers reflect the Quaker view of life and relate to several reform movements. Included are letters, 1914-1919, from Richard Hobbs, son of Lewis and Mary, written while he was in France serving with a Quaker relief organization. Volumes, 1797-1923, include students' notebooks, particularly of Lewis Lyndon Hobbs at Haverford College, 1870s; accounts; scrapbooks; diaries of Nereus Mendenhall, 1851, and Lewis Lyndon Hobbs during a tour England, 1890-1891; religious notebooks; and notes by Hobbs of his activities and his college experience, both as a student and as college president. Folder 59 Volume 23: 1907, 16 pp. Notebook containing material on the Susanna Cocroft System of exercises and physical culture.
Eastern Kentucky University R.G. 213 McCready / Bolton Family Papers, 1780 - 1998 19.55 cubic feet 27,250 items 28 document boxes, 4 records center boxes, 3 flat oversize storage boxes Prominent language: English Other languages: French Donor / Donor Representative: The McCready and Bolton Families (letters on file) Archivist of Collection / Creator of Finding Aid: Margaret French (McCready) Cornell Restrictions: None - See Faye B. McCready Series - File 28 File 3: Correspondence & fitness program with Susanna Cocroft (1911-1912)
Dresser, Annetta G. The Philosophy of P.P. Quimby. Boston: George H. Ellis, 1895.
Dresser, Horatio. A History of the New Thought Movement. London: George G. Harrap and Company, n.d.
United Press International. "Commentary: The War Hawks of 2002?" Washington, Sep 20, 2002 (United Press International via COMTEX)
Powell, Elwin. H. The Design of Discord, Studies of Anomie. Suicide, Urban Society, War. Oxford: Oxford Universirty Press, 1970.
Ward, Robert D. "The Origin and Activities of the National Security League, 1914-1919." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 1960, 47 (1): 51-65
Edwards, John Carver. The Price of Political Innocence: the Role of the National Security League in the 1918 Congressional Election." Military Affairs, 1978 42(4):190-195.
American Medical Association. [Archival material] Cocillana Compound-Cod Liver Oil. 1894-1954.
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