1960-1969

Persis Longsdorff Describes the Beginnings of Coeducation

Date
November 10, 1968

In a letter to Dickinson College Historian Charles Coleman Sellers, Persis Longsdorff Sipple described the beginnings of coeducation. According to Persis, her father went to President McCauley and told him that he had "four daughters, who soon be ready to enter college somewhere. He finally prevailed upon him to make the decision to allow girls to be included in the student body." Thus, Persis and her sister Zatae entered the College in 1884.

A Toast from Elizabeth Anna Low

Date
May 24, 1961

In a letter to the class of 1891, Elizabeth Anna Low toasts her class and wrote, "A toast to the days at Dickinson, manhood and womanhood developed on principles so sound that they have served a lifetime." Low goes on to mention Zatae Longsdorff and what interesting experiences she must have had.

It is unclear for what occasion Low wrote this letter.

Judith Rogers Receives Two Distinctions

Date
May 28, 1963

At the close of her sophomore year, Judith Rogers, one of the first African Americans to receive campus housing at Dickinson, had received two distinctions.

Cole, Harley and Peters Return from Africa to Share Their Experiences

Date
October 14, 1969

The Dickinson College Chaplain Paul Kaylor wrote a letter in October of 1969 to offer the presentational services of the most-recently returned Project Africa participants. 

Dorothy "Dottie" Cole worked with twenty other students in Sierra Leone "building a hospital in the village of Mabai which will, when completed, serve persons from a 50 mile area in that country." 

Kaylor endorses Dorothy Lynne Cole and Barry Eugene Taylor for Project Africa '68 Trip.

Date
December 27, 1967

Paul E. Kaylor, Dickinson College's Chaplain at the time, wrote this letter to the Operation Crossroads Africa headquarters in New York City in December of 1967 to endorse Dickinson's two applicants for the year, Dorothy Lynne Cole and Barry Eugene Taylor. Kaylor recommends both students enthusiastically, writing "they are, as the reference forms indicate, young people of the highest order and will [...] prove to be excellent Crossroaders."

Prioject Africa Participant Writes to Carlisle Area Churches for Support

Date
November 13, 1967

Barbara E. Hancock spent about six weeks during the summer of 1967 in Upper Volta, West Africa (present day Burkina Faso) where she lived with African students and helped to build a school.

Upon her return to Carlisle, Hancock became Co-Chairman of Project Africa and wrote a letter to the "clergymen of Carlisle Area Churches" in an effort to "refresh [their] memories about Project Africa" and to offer them a presentation where she would show her slides and give a brief talk about her experiences.

Project Africa Takes Off at Dickinson

Date
1966

OCA (Operation Crossroads Africa) was founded at Dickinson by Judy Rogers, '65. Rogers was the College's first representative in Africa in the summer of 1963. The following summer ('64) three other Dickinson students followed her lead.

Dickinson Student Involved in SCOPE; Committed To Anti-Racist Work

Date
October 15, 1965

Su Kenderdine, a Dickinson senior, spent 11 weeks in Barbour County, Alabama volunteering with SCOPE (Summer Community Organization for Political Education). Kenderdine joined other Northern college students in the South with the goal of helping "Negroes better their lives by arousing an interest in education and government." As part of their work, Kenderdine and other SCOPE volunteers set up schools in counties across the South and tried to "better job opportunities for Southern Negroes."

Breaking Ground for a New Women's Dormitory

Date
February 8, 1962

The Sentinel newspaper in 1962 documented the progress of the building of the new women's dorm, Adams Hall, at the ground breaking ceremony. The newspaper mentions that the 125-room dorm will cost around $850,000 and is to be completed by August 1963. Among the people involved in the ceremony was the dean of women, Barbara Wishmeyer, as well as three students from the women's dormitory committee.