Dating

Frances Vuilleumier (Class of 1924) describes in an interview how she met her husband, Ernest Albert Vuilleumier, in her chemistry class. The current dean placed her in the class, and according to Frances, "being new, I required a good deal of assistance, you know, so somehow or other..." Professor Vuilleumier, who chaperoned dances, sent a note to Frances inviting her to a fraternity dance. Frances explains that it was acceptable for female students to date professor as "it had happened before." Previously, President James Henry Morgan married a student.

Miriam Riley Weimer (Class of 1940) reports in an interview that college relations with the town of Carlisle were "very good." Some "townies" attended Dickinson College, and women in town welcomed students into their homes. She admits, though, that some "town girls" thought the college women were snobs. According to Weimer, town and college boys did not share the same type of relationship as town boys did not like college boys.

"...and that's what you are!" A Young Man's Fancy is a section in "Inside Information," a guidebook for women published by the Dean of Women's Office, that provides suggestions to women on "respectable dating." This section offers suggestions on appropriate date clothing (which should be neat and clean-at all times), suggestions on proper behavior (that will ensure a great report to his friends), and suggestions on suitable social graces.

Included in the student handbook of 1922-23, are a list of five rules that freshmen women of the college must abide by. Rules included concerned proper college attire, repsect to upperclassmen, obedience, and relations with men. For example, according to the handbook, during the first six weeks of the semester women were not allowed to walk with men around campus and Denny Hall. The rules appear to be provided by the Women's Student Government Association.

Mary Snyder Hertzler describes social and dating life at Dickinson during World War II in an interview. Women could not wear slacks during that period. Mary VanAuken was the only exception as she took flying lessons. During the winter, women wore heavy socks to stay warm as they walked from Metzger Hall, located off-campus, to their classes. Men lived on campus. Hertzler, her beau, and two other couples were once caught by Dean Josephine Brunyate Meredith at Snyder's Drug Store in Mount Holly.

• Ethelyn Hardesty, class of 1902, delivered a poem in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the founding of Westley Collegiate Institute in Dover, Delaware at the Alumni banquet.
• Georgia Cranston, class of 1906, went off to Europe but got seriously ill; thus, she returned to Riverton, NJ where she spent a summer with her sister.
• Carrie W. Woodward, class of 1912, "motored to Homestead...[where] [m]any social runctions were arranged in her honor by the hostess, Mrs. Julia Woodward," a Dickinson graduate from the class of 1909.

"Dreams and Realities" was a poem published in the Microcosm in 1890. It outlines the tale of a female Dickinsonian who leaves her home and "beau" in the country to pursue an education at Dickinson College. After arriving on campus, the female student is struck by the academic and social cultures at Dickinson. In particular, she is torn between her boyfriend at home and the male students she meets at Dickinson College. However, as the years pass, she finds that she was disillusioned by the grandeur of the institution and longs for home.