Finger Lakes history · regional story
Emma Lampert put her class on the record
In the comic class history attributed to Emma Lampert, a literary-society quarrel became Kipp versus Lampert. The student narrator made sure the juniors got their verdict.
Emma Lampert’s class history did not leave the last word to the seniors. In an excerpt published by Wells librarian Tiffany Raymond, the Class of 1875 narrator turned a quarrel over a literary-society essay into Kipp versus Lampert for libel. Emma Lampert Cooper, Class of 1875.
In Lampert’s telling, Kipp represented the seniors of 1874 and Lampert the juniors of 1875. An essay had criticized the juniors; its truth was challenged. The narrative appointed November 21, 1873 for the decision and ended with a not-guilty verdict, loudly celebrated. Emma Lampert Cooper, Class of 1875.
Read it as a class history, with a narrator defending her classmates and enjoying the performance. It is evidence of how their story was told. It is not, on the evidence inspected so far, proof of a civil lawsuit or a neutral transcript of the quarrel.
That distinction leaves the pleasure of the piece intact. The next question is what the original manuscript and literary-society records might add: who staged the exchange, who heard it and how another class might have described the same event.
Sources & research notes
Review status: Developing history. Human editorial review is pending.
Written and source-checked with AI assistance under an owner-authorized editorial process. This is not a personal review by Riley or an independent historian. Sources and unresolved questions are listed below; corrections are welcome.
- What the records establish
- A named librarian reproduces a class-history excerpt attributed to Lampert, including the literary quarrel, appointed date and student narrative’s verdict.
- What remains uncertain
- The original manuscript and literary-society records remain uninspected. No civil-court proceeding, exact spoken dialogue, universally shared student memory or complete biography is established. The article’s skating and priority claims are not used.
- What we are researching next
- Find the original Class of 1875 history and related literary-society records. Check the cataloged Emma Lampert Cooper papers only after their contents and access are actually retrieved; an empty finding-aid response is not evidence.
Sources
- Emma Lampert Cooper, Class of 1875 — Tiffany Raymond, ’10, Reference, Outreach, and Special Collections Librarian; July 13, 2020. Locator: Time at Wells: article introduces Emma’s Class of 1875 Class Day history; excerpt paragraphs beginning An interesting event and In course of time through the verdict: Kipp for seniors of 1874, Lampert for juniors of 1875, literary-society essay and November 21, 1873 date appointed in the student narrative. Accessed October 22, 2026.