Date:
1951


In her 1951 memoir, Elizabeth A. Low recounts her time at Dickinson College as an early "co-ed." Low's memoir traces her career as a student in the preparatory school through to her latter years as a college student. Her story not only highlights Dickinson campus culture in the late nineteenth-century, but it also discusses what it was like to be an early female student at Dickinson College. Due to the large amount of information included in the piece, the document has been broken up into several posts with several themes including:

Date:
December 15, 1945

Dean Ernest A. Vuilleumier reported to the Board of Trustees that the college had rented two fraternity houses (Phi Delta Theta and Beta Theta Pi) in order to provide additional housing for female students. According to Vuilleumier, the return of fraternity members to campus would require that the college develop an alternative form of housing for female students. Therefore, the dean recommended that the college convert East College into a women's dormitory.

Date:
December 15, 1945

The report of the President of the Board of Trustees detailed the special committee's presentation of June 3, 1945 recommending that the new women's dormitory be constrcuted on Mooreland campus and be "adequate to house at least 125 girls." The report explains that female students resided in Metzger Hall, the Gibbs House for seniors, the Parker House, and in two leased fraternity houses. According to the report, the college did not own Metzger Hall, and the college would need to spend a great deal of money to renovate the sixty-year old building.

Date:
October, 1943

Included in the "Social Situation for the Guidance of Women Students" is a list of "Social opportunities" offered to female students and Army Air Force cadets. Social opportunities include regulations on walking in couples, hiking in groups, bicycling, horseback riding, buggy and carriage riding, bowling, tennis, movies, dances and dancing, prohibition, and out-of-town social events.

Date:
October, 1943

"Modus Operandi" (Method of Operation) is a section in a memo on the "Social Situation for the Guidance of Women Students" on social relationships between cadets and female students. The document states that "social relationships between women students and cadets will be managed through a Conference and Appointment Bureau." The purpose of this bureau was to "introduce cadets to women students and to carry out the regulations set by the administration."  This bureau operated only while the cadets were on campus.

Date:
circa 1955

This photo depicts a woman in a Matthews Hall bedroom, c. 1955. The name of the woman is not known. If you recognize her, feel free to post the information below.

Date:
circa 1965

This photo depicts three women relaxing in a Matthews Hall dorm room, c. 1955. The names of the women are not known. If you recognize someone in the photo, feel free to post the information below.

Date:
circa 1955

This photo depicts two women relaxing in a Matthews Hall dorm room, c. 1955. The names of the women are not known. If you recognize someone in the photo, feel free to post the information below.

Date:
circa 1965

This photo depicts four women in a Witwer Hall bedroom, c. 1965. The names of the women are not known. If you recognize someone in the photo, feel free to post the information below.

Date:
circa 1965

This photo depicts four women relaxing in a Witwer Hall common room, c. 1965. The names of the women are not known. If you recognize someone in the photo, feel free to post the information below.

Date:
1888

This photograph depicts early female students relaxing in a "dorm" room. The women depicted  (left to right), Jennie Taylor, Mary Evans, and Mary Curran, were sitting in Taylor's room at John Bursk's home.

Date:
1919

Esther Popel, the first known African American woman to graduate from Dickinson College, was listed in the 1919-1920 yearbook. Described as quiet and "a true scholar," Popel commuted from Harrisburg to Dickinson every day. The Microcosm wrote, "We see her but we seldom hear her." Popel went on to become a poet of the Harlem Renaissance movement.

Date:
1963

According to the 1963 publication of "Red Tape," female students were expected to abide by strict rules concerning closing hours of dormitory halls. Students were not allowed to leave the dormitory prior to 6:30 am unless special permission was granted by the House Director. Female students were strongly "urged no to be outside her dormitory after dark" unless accompanied by another female student.

Date:
June 26, 1883

On June 26th, 1883, President McCauley presented his report on the 1883 school year, announcing the faculty desicion to admit women to Dickinson College. He explained that it was, "Resolved that the faculty recommend to the Board of Trustees that ladies be admitted to the classes of the College upon the same conditions as gentlemen." The following year, women were admitted to the sophomore and freshman classes.

Date:
August 1926

Amy Fisher, class of 1895, won the "honor" of becoming the first alumna to take out a Life Membership in the General Alumni Association. The price of Life Membership was $40. The cost could be broken down into two installments paid six months apart.

Date:
May 1926

Dickinson College closed down on the afternoon of Mrs. Kathleen Moore Gooding and Mrs. Kathleen Rickenbaugh's funeral. They passed away on March 15, 1925 in Carlisle. Mrs. Gooding was the mother of Lydia Gooding, graduate of the class of 1910.

Date:
May 1926
  • Elizabeth R. Bender, class of 1888, became Secretary of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society.
  • Mary C. Love, class of 1902, was asked to go on air where she broadcasted on the subject of "Women and the New Education." She claimed that while it was somewhat uncomfortable at first, she grew to find it simpler than talking to an audience.
  • Laura Harris, class of 1908, moved to Washington, D. C. after her husband, Major Ellis, entered the Army Industrial College in the state.
Date:
1944

Professor Russell I. Thompson strongly urges Board of Trustees President Boyd Lee Spahr to lobby aggressively for the construction of a new women's dormitory, arguing that "Metzger Hall has long since served its purpose." He suggests the building should be sufficient to house 125 to 150 students.

Date:
1944

Professor Russell I. Thompson writes in a letter to President Boyd Lee Spahr about his ideas for the future of the college. He suggests the creation of a more specific position for the dean of women, calling the position as it stood then an "anamolous" one. He believes that the dean of women should be more than just a house mother or supervisor of Metzger Hall: instead, the dean should guide all the women of the college.

Date:
1963

Acceptable dress for female students to classes or appointments with faculty consisted of "campus clothes" (a skirt, sweater, blouse, and casual dress). Exceptions to the dress code were made during lab and final exams where "sports clothes" were allowed to be worn.

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