1930-1939

During her time as the Dean of Women at Dickinson College, Dean Josephine Meredith wrote a report entitled "Women at Dickinson College." Dean Meredith, an early female graduate of Dickinson College (class of 1901), utilized both her experiences as a female student and the Dean of Women to compile a report on the conditions for and experiences of female students. Thus, in 18 sections, she highlights living conditions, extracurricular life, social life, religious life, and academic life at the College.

This photograph is of the Women's Sophomore Field Hockey Team. The women are standing on the steps of the Alumni Gymnasium, not the Weiss Center for the Arts.

This photograph depicts the Women's Student Government Association in 1933. The Association governed female students.

This image depicts a side view of Metzger Hall, the women's dormitory.

Fifty years following her graduation from Dickinson College as the first female student, Zatae Longsdorff Straw received an honorary degree from her alma mater. The award was bestowed upon Zatae due to her position as "the first woman graduate of Dickinson College, a pioneer among women in the field of medicine, combining with a professional career the duties of motherhood and the demands of public service..."

 

 

In her speech delivered during a 1937 Commencementt Week Dinner, Zatae Longsdorff Straw remembers her time at Dickinson College. In the beginning of the speech, Straw admits that this was her first time back to Dickinson since she graduated in 1887. Thus, her mind flooded with memories of Dickinson during her 1937 visit. As the first female graduate, Straw described the harassment she received from her male counterparts. She described many of the faculty including Dr. Rittenhouse whose "eyes filled with tears" when male students treated her unkindly. Dr.

In the subsection entitled "Women's Quarters at Denny Hall," Meredith gives us an insight to how rooms on the college grounds enabled day students (town students ?), commuters, and boarders to take advantage of the time spent on campus.

 

Located in the basement, the women's quarters at Denny Hall consisted of: a small washing room, a toilet, a small kichenette, and a rest room. Although she mentions that the rooms were clearly makeshift, she also says that they were comfortable and in good condition.

The subsection entitled "Metzger Hall," in Dean Meredith's historical account of women at Dickinson,  gives a general overview of the physical layout of the building. This subsection is followed by  another, more detailed account of specific rooms, their inadecuacies, shortcomings and some scattered suggestions for improvement.

 

In her essay on the "Women at Dickinson College," Dean of Women Josephine Meredith included the following section titled "Why Women Come Here," listing motivating factors/reasons why students chose to attend Dickinson. Her account illustrates the minimal role Dickinson played in proactively seeking to attract even more 'superior' women students; yet she concludes that this could be remedied by being more selective and insisting on personal interviews.

Trends of reasons for attending Dickinson:

In her essay, "Women at Dickinson," Dean of Women Josephine Meredith included a section entitled: "Value of Types." In it Meredith defines three types of students that attended Dickinson College. The description of each type briefly accounts for the value each group brought to the campus.

 

Types of Students: