Dean of Women

In her letter to President Morgan dated August 12, 1919, Dean Meredith formally accepts the position of Dean of Women after being freed from her contract at the Woodbury School. She immediately begins to discuss the changes she hopes to make at Dickinson College as the new Dean of Women. Her plans include turning an old chapel into a gymnasium for women and turning a room into her office so she can watch the women come and go. She also discusses supplies for the women's dorm as well as the staff at Metzger Hall.

In a telegram dated August 11, 1919, Josephine B. Meredith accepted the position as the Dean of Women Students at Dickinson College.

In a letter to Mrs. Josephine B. Meredith, a candidate for the Dean of Women, President Morgan agrees with Meredith and advises her to meet with him to further discuss the position.

A small pamphlet compiled by Dean Meredith, the Dean of Women, contains prayers and Biblical selections for: "My Neighborly Duty," "The Right Use of Time," "Loyalty," "Essential Beliefs," Profitable Troubles," "Self Discipline," "Prayer," "Enduring Happiness," and "Good Health as a Duty." Miss Margaret Eslinger  kept this little book to remember her membership in the Young Women's Christian Association.

The 1910 Microcosm writes up a short paragraph about Mrs. Lucretia Jones McAnney, the Dean of Women and Instructor in Oratory since 1906. Since 1882, Mrs. McAnney has been teaching and studying at schools until she became the Dean of Students in 1906. She would stay the Dean of Women until 1914.

According to an article in The Dickinsonian, Josephine B. Meredith will retire from Dickinson's faculty after serving the college for 29 years. The former dean had graduated from Dickinson in 1901, received a masters in English, and married Arthur Meredith. She became the dean of women of the college in 1919 and served as an English professor as well. Meredith's interests included knitting, chatting with friends, and studying John Wesley. She also travelled to England, Canada, and the European continent.

President of the College Howard L. Rubendall responded to Samuel W. Witwer's letter in regards to the Social Opinion Survey of the Women's Group. He assures Witwer that Dean of Women Mary F. Carson had nothing to do with the survey and was offended by it. He adds that the Women's Group is not part of the mainstream or the sorority group at Dickinson College and was considered by peers to be "stupid and ridiculous." The president also tells the story of a Commencement speaker who inquired after the presence of the Women's Liberation Movement on campus.

President Howard L. Rubendall responds to Vincent Schafmeister's second letter of March 23 on behalf of Mary Frances Carson. Rubendall does not specifically cite the Social Opinion Survey or the Women's Group in his response, instead writing that Schafmeister's choice to inform the President of the Board of Trustees about his concerns was "most appropriate."

In his response to Dean of Women Mary Watson Carson, Alumni Trustee Vincent Schafmeister says of the Social Opinion Survey of the Women's Group, "sort of shakes up an old, stuffy conservative such as I." He declines the dean's offer to put him into contact with members of the group in order to determine their objectives, saying he is more interested in the role of the Office of Student Services in encouraging this organization. He references the "frightful negatives" and the suffering of the college as consequences of this kind of encouragement.

Responding to Vincent Schafmeister's request for a clearer copy of the Social Opinion Survey distributed by the Women's Group, Dean of Women Mary Watson Carson procures a copy from the Women's Group and encloses it in her letter to Schafmeister.