Goucher College's class of 1903 began its first Round Robin cycle of letters in 1907, just four years after it graduated. The first volume was returned to Alice Dunning Flick in 1910, and she began another round, and then another, presumably keeping all of the earlier collections when they were completed, as she did the first volume1, (with the exception of volume two, which she reports as destroyed2). The letters discussed in this paper are all from volumes four through seven of this class's lengthy correspondence. Each volume commenced with a letter from Alice Dunning Flick. The first letter in volume four is dated February 1, 1919; her handwritten note in the comer suggests that that volume ended in September of 1923, though there are no letters in this collection from that year at all. Volume five began in 1924, volume six at the end of 1929, and seven in 1934. The last letter in this collection is dated August 31, 1938. Not all the letters from this time period are present in this collection - some women wrote of removing their letters, while others complained that they went to review what they had written previously, only to find that their letters were no longer in the batch being sent around. As well, some letters found in this binder were incomplete, while others made mention of photographs or clippings which are absent as well.
These letters speak of many aspects of the lives of their writers. In Clara Robinson Hand's 1919 letter, she remarked:
It should be noted that the collection to which she refers is composed of earlier letters. In the post- 1919 letters, there are few childhood anecdotes, and the war is mentioned only in hindsight. It stands to reason that as they got older, the members of the class of 1903 found new and different topics to address: they could discuss their children instead of their own childhood, for example. Even college life itself is a common denominator that is rarely mentioned, though the benefits of their education are brought up time and again. Home life, work, travel, politics, and leisure are all fair game, as are the aspects for which Goucher can directly be held responsible. Some of the letters are extremely frank, and deal with somber topics: illness, depression, the Depression, death. Others convey joy and excitement: new additions to their families, career successes. However, if one thread does wind through nearly all of the letters, it is the overwhelming sense that it was their education - Goucher, in general, but a women's college in particular - that helped set them on their way in life. College is the thing which all of them have in common.
"Founders intended the women's colleges for one kind of student ... the serious hardworking daughter of the middle class preparing to teach."6 Most of the women who attended college in the second half of the nineteenth century were members of the professional and business classes, and the daughters of men who themselves had been educated: clergy, doctors, lawyers, professors. Members of these classes had to work hard to send their daughters to college, for the tuition costs were often prohibitively expensive, and there was little scholarship money available. Neither the established elite nor the new millionaires encouraged their daughters to go to college in the early days, seeing higher schooling as preparation for a life of work, not of leisure.7 However, "between 1860 and 1920, going to college became an accepted part of growing up for women in certain social groups, as it was for men."8
"By the 1890s, the women's colleges attracted a new clientele - young, well- educated women of the wealthy strata who had no thought of a career after college."9 Many of these women intended merely to marry well. However, the war and the depression turned even some of those wealthiest graduates back to their education, alongside the less well-to-do. Nina Caspari Oglenby found herself teaching French, German, and Spanish after the depression began. Claire Ackerman Vliet wrote of her early war efforts:
Some of these women felt that their education provided something for them to fall back upon; others saw their schooling as an obligation to greater social service.
There were, in fact, varied reasons why women of any of these social classes went to college. Some went with an interest in learning for its own sake. Others went with the intention of pursuing a career, such as teaching; for others, "college [was] a pleasant way of passing the time between school and marriage."11 For some in the latter group, college was not merely a diversion: it was intended to improve their abilities as homemakers.12 Others were sent by their parents to ensure that they would become self- supporting adults even if they did not get married.13 By 1870 "College was a 'working asset', an assurance against unwelcome dependence, if no eligible husband presented himself."14 Women's colleges provided an education to all of these women, regardless of their reasons for attendance.
The Goucher curriculum was not geared towards the infant field of home economics, though the ideal of the college was "the formation of womanly character for womanly ends."17 A student reading the 1888 prospectus could choose among classical, modern language, natural science, or mathematical courses of study, as well as art, music and elocution, and physical education.18 By 1899, subjects offered included mathematics, English, chemistry, physics, biology, classical languages, French, German, anatomy, physiology, hygiene, history, philosophy, logic, ethics, political science, economics, geology, mineralogy, sociology, psychology, and Bible.19 The music and art departments, meanwhile, grew to take over entire sections (respectively) of Goucher Hall and Catherine Hooper Hall, before being closed after 1902-1903.20 Bennett Hall was opened in 1889, and was renowned even outside of Goucher circles as "the finest gymnasium in the world."21 Within a few years of its beginnings, Goucher offered a full curriculum and a full range of activities.
From the day that students first entered the women's colleges, extra-curricular life became inextricably linked with the nature of the institution. Goucher's Professor Butler wrote:
In addition to the clubs, living in residence halls (and therefore away from home) provided many women with another new experience. Living together knit the students into close friendships, to which at least thirty years of class correspondence testify. A woman's college was not merely a place to gather knowledge: it was a place to make new friends, and try new activities, as well.
For some, it was the things learned in class that were most useful. Many went on to become teachers of languages, including Nancy Catching Shields and Thyra Crawford. Charlotte Jones became the head of the mathematics department at the school at which she taught.23 Others felt that classes were not the only rewarding aspects of their college career. "One thing... my experience in Goucher helped- the care of sick pupils which falls to the lot of the Principal,"24wrote Jane Hyde, after taking a position at a boarding school in China. Frances Doherty wrote of Dr. Goucher that "his ideal of womanhood has been my standard through all the years."25 Over the years, many testified that their Goucher education had held them in good stead as they dealt with new situations and challenges.
Those who wished to continue on to a career did so with great success: as journalists, politicians, writers, and every sort of educator. Others chose to stay at home to raise their families, also with great success, and never failed to cite instances when their college training had benefited them. Often "female collegians (unlike male) were caught between the attraction of using their education in professional ways and keeping in mind that a woman's usefulness was not equated with professionalism."27 The women of the class of 1903 were quick to mention their interests outside the home, but they were often equally quick to defend their homemaking skills. "Please do not think that I neglect my Home. Home and Husband please note capitals) come first and then College"28 wrote Nancy Catching Shields, having spent most of her letter describing her new position as head of Belhousen College's models languages department. Helen Hendrix Mohr wrote of her classmate:
Women's clubs came to fill several important roles. Not only did they provide an outlet for philanthropy, but they served to educate as well. They also served as a worthwhile use of excess time, and an excellent channel for intellectual and social energies. "Working with the twin goals of individual and social improvement, club women organized the awesome power of women's determination to better themselves and the society in which they lived."32 Whether they devoted their time to social, religious, or philanthropic activities, the class of 1903 took on these new expectations of women with vigor and zeal.
Outside of the home, the main activity for many of the Goucher women involved church-related organizations. Considering the college's Methodist roots, it is reasonable to expect this of its early graduates. However, Goucher College did make Chapel an optional activity beginning in 1899 (although it strongly encouraged attendance), and did allow students to suggest ways in which the service might be enlivened.33 Horowitz speaks of the subversion of Chapel: the ceremony's decline into a social rather than a religious activity at many colleges.34 If their letters are any indication, Goucher women were either swayed by their college's strict religious tenets, or merely returned to them after their college years. Many of them spoke in their letters of some degree of church work: for some, it was an all-consuming pastime; for others, yet another of the numerous ways in which they spread their attention. Mary Taylor Reynolds wrote in 1930 that "I would like to get an outside job if I could. Haven't any talent like Rosalie that I can put to use. So guess I'll go on dividing my time between home and church and community."35 It is important to note that in Reynolds' case, the "community" she was involved in was actually an elected county position.
The Young Women's Christian Association was one of the main organizations to which many members of the class devoted their time. In fact, Goucher's Christian Association began in 1894 as a branch of the YWCA, and remained closely affiliated with it until the 1920s. The YWCA tended to draw upon the same core members as the other church and missionary groups. The YWCA, intended to provide for the "temporal, moral, and religious welfare of young women who are dependent on their own exertions for support,"36 also served another important purpose: it provided meaningful work for the middle-class women who ran it. Olive Mast Pennegar served on her local Board of Directors and wrote "It is a real job to do it justice, but I love the work. I think the YW is a wonderful institution with a very high purpose."37
Women's Christian organizations did not avoid the scrutiny of men. "The [Women's Christian Temperance Union] was attacked by indignant male clergy who thought its members were presuming to preach the gospel, and the YWCA encountered opposition from men who thought the Young Men's Christian Association deserved the community's resources more."38 Mary Hukill Taylor, who worked extensively with the organization, described the resistance to the YWCA in her own community:
The YWCA encouraged strength in the women who led the group as well as in those to whom it ministered.
Some women's organizations were less philanthropic and more educational. Many Goucher women, of course, were involved in the Goucher Alumnae club. However, a more broad-based institution was the Association of College Alumnae, founded in the 1880s in support of "the new academic woman." The ACA was one of the few organizations intended solely for the college graduate. "College women then constituted a small group, convinced of their special status yet insecure about their place within a society that did not fully accept them."40 By the time of the letters, the ACA had evolved into the American Association of University Women, which served many purposes: dispelling stereotypes about educated women, raising funds for women to continue their higher education, as well as bringing its members together for conventions, speeches, and classes. Alice Dunning Flick wrote in 1924 of an organization that attracted many members of the class of 1903:
In a later letter she again explained her involvement, saying "I have enjoyed the contact with younger college women."42
Goucher women became involved in numerous other clubs, as well. They included philanthropic organizations such as the American Red Cross, for which Lottie Magee journeyed to Panama during the war. Political organizations, such as the League of Women Voters and the International League for Peace and Freedom, united women from all over the nation under common causes. Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the Confederacy, Parent Teacher Association, and the American Legion Auxiliary, were just some of the other groups to which members of the class of 1903 devoted their time. Some of these were intellectual societies, some historical, and still others were purely social. Many were interwoven: few American societies did not find some way to lend a hand during World War 1; both the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the Confederacy lent their names and their time to the cause of suffrage by 1916.43
Even years after the vote was achieved, the women of 1903 maintained their interest in voting and politics. Milly Bielaski simply wrote "I've had the thrill of voting for a president and help send young Roosevelt to Albany."48 Florence Bankard attended the Republican meetings to hear Senator Harding speak about the League of Nations, and remarked "Now I advocate the League as a forward looking measure, but on the other hand, I follow the Republican party on the tariff question. Indeed, my voting privilege threatens to be very perplexing to me."49 Carrie Louise Fehr added that "the problem the outcome of next week's election is more problematical than any I can remember in this 'black' Republican state of Pennsylvania. What annoys me is that now when a Democratic vote might count for something I'm not keen about the candidate."50 Frances Doherty wrote in 1930 that "I am interested, though I have not time to work for it in the formation of a new party, one which will fairly represent the liberal thought of the country... I see no other political way out of the difficulties of the time."51 These women took their newly won right extremely seriously, devoting thought not only to the available options but to the further reworking of the system.
Nor did they rest at achieving suffrage; having won the vote, some members of the class moved on to political work. At least one member of the class of 1903 held public office during her lifetime; Emilie Doetsch, while she did not win, was the first woman to run for The Baltimore City Council, in the 1920s. The years after women were granted the vote were not easy for women who wished to be politically involved:
It is interesting to note that Mary Taylor Reynolds, who did serve in public office during the 1920s, did so while raising two children still not yet in high school, while Emilie Doetsch managed to ran an election campaign even while maintaining a career in journalism.
Mary Taylor Reynolds described her experience in a 1924 letter. She was the first woman to run for a political office in her county, as well as the first to be elected. She served on the Board of Education of Rome, Georgia, beginning in March of 1923:
She remained on the Board of Education until at least 1930, having been re-elected54, and also served as election manager for another race in 1924.
Emilie Doetsch was a bit more descriptive of her own unsuccessful struggle to achieve a spot on City Council. She too ran as an Independent, and as such, she was responsible for all of her expenses. She declined money offered by friends and associates, and managed to pay the entire $117 herself. She described the process of going door to door campaigning in great detail, including the varied responses of many women to both suffrage and the idea of a woman running for office. One said that she didn't sign anything without her husband's approval; another said she didn't think women ought to vote. Doetsch wrote of the experience:
Indeed, there are no letters in this collection voicing any opposition to suffrage; clearly, the educated woman understood the value of the vote.
Lottie Magee had one of the more adventurous war time experiences. She was sent to the Panama Canal Zone as a representative of the American Red Cross, in order to "organize the refugee garment knitting and surgical dressing work of the entire Zone" as well as to instruct the instructors who were to carry on her work. In her October 1919 letter, she describes the complex process of getting a passport, the reaction of the people of Panama to the Red Cross's presence, her experience speaking in public, and even the conditions on the ship from New York during the German submarine offensive along the Atlantic Coast, which traveled at night without lights, so that "it was an exciting game at night to creep down the passage and count the doors to be sure one got into one's own stateroom."58
Another fascinating war-time letter was Clara Robinson Hand's. She described how her place of residence, Washington DC, changed "from a peaceful country town to a busy world center." Hand was quite aware of the future historical merit of her I devoted most of it to description of the city at war:
Clara Hand acknowledged, in a way that no other member of the class did, that someone outside of their families might read their letters some day, and appreciate them for their value as primary documents.
Claire Ackerman Vliet described her contribution as "along the lines of thrift and food conservation, combined with as much sewing as I could accomplish as active head of a unit of the Women's War Relief of the Pennsylvania Railroad."60 During war time, as in other times, it is clear that these Goucher women felt that their education had obligated them to pursue a higher purpose. Lyda Nonis Bailey wrote of how she wanted to go overseas to assist, but could not because she was caring for her mother. Of her family's war work she wrote that "One of my sisters was at Cape May, NJ doing reconstruction work with the deaf soldiers, in fact is still actively engaged in teaching the deaf soldiers lip reading. Then my brother represented this country in London in gas warfare, rank Lieutenant Colonel."61 Rinda Philp Trosh wrote that "Learning new methods of baking and cooking etc. was a detail that I recall often. How glad we were to go without flour and sugar etc. but I am glad it is no longer necessary."62 In her letter, she also wrote:
Another frequent topic of concern, mentioned by Hand, but apparently brought up earlier, was the absence of servants and employees during and following the war. Mabel Day Parker described how her maid had gotten married, and that everyone she had contacted since was too costly. Moreover, she wrote that "We haven't wandered far from home since war began, because Mr. Parker has been so short handed at the store. You see a jewelry store, you need workmen rather than clerks, and it has been almost impossible to find watchmakers and engravers."63 Claire Ackerman Vliet weighed in with her own personal philosophy on housekeeping:
Nina Caspari Oglenby's personal experience echoes that public sentiment when she writes of her son's desire to enter West Point "I am such an out and out pacifist that to give my only son up to this training for war, was a bitter pill to swallow." A postscript reveals his acceptance to that military academy, and her closing statement. "I wish I could say 'I am happy'"67 Frances Doherty responds, saying:
Another mother's perspective came from Claire Ackerman Vliet, who writes of Germany:
Last Updated 10/28/99.