Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly
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SPECIAL A NN I V E RSARY I S SU E
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President’s Pen A STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS,
in our commitment to creating new programs and enhanced and visible opportunities for leadership and career preparation. This incites us to engage in new ways to make Mount Holyoke the source and venue of choice for academics and for intensive leadership development programs, with both a local and a global focus. In many ways, alumnae hold up a mirror that helps us to see how the College shaped your success, how that might inform our current endeavors, and how we might sustain and continue to build our relationships and partnerships with you. It also means strategic investment in our
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A central priority of the Plan for 2021 is to invest in shaping and sustaining an increasingly diverse community of students, faculty, and staff who strive to understand the world.” — SO NYA STE PH E N S
programs—new and existing—and in our signature academic centers. To fulfill this educational agenda effectively, Mount Holyoke continues to need your help and continued engagement in every way. The College, in close partnership with the Alumnae Association, is a community of almost 40,000: a community of lifelong learners who work and think together across differences. To ensure that this continues to be a hallmark of the Mount Holyoke experience, a central priority of the Plan for 2021 is to invest in shaping and sustaining an increasingly diverse community of students, faculty, and staff who strive to understand the world—and to analyze and solve problems—in an environment of mutual respect in which all can thrive and contribute to the flourishing of others. The new community center, along with other dedicated spaces across campus, reimagined learning spaces, and digital applications to support networking and opportunities for alumnae engagement, will provide venues and resources that facilitate and enhance such interactions. To do this well, and to invest in the many exciting ideas developed by our faculty, staff, and students, we need first and foremost to be good stewards of our resources and to engage in strategic allocation and reallocation of these to our highest priorities. And we need to ensure that you remain our partners in this work, and that we celebrate what we have done—and must always do—together to make Mount Holyoke a better—the best—place to develop the minds and aspirations of future generations.
Kenneth Ong
as much as a process to envision and revitalize, is a moment for self-analysis and reflection about what we do well. It is an opportunity to review and recommit to our vision and values; a moment to identify what distinguishes us as an institution; and a time to set higher goals for achievement in those areas of distinction. The Plan for Mount Holyoke 2021 charts a course for the next five years that anticipates a much longerrange future. It does so confident in what Mount Holyoke represents—a place committed to women and gender equality, academic excellence, liberal education, diversity, leadership, global understanding, and environmental awareness and sustainability— and with renewed energy to make salient (and attractive to current and future students, faculty, and staff) the experience that is the College. This means striving to be yet more exceptional in those areas we claim as such. It also means new commitments. Priorities in the Plan for 2021 include leading with distinction and global excellence. This encompasses not only our being outstanding and imaginative in our scholarship, teaching, and learning, but also
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Contents 5
10 10 Celebrating a Century of
Cover and bookcase: James Gehrt; Asian Alumnae Symposium: Kenneth Ong
the Alumnae Quarterly
With four hundred issues behind us, we look back at the evolution of Mount Holyoke’s alumnae magazine through archival content from its first ten decades
1 2 1910s–1920s 1 8 1930s–1940s 24 1950s–1960s 32 1970s–1980s 38 1990–PRESENT
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2 LYONS SHARE
Inspired by Fidelia Fiske, supporting marriage equality, understanding hearing loss, enjoying ice cream together
5 UNCOMMON GROUND
Asian Alumnae Symposium, Mountain Day Alumnae Reunions, Cat Pruden ’16 named finalist for award, strategic plan approval, Career Change Weekend, Emily Dickinson exhibit
44 CLASS NOTES 80 MY VOICE
A 1990 essay by former Quarterly editor Gale Stubbs McClung ’45 on the meaning of success
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LETTERS
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Lyons Share 2016, p. 26) was a delight and joy to read. Something completely different. I so enjoyed reading Fidelia Fiske’s, class of 1842, remarkable story told through word and image. It is good to see a story that highlights the Christian roots of Mount Holyoke. —Natalie Baxter Strange ’82 via email Thank you for the excellent graphics frames by Hope Larson and Kelly Fitzpatrick in the Fiske article. I, too, want Heaven to be a place of harmony and activity. —Emily Taussig ’93 via email
Whoa, so much snow! #MountHolyoke #college #firstsnow #autumn #seasonscollide #adirondacks
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MEMORY LANE I am enjoying the summer 2016
edition while recovering from major surgery. Love the graphic story, “Mount Holyoke in Persia.” A very fun way to read an interesting story. Also interested in the “Computers in 1985” (“Then and Now,” p. 34). We did not have computer rooms in our dorms with dot matrix printers. We used typewriters. The women who took computer science went to the computer lab, which was over by Carr Lab. I heard horror stories of projects being lost, waiting to use computers, printers not working. We definitely did not have email, Internet, or cable TV. Thanks for the fun trip down memory lane! —Alison Shirley Perrin ’84 via email EQUAL SUPPORT Thank you for honoring those Mount
Holyoke graduates who have been so key to the struggle for marriage equality. (“We Are Family,” fall 2016, p. 28). It took enormous courage to speak out against societal bias and hatred. It still does. Each of the women you highlighted helped move our nation toward equality against tremendous backlash. I know the sort of hate-filled speech they had to deal with and the stress on their families this created. Their efforts have meant that all of us—lesbian, gay or straight—are now guaranteed the 1,138 legal rights civil marriage gives a family. Our children are protected. These rights permeate all aspects of our lives, from Social Security and inheritance to how we are listed on our death certificates. Prior to achieving marriage equality, any lesbian who had been in a committed gay relationship for her adult life would have been listed as a spinster
on her death certificate. Essentially, the relationship would have been erased for eternity. Now, when we die, our death certificates will acknowledge our marital status. We remain honored even in death. We are no longer erasable. —Pamela Thiele ’70 via email HEARING TOGETHER Thanks for publishing Katie
Wagner’s ’03 essay, “On Hearing, in Fragments” (fall 2016, p. 80). Hearing loss is relatively common but poorly understood if you’ve never experienced it. Wagner’s story helps provide some of that understanding and is especially valuable to me, as an audiologist. Although hearing loss is prevalent (affecting 5.3 percent of the world’s population) I tend to work with people with later-acquired hearing loss rather than with people like Wagner, who have congenital or early onset hearing loss. People approach treatment for hearing loss differently depending on degree and time
I love @mtholyoke and the commitment of students, current or past, to always fight for justice. @aamhc J E SS I C A AVE RY ’ 15 @JAVE RY22
Anne Pinkerton
MISSIONARY MOVEMENT “Mount Holyoke in Persia” (summer
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of onset. It’s good to be reminded why those approaches are different and to take a moment to immerse myself in someone else’s experience, especially when it’s written so beautifully. —Janet Morton ’94 via email The essay by Katie Wagner ’03 struck a chord with me. I am not profoundly deaf, I have a severe sensorineural hearing loss. I did not know that I had a hearing loss until I was twenty-five. It was the same when I got glasses, I did not know that I was supposed to be able to see people’s faces before they were two feet in front of me. It scared me when all of a sudden I could see the leaves on trees, and I could recognize people from a distance. I was ten years old and had developed my world as clear and sharp the closer it was. Glasses took away the barrier to the foreign, blurred world. I probably started losing my hearing in small increments beginning in elementary school. Unfortunately hearing aids do not work like glasses. The only way I can describe my hearing loss is to say get in a bathtub, submerge your head until your ears are completely underwater, then carry out a conversation with someone in the next room.
Like Wagner, I live mainly in the hearing world, and I miss out on conversations. And I withdraw. And the clarity of my sight is so much more important in the reality of my diminishing hearing. —Patricia Ayers McGrattan ’81 via email SHARED MEMORIES A duplicate copy [of the fall 2016
WE SHARE D
Renee Scialom Cary ’48 and Elizabeth (Betsy) Caldwell Hastings ’38 celebrating Mountain Day in Santa Barbara, CA.
Alumnae Quarterly] arrived with a note that since I was in the issue, I might like an additional copy. That of course prompted a closer examination, and ta-da . . . there it was, on page 36 (“Then and Now: Laundry”). I was just gobsmacked! Thank you for giving me my little star turn—and I can tell you that my mom—who was beyond pleased that I followed her to Mount Holyoke—is just bursting her heavenly buttons! —Eloise Prescott Killeffer ’68 via email CORRECTION Thanks to Barbara Schmidt ’69,
chair of the Mount Holyoke European Alumnae Council, for pointing out that in the summer 2016 issue we incorrectly referred to the Mount Holyoke European Alumnae Symposium as the Alumnae Association’s European Symposium (“A Degree of Continuity,” p. 18). The symposium is organized by a volunteer committee under the direction of the European Alumnae Council and receives administrative and financial assistance from the Alumnae Association and a donation from the College’s Office of Advancement.
I am delighted to see this photo with Renee Cary. I had lost touch with this dynamic and totally wonderful woman. I send her love and greetings! —Kathryn Eppston Rabinow ’64 Wish I’d known they were there— I would have joined them! —Marguerite (Peggy) MacLaughlin Polos ’91 Renee Cary was like a big sister to me! She used to gather her “English girls” once a year for tea at Willits-Hallowell. —Angela Grover Rotherham ’98 I would have been there! —Felicia Kay Liston ’85 Mount Holyoke Forever Shall Be!!!!! —Jennifer Heffernan FP’13 Forever will be! —Jessica Lazar Bates ’01
Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly
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The @mtholyoke Alumnae Quarterly
M OU N T H O LYO K E A LU M NA E QUA RT ERLY
always shows up in the right moment
Winter 2017 Volume 101 Number 1 EDITORIAL AND DESIGN TEAM
Taylor Scott Senior Director of Marketing & Communications Jennifer Grow ’94 Editor Millie Rossman Creative Director Anne Pinkerton Assistant Director of Digital Communications Jess Ayer Marketing & Communications Assistant CONTR IBUTORS
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Kyley Butler ’18 Olivia Collins ’18 Alicia Doyon Mary Giles Maryellen Ryan Elizabeth Solet Amy Yoelin ’18
QUARTERLY COMMITTEE
alumnae.mtholyoke.edu quarterly@mtholyoke.edu POST M AST ER
(ISSN 0027-2493; USPS 365-280) Please send form 3579 to Alumnae Information Services Mount Holyoke Alumnae Association 50 College St. South Hadley, MA 01075-1486
The Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly is published quarterly in the spring, summer, fall, and winter by the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, Inc. Winter 2017, volume 101, number 1,
Vice President Susan Brennan Grosel ’82
in order @aamhc never fear/change! CH I E DZ A M U FU N D E ’ 12 @S K ACH I E DZ A
Treasurer and Chair, Finance Committee Tara Mia Paone ’81 Clerk Ashanta Evans-Blackwell ’95 Alumnae Trustee Carrianna Field ’97 Young Alumnae Representative Elaine C. Cheung ’09 Chair, Nominating Committee Nancy J. Drake ’73 Chair, Classes and Reunion Committee Danielle M. Germain ’93 Chair, Communications Committee Shannon Dalton Giordano ’91 Chair, Volunteer Stewardship Committee Charlotte N. Church ’70 Chair, Clubs Committee Elizabeth McInerny McHugh ’87 Directors-at-Large Katherine S. Hunter ’75 Amanda S. Leinberger ’07 Alice C. Maroni ’75
Congratulations to Georgia Smith Regnault ’64, bestowed the royal Dutch honor of Knight! Regnault has been a driving force as a member of the American Women’s Club of the Hague (AWC) for forty-five years. In recognition of her substantial contributions over the years, Regnault has just been bestowed the royal Dutch honor of Knight in the Order of Oranje-Nassau of The Netherlands. Regnault has been a member of the AWC since 1972 and has held various volunteer positions, from president and parliamentarian to receptionist. She was recognized for bringing people of all backgrounds together to achieve common goals, calling on her legal and financial knowledge, organizational talent, and strong will.
Executive Director Nancy Bellows Perez ’76 ex officio without vote
was printed in the USA by Lane Press, Burlington, VT. Periodicals postage paid at South Hadley, MA, and additional mailing offices. Ideas expressed in the Alumnae Quarterly do not necessarily reflect the views of Mount Holyoke College or the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College. The Alumnae Quarterly welcomes letters. Letters should run not more than 200 words in length, refer to material published in the magazine, and include the writer’s full name. Letters may be edited for clarity and space. To update your information, contact Alumnae Information Services at ais@mtholyoke.edu or 413-538-2303.
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President Marcia Brumit Kropf ’67
w/ the perfect msg. Weekend reading
Courtesy of Georgia Smith Regnault
The Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, Inc. 50 College St. South Hadley, MA 01075-1486 413-538-2300
Beth Mulligan Dunn ’93, chair Katharine L. Ramsden ’80 Carolyn E. Roesler ’86
ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
alumnae.mtholyoke.edu
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News
Uncommon Ground Alumnae Gather in Singapore to Discuss Innovation in Asia MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE’S second Asian Alumnae Symposium drew almost eighty attendees from around the world to the island city-state of Singapore, a multicultural hub of global commerce, finance, and transport. Over the weekend of November 4–6, alumnae and their guests gathered at the Bloomberg headquarters in the heart of the city to explore how innovation has evolved in Asia and discuss company-specific strategies and government policies that have been instrumental in this process. The event, organized by the College, the Alumnae Association, and a committee that included Pooja Daftary ’09, Natalya Marusich ’04, Laura Rieber ’04, Ishani Shrestha ’13, Ann Blake ’85, Eleanor Chang ’78, and Katherine Hunter ’75, featured panels, interactive discussions, and dedicated networking opportunities. In addition, attendees were able to more casually engage with each other and explore the city through activities such as walking tours guided by local alumnae, a river cruise, a private tour of the Asian Civilisations Museum, and a dim sum brunch. The weekend’s speakers included global thought leaders, accomplished entrepreneurs, and high-level executives from across Asia and the United States. Omar Lodhi, husband of Huma Ghauri Lodhi ’92 and partner and regional head with the Abraaj Group, a leading investor in growth markets, gave Saturday’s keynote address, examining Singapore’s overwhelming progress as well as the latest macroeconomic trends globally and how they have been affecting Asia. Symposium attendees also had the opportunity to meet and hear from seven Mount Holyoke alumnae speakers as well as a number of leaders from the College, who shared the latest campus developments. “It was inspiring to see the diversity of people from so many classes and fields meet up to talk about one topic from all angles,” said attendee Zanna McKay ’13. “I met several people in the region who are working on all kinds of interesting and truly impactful projects, and there’s a lot of potential for collaboration and support down the road.” To read more and to see photographs from the event, visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/singapore.
Kenneth Ong
— B Y TAY L O R S C O T T
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The Plan for Mount Holyoke 2021: Liberal Learning in a Residential Environment
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STRATEG IC PRIORITI ES 1. Leading with Distinction Mount Holyoke will provide excellent and distinctive academic programs for students that exemplify and demonstrate the extraordinary value of a liberal arts education. 2. Global Excellence Within the spirit and framework of our robust commitment to the liberal arts, Mount Holyoke will embrace new opportunities and directions in teaching, academic programs, and research and scholarship to better prepare students to respond to the needs and challenges of a global society. 3. An Inclusive and Collaborative Community Mount Holyoke will shape and sustain an increasingly diverse, global, and inclusive community of students, faculty, and staff in an environment of mutual respect in which all thrive and contribute to the flourishing of others. 4. Effectiveness and Financial Sustainability Mount Holyoke will ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the College by improving organizational efficacy and allocating resources in a strategic, evidence-based, and consistent manner.
JIm Gipe
After a year of intensive research, analysis, and in-person meetings and retreats, the Strategic Planning Committee—composed of faculty, staff, students, and trustees— presented the College’s next five-year strategic plan, entitled the Plan for Mount Holyoke 2021, to the board of trustees in May. The plan was approved unanimously by the board, and implementation kicked off in November. The Plan for Mount Holyoke 2021 outlines priorities for the College that both renew and reimagine Mount Holyoke’s commitments to liberal learning and the importance of both presence and place in the residential experience. Priorities of the plan are specific enough to direct the College’s energies and yet suggestive enough to be an invitation to the creativity and vitality of faculty, staff, and students in response to global challenges and opportunities. To learn more about the strategic planning process, visit mtholyoke.edu/ iplanning/strategic-planning.
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Courtesy of Office of Sports Information
In October, Cat Pruden ’16 was honored for her selection as a Top 30 honoree for the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, the first Mount Holyoke student athlete ever to receive the distinction. Honorees were recognized for their demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, community service, and leadership. Pruden graduated magna cum laude in May 2016 as a double major in psychology and education after a record-breaking collegiate career as a member of the swim team and is currently assistant swim coach at Bowdoin College. During her time at Mount Holyoke, Pruden garnered many honors in the pool, recording forty-one first-place finishes in her senior year, including thirty-three individual wins. Pruden was a three-time NCAA National All-American in the 400meter individual medley and eight-time NEWMAC champion, as well as a two-time conference Swimmer of the Year recipient. She also was an eight-time NEWMAC All-Conference First Team selection and a seventeen-time Seven Sisters Champion. Beyond the pool, Pruden served on the Mount Holyoke Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society in 2016, and was named the 2016 Laurie Priest Alumnae Association Scholar Athlete winner. To read more about Pruden and other news from athletics, visit athletics. mtholyoke.edu.
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Circumnavigation of Iceland, August 1–9, 2017
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We invite you to join one or more of the Alumnae Association’s travel opportunities this year. Visit alumnae. mtholyoke.edu/travel.
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Travel Abroad with Sister Alumnae
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For more information visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/reunion.
Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges to Offer Career Change Weekend at Walt Disney World Over the weekend of April 21–22, career experts from Mount Holyoke and Smith colleges will hold a conference to help alumnae from both schools explore professional goals, assess skills, and map out a career trajectory through interactive workshops and networking opportunities. Participants can also book rooms for three days before or after the event at a discounted rate, as well as purchase discounted tickets to the park to extend their time at Disney. To learn more and to register, visit alumnae. mtholyoke.edu/careerchange. Career Change Weekend, April 21–22, 2017
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2016 Annual Report Online
In an exhibition that opens in January, the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City is celebrating the life and poetry of Emily Dickinson, class of 1849. The exhibition of more than one hundred rarely seen items will feature five items loaned from Mount Holyoke College’s Archives and Special Collections, including a letter Dickinson wrote during her first weeks at Mount Holyoke (see page 15) and an ivory portrait miniature of Mary Lyon. The exhibition is scheduled to run from January 20 through May 21, 2017. For more information, visit themorgan.org.
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CLUB UPDATE
An Informal Gathering In August, Charlotte Giddings Gillespie ’92 and her family moved from Charleston, South Carolina, to Memphis, Tennessee. Getting settled in the new city, Gillespie wanted to connect with alumnae. “As I updated my contact information on the Alumnae Association website,” she says, “I decided to see how many alumnae were here. I knew from various Facebook groups that there were at least several.” A list of a few dozen popped up, but when Gillespie reached out to the Alumnae Association she learned that there wasn’t (yet) an alumnae club in Tennessee. In November, she invited local alumnae to her home in what she hopes might be the first event of the newest Mount Holyoke alumnae club. To learn more about clubs and groups in your area or how to form one, visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/clubs. PI C TU RE D, LE FT TO RI G HT: Stephanie Sluyter ’10, Charlotte Giddings Gillespie ’92,
Rhynette Northcross Hurd ’71, Madinah Diallo ’15, Deborah Northcross ’71, Sharon King ’97, and Lisa Fritz ’02.
Mary Lyon: Archives and Special Collections; mini-reunion: courtesy of Charlotte Giddings Gillespie
I’m Nobody! Who are You?
The Alumnae Association’s annual report for the fiscal year July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016, is now online at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ annualreport2016.
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Mountain Day Alumnae Reunions While the bells rang for Mountain Day a little earlier than usual, on September 28, 2016, nearly 150 groups of alumnae around the globe from Nairobi to London and Fairbanks to The Netherlands jumped into action to gather and share a cup or cone at their local ice cream parlor. To see a slideshow of alumnae Mountain Day gatherings across the globe, visit alumnae. mtholyoke.edu/mountainday.
Embracing Difference as We Embrace Challenge “Our mission ‘to draw students from all backgrounds into an exceptionally diverse and inclusive learning community with a highly accomplished, committed, and responsive faculty and staff’ is at the heart of [our] commitment to diversity, equity, and access. That mission comes with special responsibilities. Here on campus, we have prioritized those above all else in this moment of divisive rhetoric and challenge to identities. We embrace difference as we embrace challenge. So it follows that, in response to this climate, we repudiate and denounce all forms of intimidation, hatred, and discrimination, and reassert that racism, classism, nativism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, misogyny, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism are anathema to the College’s values.”
SAVE THE DATE
European Alumnae Symposium to be held in Riga, Latvia
The fourteenth Mount Holyoke European Alumnae Symposium will take place in Riga, Latvia, October 6–8, 2017. The weekend will offer a chance to see old friends, make new ones, and learn about the fascinating history and culture of the “Heart of the Baltics.” Riga, often referred to as the Paris of the North, with its wonderful art nouveau architecture
—Acting President Sonya Stephens in a November 21 letter to the Mount Holyoke community that responded to post-election reactions on campus
and vibrant café culture is located along the
Read the full letter at president.mtholyoke.edu/ embracing-difference-as-we-embrace-challenge.
information, visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/riga.
east shore of the Baltic Sea and is easy to get to from the rest of Europe. For more
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In initiating the Alumnae Quarterly the graduates of Mount Holyoke believe that they are assisting to coordinate and reinforce the varied efforts that are constantly being devoted to the cause of this college, and through this college to the cause of higher education. — F O U N D I N G E D I T O R M A R G A R E T B A L L , C L A S S O F 1 9 0 0 , I N T H E I N AU G U R A L I S S U E , A P R I L 1 9 1 7
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A Special Anniversary Issue Every time I crack open the cover of a bound volume of past issues of the Alumnae Quarterly—more than one hundred lining the shelves of the closet in my office—I find something remarkable. An account of a mini-reunion of the class of 1883 with now-famous alumnae guests “Miss Emma Carr and Miss Cornelia Clapp.” A photograph of students ice skating on Upper Lake—in 1946. Even a series of advertisements for Chesterfield cigarettes. The Alumnae Quarterly began as the Mount Holyoke, a combination literary magazine, student newspaper, and alumnae publication. In 1916, the publication split, and the next year the Mount Holyoke News student newspaper and the Alumnae Quarterly were born. As we reviewed past issues, the history of this magazine presented itself over and over again. And the challenge of marking its centennial became more complex. How, even in dedicating an entire issue, can we ever share enough to tell the full story and significance of the Alumnae Quarterly in its first one hundred years? On these pages, and during the rest of 2017, we will try. With four hundred issues to comb through, we had to let go of the notion that we’d be able to select the perfect content. Instead, we focused on sharing a bit of the familiar—the achievements of Emily Dickinson and Frances Perkins—and a bit of the unexpected— an accounting of one alumna’s famous husband. So, enjoy. And then, be in touch. Whether you’ve read a few issues or dozens over the years, we’d love to know what the Alumnae Quarterly has meant to you. In the meantime, you can also get a glimpse of what it took to put this issue together in a time-lapse video at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/quarterly100.
James Gehrt
—Jennifer Grow ’94, editor quarterly@mtholyoke.edu
MOUNT HOLYOKE A LUMNA E QUA RT ERLY Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly
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HISTORY OF THE QUA RTERLY
The Alumnae Quarterly’s April 1917 inaugural issue gets right down to business:
In a feature about the “undergraduate point of view,” Elizabeth Sherman, class of 1921, writes, “Like every university and college Mount Holyoke has her genius loci, a certain traditional spirit. . . . At Mount Holyoke this college spirit is one of courtesy and kindliness.” Classmate Briseis E. B. Teall countered, “When I see roommates alienated because they cannot agree as to who should close the windows on the cold mornings, when I hear girls making and repeating unpleasant remarks about other girls . . . I wonder if I’m right in my conception about the genius loci.” A PRI L 1918
1910s – 1920s
ALU M NAE
Rather than featuring an editor’s note, page one greets readers with an article that advocates keeping the College small (and that reveals what we’ll now generously call a “quaint” view of women’s delicate sensibilities):
“The smaller college meets her need because it gives her greater opportunity for self-expression. It presents less strain in that it offers fewer stimuli and hence prevents loss from confusion and dissipation of energy.” The fifty-five-page publication goes on to explain new admission criteria and reprints a series of addresses from alumnae detailing what it’s like to work in various professions in 1917. Eleanor Oliver, class of 1901, describes working as a lawyer: “The prejudice against women lawyers is against the idea and not against the women who are practicing law. Of course people stare. But there is no use railing against prejudice. . . . The legal profession is in many ways suited to women. It profits by their patience, thoroughness, command of detail.” Finally, on page thirty-two, the editors find their voice—and find it beautifully— explaining the “Comment and Discussion” department: “This Quarterly makes its first appearance at a moment when every institution in the country must question its own reason for existence, must determine that it will contribute something of positive value to the life of the nation or will discontinue its own efforts in favor of some more essential activity. In an unpretentious fashion of our own we hope to meet this challenge of the times.”
Class Notes, alumnae news, and lists of alumnae and faculty publications are introduced from the very first issue. AP R IL 1 91 7, INAUGURAL ISSUE
SEE MORE AT
alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ quarterly100
A LUM NA E
An engraved graduate pin can be ordered from Tiffany & Company for $8. JULY 1 91 9
Bertha E. Blakely, class of 1893, who compiles the “Alumnae Publications” section, writes, “Every time the compiler receives a note giving information about the published work of any alumna, she thanks in her heart the sender whether the reference is to her own or another’s work.” One such publication listed in this issue: “Beautiful as the morning; a story” by Eloise Robinson, class of 1910, in Harper’s Magazine. JANUARY 1 91 8
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1910s – 1920s
CAMPUS
Under the headline “The New Schedule,” the magazine explains that the College will be switching from a six-day-a-week course schedule to trying “an ingenious scheme” that gives students their Saturdays free. OCTOBE R 1 92 1
A LUMNA E
“Williston Hall was totally destroyed by fire on the afternoon of December 22. The origin of the fire is unknown. The building was not occupied (since this was a vacation day) and the fire had gained such headway before it was discovered that only during twenty minutes was any attempt at saving the contents of the building possible.”
Utilizing wartime language of the day, class officers send a “Mobilization Order” calling the class of 1902 to their fifteen-year reunion: “The class of 1902 will report to the colors June 9, 1917, and proceed at once to the occupation of South Hadley. The defences at Gridley’s Soda Fountain are reported to be in weak condition.”
JANUARY 1 91 8
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The College begins construction on a new science building, to stand on the footprint of the former Williston Hall. OCTOB ER 1 922
M OUNT HOLYOKE A LUMNA E QUA RT ERLY Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly
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HISTORY OF THE QUA RTERLY
Aerial view of campus. OCTOB ER 1 920
C A MPU S
“On Thursday morning, December 21, just as students and faculty were rushing to final classes and making final preparations for the Christmas holiday departures, Rockefeller Hall caught on fire and, despite the combined efforts of firemen and volunteer helpers from South Hadley, the Falls, and Holyoke, rapidly burned out in uncontrollable smoke and flames, the brick walls, blackened and scorched, alone remaining.” JA N UARY 1923
HISTORY OF THE QUARTE RLY
At the top of the reading list Early issues give an in-depth look at many academic departments on campus. Naturally, since the College was founded as a seminary, the Department of Biblical History and Literature gets early and prominent billing. Anna C. Edwards, class of 1859, writes this of Bible study during the College’s early seminary days: “At Mount Holyoke, the Bible was from the first preeminently the Book of the house, and instruction in it was as systematic and thorough as in literature and science, more time being given to it than to any other study in the course.” JA N UARY 1918 HISTORY OF THE QUA RTE R LY
Early copies of the magazine devotedly list all faculty publications. In July 1918 Jeannette Marks, English department instructor and President Mary Woolley’s companion, published “Drugs and genius” in Yale Review. JANUARY 1 91 9
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1910s – 1920s
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A closer look
The Quarterly begins to occasionally include more than one page of black-and-white photos. JAN UARY 1928
CAMPUS
Fire! Again! “Most startling and least welcome of the events at the College in the past term is the calamity which befell one of the dormitories, just after the faculty show had claimed all attention. Safford Hall narrowly escaped destruction by fire March 8. The first floor must be entirely rebuilt, and the remainder of the house was badly damaged. The fire, which started in the trunk room in . . . the basement, was first discovered by one of the maids at 9:30 a.m.”
A LUM NA E
The College’s fundraising efforts—and how alumnae can help—are a major source of news. The Quarterly’s first infographic is a chart depicting the strength of the Alumnae Fund. JANUARY 1 91 9
ALU MNA E
The magazine prints a fold-out copy—and a transcription—of the letter Emily Dickinson, class of 1849, wrote to her friend Abiah in 1847, describing her life as a student at MHC. Of the day’s schedule, she shared: “At 4 1/2 we go into Seminary Hall and receive advice from Miss Lyon in the form of a lecture. We have supper at 6, and silent study hours from then until the retiring bell, which rings at 83/4, but the tardy bell does not ring until 93/4, so that we don’t often obey SEE MORE AT the first warning alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ to retire.” quarterly100 JA N UARY 1926
A PRI L 1 92 0
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“To readers of the Quarterly: To keep our advertisers, we must secure them patrons. We cannot do this without your help. We therefore ask you to read the advertising section thoroughly.” JA N UARY 1918
Telling the cook
Unlike today, the Quarterly accepted ads from the very first issue. Some of our favorites were for Tiffany & Co., which promised “prompt attention given to inquiries by mail”; for Miss Bradford and Miss Kennedy’s School, which offered tuition and hot lunches for day students for $150, and room, board, laundry, and tuition for $600; as well as for Jell-O, a dish that “never has to be mended, no matter who made it. Cook or no cook, the dish of Jell-O is never wrong.” A PRI L 1917
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The Association tries out a new reunion schedule (rather than at five-year intervals). It was so complicated they needed a foldout chart to explain it! OCTOB ER 1 91 7
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A subscription to the Quarterly increases from $1 to $1.50. JANUARY 1 920
A LU MNA E
If not for Mary Lyon
1910s – 1920s
HISTORY OF THE QUA RTERLY
Commencement addresses were often reprinted in early issues of the Quarterly. In 1921 future US President William Howard Taft said: “Eighty-five years ago the General Court of Massachusetts chartered this college. . . . The charter was signed by Horace Mann and Edward Everett—two great names in education. There were five trustees named in the act; but nowhere is the
REUNION
The Reunion Cup is awarded to the class with the largest percentage of returning alumnae. Nine of sixteen members of the class of 1876 returned for their fiftieth reunion. JULY 1 926
name of the woman whose energies and interest secured its granting, and whose genius
and spirit were to give the institution life and to mark it as an epoch in the education of the nation. This circumstance is significant of the unreasonable prejudice and inertness of mind of the then generation as to the need of educating women, and the narrowness of view then prevailing of the function that woman should discharge in society.” JULY 1 921
CA M P US
CAMPUS
Chart of fees—including the option for laundry service—at Mount Holyoke compared to other women’s colleges. OCTOBE R 192 1
Hillside Hall dormitory opens in 1923. Later renamed Mandelle Hall. JANUARY 1 923
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The article “College Graduates Enter Obstacle Race” offers this assessment to parents and alumnae: “In all our advising of senior students emphasis is placed upon the fact that the graduate who chooses a goal twenty years ahead . . . travels farther in a four-year working career.” F EB RUARY 1 94 0
The Quarterly undergoes a major redesign, boasting a modern cover designed by Anna MacCarthy, class of 1926, that changes color from issue to issue, as well as a three-column format. The redesign is big in other ways, too: the magazine is now three inches larger. The editors ask their 3,000 readers to send feedback, saying,
FREED FRE FREEDO FRE
“Warning note. Silence shall be construed as a token of full approval.”
ALU MNAE
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1930s – 1940s
HISTORY OF THE QUARTE RLY
First- and third-person profiles of alumnae now regularly appear in the department “Doctor, Lawyer, Merchant, Chief.” In August 1932 we hear from Harriet Love Thompson, class of 1907, who writes, “In June 1907, there were three things I knew could never happen to me. One was that I should live to the ripe old age of a twenty-fifth reunion. Another was that I should be lucky enough to circle the globe, and the third that I should ever appear in college print. All three miracles have happened this past year.”
The Quarterly’s first color advertisement—for Mount Holyoke-themed dinner plates—reads: “That psychological moment when your guests are seated! From that moment your dinner party sinks in gloom or swims in interest. What hostess wouldn’t grasp at so simple a method as these fascinating plates to assure her dinner of a merry, chatty send-off.” Especially for a mere $15 for 12 plates.
AUG UST 1932
MAY 1 931
HISTORY OF THE QUA RTERLY
The editors report generally favorable feedback in the August issue, with one fan stating that “any subscriber that doesn’t like it is cockeyed.” MAY 1 939
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1930s – 1940s
CA M PUS
Abbey becomes a familiar name on campus “Mount Holyoke’s new residence hall, the gift to the College of Mrs. Emily Abbey Gill of Springfield, Massachusetts, is to be completed and ready for use by the fall of 1939.” F EB RUA RY 1 939
FREEDOM OF SPEECH FREEDOM OF WORSHIP FREEDOM FROM WANT FREEDOM FROM FEAR ALU M NA E
A call for civil rights
Under the headline “Democracy Begins at Home,” Margaret Anderson, class of 1926, writes, “With our American flair for high talk, we have proclaimed that we are fighting a war for freedom—for the Four Freedoms, for people ‘everywhere in the world.’ . . . And two-thirds of the people in the world—with whom we propose to live creatively when the war is done—are colored. They would like to believe what we say . . . but they see beyond any words the cold hard fact of 13,000,000 Negroes within our own country with whom we are even yet not neighbors, whom we deny full participation in our community living. . . . Perhaps if we approach our responsibility with humility and vision, we can really begin to build among the individuals at the base of American society the true climate of democracy.”
In honor of the College’s centennial, an anonymous donor gives $350,000 to build and maintain what will become the Charles Clinton Abbey Memorial Chapel. The donor was later revealed to be Emily Abbey Gill. AUGUST 1 936
N OV E M B E R 1943
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CA M PUS
Remembrances
A LU MNAE
Janet Brewster Murrow, class of 1933, a relief worker and the wife of journalist Edward R. Murrow, sends news of wartime conditions in London: “I wish I could see present-day London through your eyes. It’s appalling how soon you grow accustomed to boarded-up shops, charred remains, or pitted facades of buildings.” She would go on to become a wartime radio broadcaster herself. F E B RUA RY 1941
HISTORY OF THE QUARTE RLY
Out with the old Because of space constraints, the Quarterly decides it will no longer publish lists of alumnae and faculty publications. However, the magazine does add two new sections this year: “Books Our Professors Recommend” and “Alumnae Soundings in the News.” The Quarterly launches the latter in February this way: “Speaking of world affairs, which all of us had better be if we want to keep on speaking of anything at all, the names of Mount Holyoke alumnae on whom, like the British Empire, the sun never sets, keep cropping up in the news. Some of the better-informed have been speaking their minds right out in public on ticklish subjects—Russia, American policy in China, for instance—in a downright way Mary Lyon would have loved.” F E B RUA RY 1949 & M AY 1949
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MARY E. WOOLLEY President 1900 – 1937 “The last year of Miss Woolley’s presidency of Mount Holyoke College has been marked by an almost continuous stream of honors and gifts and expressions of the high esteem and affection with which her associates and her innumerable friends and acquaintances the world over regard her.” Though she would live another decade, Woolley would never set foot on campus again, a silent protest against her successor, Roswell Gray Ham. AUGUST 1 937
On the passing of former board of trustees member Joseph Allen Skinner, Professor Emeritus of History Nellie Neilson writes, “One of my early recollections of the College is of Mr. Skinner’s Rolls Royce drawn up in front of Mary Lyon . . . and of Mr. Skinner hastening vigorously to consult with the president or the dean. . . . He has given us Skinner Hall and the beautiful old Prescott Church. . . . Of a different kind are the flights of great stretches of countryside which have made our life here beautiful, culminating perhaps in the gift of Mount Holyoke, ‘our mountain,’ to the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and thus preserving it forever for appreciation and enjoyment.” NOVEMB ER 1 94 6
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1930s – 1940s
A LU MNAE
The magazine devotes ten pages in honor of prominent zoology professor Cornelia Clapp, class of 1871. Writes Louise Baird Wallace, class of 1898, of studying under her: “I felt then and have felt ever since that I was never fully alive until I knew her. Her philosophy of life seemed to be something like this: Live wholeheartedly in the NOW; fret not over the past, worry not about the future.” M AY 1 935 SEE MORE AT
alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ quarterly100
A LUM NA E
Annie L. Crowell, class of 1893, reminisces about Emily Dickinson, class of 1849: “Flowers meant more to her than most people did. They were silent, though not speechless. She found that people came between her and beauty and shut off her view of it. They spoke and she could not catch the music for which she was listening.” F EB RUARY 1 94 6
HISTORY OF THE QUA RT E R LY
The Quarterly continues to keep up with world affairs, devoting seven stories over eighteen pages to India’s civil disobedience movement, led by Mahatma Gandhi. Eleanor D. Mason, class of 1919, writes, “The spread of the women’s movement in all parts of India has probably been more rapid than in any country at any time in history.” AUGUST 1 931
REUNION
A familiar recap “The seventeenth reunion of 1917, attended by 34 ‘Simplies,’ in 1934, was as perfect as even a numerologist could desire,” begins a recap of reunion that also includes: a Friday gathering in Pearsons Annex “to revise old songs and practice new ones”; Saturday morning parade preparation of “green ribbon hat bands to our white hats, green and white flowers to our dresses”; and a campus picnic where alumnae caught up with favorite professors, including Emma Carr, class of 1902. The column concludes: “We came away feeling strongly that we like each other grown-up; that reunions become increasingly better and more important . . . and that Mount Holyoke merits our best loyalty.” AUGUST 1 94 6
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RE UNIO N
Frances Perkins, class of 1902, US Secretary of Labor and first woman appointed to a presidential cabinet, leads the alumnae parade. AUGUST 1 935
REUNIO N
Making WAVES As a result of wartime restrictions and a lack of housing on campus—due to the presence of the US Navy WAVES and the US Marines—
the Alumnae Association cancels Reunion in 1943, ’44, and ’45 for all but the fifty-year gathering. Regional reunions are held in Boston and New York. AUGUST 1 943
SEE MORE AT
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HISTORY OF THE QUA RTERLY HISTORY OF THE QUARTE RLY
Shared without comment The Quarterly runs the second in a feature series: “We present another famous Mount Holyoke husband.” In the spotlight this time is the Honorable Owen J. Roberts, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and husband of Elizabeth Rogers Roberts, class of 1902. M AY 1943
In times such as these
On the occasion of war being declared in Europe, President Ham writes a rare letter to alumnae that is published at the front of the Quarterly in the style of a current letter from the president. AUGUST 1 94 0
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1930s – 1940s
HISTORY OF THE QUA RTERLY
“Paper Shortage. No doubt you have heard there is one. And that is the reason, and the only one, why this summer Quarterly contains 32 pages rather than the usual 48 or more. Nevertheless, we truly welcome all new subscribers and in time we hope to make up to new and old for this drastic cutting.” AUGUST 1 945
A LUM NA E
Fourteen alumnae receive the first Mount Holyoke Medals of Honor. “It has seemed fitting at this time when Mount Holyoke College is celebrating its Centenary for the Alumnae Association to express its deep appreciation of the distinguished services rendered by alumnae to the College,” said Alumnae Association President Maude Titus White, class of 1911, while awarding the medals, which are still given out today. AUGUST 1 937
SEE MORE AT
A LU M NA E
Students donate 150 cartons of books to war-devastated libraries.
alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ quarterly100
N OV E M B E R 1947
ALU MNAE
$6.50: The average gift to the Alumnae Fund in 1939 43: Percentage of alumnae who donated M AY 1940
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The Quarterly wins a First Place Award in the 1950 Magazine Awards Competition sponsored by the American Alumni Council. To celebrate that achievement—as well as the fact that alumnae raised $1 million for the College—the president of the Alumnae Association writes: “Now that we
have both brains and money, what next? Let’s discard our shyness, find out what the College has to sell and rejoice in selling it. We need more
alumnae participating in club programs, more alumnae returning regularly to college, more alumnae promoting our distinguished Mount Holyoke in their communities. The Washington [regional alumnae] Conference is another trial balloon. With alumnae encouragement we might some day land in Ohio or California—or Mars.”
1950s – 1960s
HISTORY OF THE QUARTE RLY
A rare full-page photo is included within the pages of the Quarterly. FALL 1 958
N OV E M BE R 1950
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1950s – 1960s
CAMPU S
“The board of trustees is happy to announce the choice of a brilliant young economist to become the new president of Mount Holyoke College. Richard Glenn Gettell knows our area well as a Deerfield and Amherst graduate. Dr. Gettell’s choice follows the present trend of selecting young men with experience in the business world to run our colleges.” WI N TE R 1957
RE U N ION A LUMNA E
Five members of the original V8s—all class of 1944—return to campus for their 20th reunion.
The Alumnae Quarterly includes a summary of “a clearer understanding of the basic purposes of an alumnae club and an exploration of the ways in which these purposes could best be realized.” A detailed bulleted list of steps for success includes suggestions such as:
SUM M E R 1964
“plan an enticingly good program”; “include mothers of undergraduates as honorary members”; and “arrange for alumnae trustees passing through your area to stop off for a club meeting on their way to or from the College.”
HISTORY OF THE QUARTE RLY
There’ll always be a bylaw A note from “Hetsy and Betsy” to young alumnae offers “a brief anatomy” of the Alumnae Association in words and pictures. SUM M E R 1963
SPR ING 1 958 SEE MORE AT
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RE U N ION
“The Jubilee Reunion of the Century Class! Highlights!” Class of 1900 returns to campus for their fiftieth reunion, and scribe Frances R. Foster concludes her column with, “After the most glorious of reunions, we left College Monday, on as fair a day as the hopes with which we look forward to meeting again in 1953.” AUG UST 1950
C A MPU S
Current events
Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United States Supreme Court speaks at Commencement: “Of all the responsibilities you must assume, and there will be many, I know of none that will be more arduous than that of fulfilling your responsibilities of citizenship.” SU M M E R 1955
HISTORY OF THE QUA RTERLY
Student voices In an opening essay, senior Barbara Smith ’69, one of fourteen black students in her class, writes of her experience on campus: “It seems to me in my courses and in my acquaintance with the thinking of a great number of white students that there is an unwillingness to acknowledge that there is any valid or real experience besides the homogeneous, suburban or small town one which has produced our classmates and professors. For example, after the all-day sit-in in the administration building last December to make clear the necessity for a black cultural center for the use of black students on this campus, many ‘liberal’ students were still puzzled as to why we needed this facility, and they were verbally opposed to it.
Student voices
As long as Mount Holyoke permits even one student to go out into the world thinking that because she occasionally sat at a dinner table with a black person during her four years at college, everything will turn out all right, it is failing in its professed goal of creating a ‘pluralistic’ community.” S P R ING 1 9 69 HISTORY OF THE QUARTE RLY
The birth control pill is invented, and the Quarterly runs the article “Revolution in Sex Education.” SU M M E R 1968
In an open letter to the parents of the class of 1969, Class President Sandra Robinson expresses support for the civil rights movement, ending
the war in Vietnam, and more. She writes, “At a time when many
college campuses across the country are torn by violence and dissent, violent unrest is notably absent from life at Mount Holyoke. We, the undersigned
students of Mount Holyoke College, do not condone violence. However, we do share the belief that American society must be radically reconstructed and would like to express to parents what we feel to be the significance of the unrest on other campuses. We believe that student unrest is a conscious protest against some of the basic injustices of American society.” She ends her letter with the unforgettable, “Hang loose and flame on, ’69.” SUMMER 1 9 69
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It’s all different now! (Is it, though?) In an essay on how to define Mount Holyoke and her college experience, Lydia Shaw Bickford, class of 1931, reflects on the differences at the College in the twenty years since graduating. She writes, “I don’t mean simply the obvious campus changes and new buildings, glamorous and gorgeous as they are. I mean something more important that I was searching to define all the time I was at college for a brief visit.” Here we attempt to illustrate the content of her exploration and the realization of what she calls “The spirit of the Mount Holyoke Girl.” N OV E M BE R 1950
1930 61 percent of women went to public school prior to MHC
1950
“Today, as she always has, she realizes Girls danced it is not enough to with other be bright or beautiful girls at dances or busy—she must Students came make a genuine from many different backgrounds contribution in some part to the Tea Dances segment of society where College rivalry: “There were simply she is.” no other good colleges.”
More understanding of the world
More dating
More private school background Tuition increase brings more urban women Accommodations for students who smoke Later curfew: midnight on weekends
CA MP US
1950s – 1960s
A LUMNAE
Students form Students for One Society (S.O.S.) to complement the activities of the Afro-American Society on campus and to organize for civil rights both on campus and off. Three of the founding members write, “It is possible that many of our efforts will be futile;
setting out to save the world is not an easy task. But if we are at all
concerned about racism, inequality, poverty, riots, and the future of America, we have to act constructively and immediately before it is too late.” SPR ING 1 9 6 8
Glamorous new buildings
CA M PUS
College Quiz Bowl
“Mount Holyoke stayed on for three weeks, defeating Oberlin and Notre Dame and then going down to the Colgate team after a very close contest.” S P R ING 1 955
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HISTORY OF THE QUARTE RLY
Evolution of the Quarterly
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1 950
The “Necrology” department, which lists deaths and sometimes obituaries of alumnae, is renamed “In Memoriam.”
What’s in a name? Rather than labeling an issue with a single month, the Quarterly begins using the more descriptive monikers winter, spring, summer, and fall. The following month, the magazine switches to coverline-free covers and begins a new department entitled Faculty Notes, which details grants and awards, publications, exhibits, news from departments, and more.
M AY 1951
S P R ING 1 954
1951
A series of comics are sprinkled through a few issues, à la The New Yorker. N OV E M BE R 1950
1952
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Editor Florence Clement, class of 1914 (below, left), retires after nearly thirty-one years. Fynette Fiske Rowe, class of 1932, writes in tribute: “The Quarterly has kept to traditional lines without sacrificing freshness of approach. It has never lost sight of the fact that its chief purpose is to serve as a medium not only for keeping the alumnae acquainted with themselves, but also for reacquainting them with both the College proper, and College thought. There is in it a love of tradition, and a love of today. We are both ourselves and our daughters when we read it.”
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A photo of new dorm Prospect Hall is featured on the cover. FA LL 1 959
N OV E M BE R 1 952
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Alice Mohler DeLana ’58, a member of the Editorial Committee, explains the magazine’s origins: “In order to finance the venture, and to guarantee its publication through its first years, a loan fund was established. Six alumnae loaned $100 each, and four others $50 each, making a total of $800. In addition, 1,200 advance subscriptions were sold at $1.00 per year. With this, plus nearly $600 from advertising, the magazine’s beginnings were financially secure.”
SUMMER 1 9 69 SEE MORE AT
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W I N T E R 1 9 67
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1963
1964
1965
The Quarterly introduces full-page, full-impact photographs on the cover. W I N T E R 1 962
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1950s – 1960s
0
“Recognizing the Quarterly as a fundamental tool for communication, the board has supported the policy of editorial freedom to report controversial issues.”
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1972
1973
Except for the occasional plug for Mount Holyoke-themed fundraisers (think: alumnae-compiled cookbooks and Mount Holyoke chairs), the Quarterly goes completely ad free! WINT ER 1 9 68
In honor of the magazine’s fiftieth anniversary, the Alumnae Association and the College sponsor a WriterEditor Conference. A highlight: the talk by Hedley Donovan, editor-in-chief of Time Inc. “His thoughtful speech centered on the responsibility of the press and the various ways in which the news media should be doing more than they are to report accurately and without sensationalism. He spoke of his special concern to find effective ways to report good news, so often shoved aside in the frontpage concentration on war, pestilence and disaster of all kinds.” WINT ER 1 9 68
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An evolving campus ALU MNAE
Alumnae survey
71 percent: the very impressive response rate to the Alumnae Association’s survey sent out in 1960. “Every last checkmark was duly recorded and tabulated by the faithful IBM machines.” Among the results: teaching is the most common profession at 24 percent; 83 percent of alumnae have children; and alums’ favorite activity is reading, at a whopping 39 percent.
Mount Holyoke’s new health center opens with an auspicious three-part goal: to help students achieve complete physical, mental, and social well-being. Gettell Amphitheater is built a year later, in 1961, and 1837 Hall opens in 1962. SUMMER 1 9 60
Students are pictured in the new chemistry department, which moved from Shattuck Hall to newly constructed Newcomb Cleveland Hall. SP R ING 1 955
Before yoga studios and gym memberships are commonplace, Mount Holyoke places a premium on physical fitness. In 1963, a two-year physical education requirement remains on the books. In a letter to the faculty—which was reprinted in a longer article in the Quarterly—the head of the department writes, “Have you tried exercise for fatigue, anger, or depression? Try it instead of a tranquilizer!” WINT ER 1 9 63
FA L L 1960 & SU M M E R 1962 SEE MORE AT
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The magazine includes several photos of the new Laboratory Theatre’s opening night, during which Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” was presented by the Department of Theatre Arts and Speech. SPRI N G 1967
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CA MP US
HISTORY OF THE QUARTE RLY
In the previous ten years, the Quarterly has run no fewer than ten articles defending the liberal arts. A special report created by Editorial Projects for Education—and included as a supplement in the magazine— helps explain why: “Amidst great material well-being, our culture stands in danger of losing its very soul. It is a truism that we are a nation of activists, problem-solvers, inventors, would-be makers of better mousetraps. . . . The humanities in the age of super-science and super-technology have an increasingly difficult struggle for existence. Today, on many campuses, science and engineering are in the ascendancy. As if in consequence, important parts of the humanities appear to be on the wane. Scientists and engineers are likely to be given financial grants and contracts for their research. Scholars in the humanities are likely to look in vain for such support.”
CA M PUS
125th anniversary Happy 125th Mount Holyoke! Retrospectives of the presidencies of Mary Lyon, Mary Woolley, and Roswell Gray Ham help ring in this auspicious date, along with a timeline of how the campus has grown and—no surprise—a defense of a liberal arts education. Meanwhile, the College marks the anniversary with, among other events, a colloquium entitled “Words and Music.” Aaron Copland and soprano Adele Addison represent the “music.” Edward Albee and Robert Frost speak for the “words.” Writes the Quarterly: “On each of three evenings, cars lined the roads on and off the campus. Unprecedented crowds of excited, eager students, faculty, alumnae, out-of-town guests, and friends from the neighboring communities filled every seat in Chapin.”
“Women in Politics around the World”— a four-day event and article in the Quarterly— brought to a spectacular conclusion a series celebrating the College’s 125th anniversary. Indira Gandhi, then president of the Women’s Department of the All-India Congress, is a featured speaker.
1950s – 1960s
The liberal arts at Mount Holyoke
SPR ING 1 9 63
HISTORY OF THE QUA RT E R LY
FALL 1 9 62 & WINT ER 1 9 62
S P RI N G 1 965
“Without offering vocational training, Mount Holyoke awakens the life in which the good vocations are found; without imposing philosophies, it shows what a sound philosophy is; without promising final answers, it finds what questions need answers. . . .
While promising not to turn into a “Helpful Journal for Homemakers,” the Quarterly publishes the recipe for Deacon Porter’s Hat at the request of alumnae.
Mount Holyoke’s liberal education seeks to show the way for those whose growth in later years may bring ripeness of thought and wisdom in action.” —English Professor Alan Van Keuren McGee in a featured essay in support of liberal education
FA LL 1 9 60
M AY 1 952
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CAMPUS
the complainers, the apathetics, the dwebes, and the dieters. . . .
As they filed out of the kitchen, I heard the voices of the complainers as they headed up the stairs to prepare for bed. The apathetics and procrastinators congregated in the smoker and decided to watch Falcon Crest while they waited for a large pepperoni pizza to arrive. The ‘dieters’ walked over to Wilbur for a hot fudge sundae and the true dwebes simply went on their way to the library as though nothing had happened at all.”
FA L L 1 987
1970s – 1980s
In an essay on “Deep Snacking,” Karen Dana ’89, then a junior, describes the culture of milk and crackers: “The discriminating observer will find that four types of people attend M & Cs:
A LUM NA E
Black lives. Black power. “On February 27, when a group of about 200 Five College black students occupied seven Mount Holyoke buildings, Mount Holyoke became part of a national statistic. . . . According to the New York Times, student protests across the nation have been erupting this year at the rate of more than one a day.” The College responds by establishing a black studies program. S P R ING 1 970
“As a continuation of the all-campus concerted effort to deal with the issues of racism and to create better understanding within a culturally diverse community, a Festival of Diversity and a Forum on Racism have been important events on campus.” The forum includes special lectures and open class sessions, and the festival features a multicultural variety show and a party with performances by bands from different cultures.
“The arrival of Shirley Chisholm in February may well be one of the hottest news items to hit the campus in a long time.” Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the US House of Representatives, assumes her responsibilities as Purington Professor at Mount Holyoke. Her first public appearance on campus is as the keynote speaker at the annual Forum on Racism. SPR ING 1 983
WINT ER 1 982
CA M PUS
Student jobs at MHC An article on financial aid includes a list of student work opportunities: energy intern, peer educator, tap dance accompanist, book mender, film projectionist, and tutor. WINT ER 1 982
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1970s – 1980s
ALU MNAE
What a difference 10 years makes FA L L 1970
A LUMNA E
Longtime editor Gale Stubbs McClung ’45 retires and writes, “I am increasingly aware of how few people in this world wind up loving a job as much as I have loved mine. It has expanded my horizons; it has challenged my imagination; it has tested me, in the best sense, in a wide range of human relations, and introduced me to a fascinating bunch of people. And it has been fun.”
R E UN ION
The class of 1929 achieves a perfect record: 100 percent participation in the Alumnae Fund for their fiftieth reunion gift. SU M M E R 1 979
SPR ING 1 989
19 CA M P US
Number of students enrolled in the Frances Perkins Program— a detail included in a blurb titled “Continuing Education.” FALL 1 980
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ALU MNAE
More women in public service
CA MP US
Scott Suchman
“Brilliant flames, fanned by a strong wind from the north, shot high into the South Hadley sky on Saturday morning, December 14, and demolished the venerable College Inn, the renowned Odyssey Book Shop, and the other four businesses in the complex.” Within less than a week, the Odyssey is operating “modestly” in a new temporary location.
The Quarterly asks the question: “What does it take to be the only woman in the nation to defeat an incumbent for a Congressional seat? To become a member of the smallest minority in the House of Representatives (less than five percent of the members are women)?” Nita Melnikoff Lowey ’59, who has continued to serve as US Representative for New York since 1989, shares what it took to first gain a seat.
W INT E R 1 98 6
SU M M ER 1989
“President Carter nominated Alice Stone Ilchman ’57 as an assistant secretary of state responsible for educational and cultural affairs and as an associate director of the International Communication Agency.” S PRI N G 1978
“It seems so absurd to me to think of the United States Senate six years ago making decisions about women without a single woman in that body.” —Susan Neidlinger McLane ’51, who eventually served twelve years in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and thirteen years in the New Hampshire State Senate SU M M E R 1980
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A LUM NA E
Family ties “The Dennis family sets a new record with the fifth of five sisters to attend the College.” Pictured, left to right, Doreen ’70, Lynne ’73, Sheila ’83, Sharon ’85, and Caroline ’87. FALL 1 983
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HISTORY OF THE QUARTE RLY
Kendall Hall expansion The Quarterly features on its cover and in a four-page color-photo essay the new sports complex that opened in fall 1984. New and renovated facilities included: fieldhouse with indoor track and indoor tennis, volleyball, and squash courts; eightlane pool and separate diving well; performance and rehearsal space for dance; competitive basketball and volleyball courts; weight room; training room; lockers for women and men; outdoor track; and two outdoor playing fields.
“As everyone knows by now, the Equal Rights Amendment is on the ropes,”
1970s – 1980s
A LU MNA E
write Bonnie Barrett Stretch ’61 and Martha Dolkart Bernstein ’65 in “The Tough New Politics of ERA.” “In 1972 seven years seemed like plenty of time to get this straightforward amendment—which was and is supported by a majority of the population and a majority of state legislators—ratified by two-thirds of the states. What happened? And where are we now?” SUMMER 1 978
W I NTE R 1985
HISTORY OF THE QUA RT E R LY
Signaling a fresh focus on undergraduates, the Quarterly compiles its first large-scale feature profiling students. The topic: those engaged in independent study. The thirteen one-page profiles, each accompanied by an original portrait, are written by a journalism student on campus. S P R ING 1 971 SEE MORE AT
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A LU MNAE
Alumna at the helm
HISTORY OF THE QUA RTERLY
“Elizabeth Topham Kennan ’60, distinguished medieval scholar and historian, was named [president of Mount Holyoke] by the board.
She will be the first alumna in this century to serve as president of the College.” W I N T E R 1978
C A MPU S
No to coeducation
Under the headline “Trustee Decision: Education for Women” the magazine opens with this statement: “The trustees of the College, in unanimous action, have voted that Mount Holyoke shall continue to be a college for women. The decision, which came after a year of deliberation, was supported by recent substantial majority votes of the faculty and of the students, and by the firm conviction of President [David B.] Truman. Alumnae opinion, elicited two years ago by a questionnaire in the Quarterly, also strongly favored Mount Holyoke’s remaining a college for women.”
In support of the arts
The Quarterly devotes most of an issue to the education of artists and the challenges that alumnae face when trying to succeed as professional artists. S P R ING 1 988
CA M PUS
An article about the “First Radical Feminist Alumnae Reunion” reports that nearly fifty alumnae returned to campus for an event organized and sponsored by the Mount Holyoke Women’s Center. The article concludes with a quote from participant Patricia Roth Schwartz ’68: “All of us . . . live precariously within a patriarchal society that seeks to deny us full expression of our potential. What feminism teaches us is that our greatest strength lies in the sustenance and support we can give each other.” SUMMER 1 979
FA L L 1 97 1
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Special themed issues As environmentalism takes root, the Quarterly devotes an issue to the topic. Professor of biological sciences Isabelle Baird Sprague, class of 1937, pens an article entitled, “Environment, Momentum and Inertia,” and has this to say on the topic: “If civilization is to be of human scale then surely the environment, the fragile, all encompassing surroundings of mankind and other organisms must be understood, protected, and, to a frightening extent, restored. These needs are pressing.”
1970s – 1980s
HISTORY OF THE QUA RTERLY
WINT ER 1 970
CA M PUS
A news brief celebrates Professor Joseph Brodsky, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Literature, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature for his essays and poetry. At age forty-seven, he is the second youngest person to receive the prize in literature, behind Albert Camus. WINT ER 1 988
A decade later the Quarterly publishes another themed issue, on women’s health. Faculty and alumnae report on topics including nutrition, hormones, and plastic surgery. S P R ING 1 980
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Making her mark Julie Arons Auster ’80 echoes a common theme of her generation: “I was a college student during the ‘enlightened’ 1970s. We had such bright and unrealistic visions of the future. I was never supposed to run out of time, energy, or organizational abilities. I was never going to worry about the effect my brilliant career would have on my family. I was never going to question whether the fast track left me time for a personal life. I ask myself sometimes when the rules of the game changed.” As the reality of a busy life with two kids and a career sets in, she notes, “My priorities were reorganized without my realizing it. I have a full and happy life.
But sometimes I wonder—if I juggled my time better, could I still do something to make my mark on the world? And then I realize that I have made a mark on my world.” W I N T ER 1990
1990 – present
ALU MNAE
CA M PUS
Dale Chihuly’s Clear and Gold Tower is installed in the library atrium. Made of more than 450 pieces of hand-blown clear glass that shimmer with twentyfour-karat gold, the sculpture becomes a focal point for alumnae visiting campus. FALL 2013
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FALL 1994
HISTORY OF THE QUA RTERLY
What does a magazine do to celebrate its 75th? Put out a special issue, of course. Our 75th anniversary edition features a full-page cover photo and honors freedom of speech with stories on gay rights and one on how the Quarterly has addressed controversy through the years. Writes former editor Gale Stubbs McClung ’45,
“Even in 1936 when a man, Roswell G. Ham, was selected to succeed Miss Woolley and a major eruption occurred among alumnae, no opinions on the subject were published in the magazine. Another major
controversy came in 1958 and 1959 when the trustees voted to abolish required chapel. The Quarterly included the Alumnae Association’s position opposing the change, and there was an enormous uproar among alumnae. Still no letters to the editor were published. It was not until the radical 1960s that alumnae opinions began to appear in abundance.” SPR ING 1 992
Kimberly Grant ’84
“With the dedication of a 20-cent stamp to Dr. Virginia Apgar, class of 1929, Mount Holyoke women have extended their lead to five of the sixty-five women who have appeared on United States Postal Service stamps.” The previous four? Lucy Stone, class of 1839; Emily Dickinson, class of 1849; Frances Perkins, class of 1902, and Mary Lyon.
1990 – present
ALU MNAE
A LUM NA E
Words from an uncommon legacy Pulitzer Prize-winner Wendy Wasserstein ’71 delivers the 153rd Commencement address: “I believe I had the confidence to become a playwright because I learned at Mount Holyoke the value of an individual woman’s voice.” SUMMER 1 99 0 SEE MORE AT
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CA M PUS
The Quarterly features on its cover outgoing Mount Holyoke president Joanne V. Creighton, who is interviewed in a six-page feature about her legacy and what she will take away from her time at MHC. “What’s powerful about Mount Holyoke is its combination of intellectual and moral. I heard from students the repeated articulation of idealistic thinking about themselves and what they want for the future.
This idea of purposeful engagement in the world is deeply embedded in Mount Holyoke culture.” Ben Barnhart (2)
S P R ING 2010
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New look(s)
Paul Schnaittacher
The Quarterly gets a makeover with a new layout, new fonts, a new front-of-book section called Campus Copy, and a new back page about the College called Checkout. As editor Sabine Haberland Cray ’72 writes, “We’ve tried to make better use of typography, photography, layout, and general information to create a more readable, more attractive magazine.” S P R ING 1 994
Sneak peek
40
A photograph (above) of associate editor Maryann Teale Snell ’86, left, and editor Sabine Haberland Cray ’72 gives readers a glimpse of the magazine’s production process.
The fall 2000 issue is the first to include full color throughout, and many reader comments are included in the next issue. Most seem to approve of the new look. Sabra Rowell Jones ’53 reacts with: “Wow! The new issue is full of pizazz and panache and is a fitting way to welcome the twenty-first century.”
SUM M E R 1999
WINT ER 2001
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HISTORY OF THE QUARTE RLY
In their words Seeking more feedback from readers, the editors run this “Remedial Studies 101: How to Write a Letter to the Editor.” We’ll look more closely at the history of reader responses in the spring 2017 issue. Stay tuned.
Michael Malyszko
S PRI N G 2 012
Starting with this issue, President Lynn Pasquerella ’80 begins communicating directly with alumnae in each issue through the “President’s Pen” column. First on her mind: emphasizing the College’s experiential learning and curriculum-tocareer initiatives.
1990 – present
HISTORY OF THE QUA RT E R LY
W INT E R 2013
A LUM NA E
In recognition Mary Lyon and former governor of Connecticut Ella Tambussi Grasso, class of 1940, are elected to the Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. FALL 1 993
Hospice founder Florence Schorske Wald, class of 1938, becomes the sixth MHC alumna elected to the Women’s Hall of Fame. SUMMER 1 998
Grasso
Wald
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Covering campus updates Scott Suchman
The first dorm to be built on campus in more than forty years, Creighton Hall, opens to generally rave reviews. Students give a thumbs-up to the patio, the common areas, and the environmentally friendly features (the building uses 45 percent less energy and 30 percent less water than allowed by already-stringent Massachusetts building codes). They give a thumbs-down to needing a OneCard to unlock their rooms and the challenge of creating a close-knit community in a large building. WINT ER 2009
The most striking feature of newly constructed Kendade Hall—often called the Science Center—is its 3,000-square-foot atrium, a space that will serve as a gathering place for the MHC community.
A LU MNAE
“We’re trying to plant the seeds for a United States that will be better than the one we grew up in.”
FALL 2002
Creighton Hall
FA L L 2 009
Ben Barnhart
—Mona Sutphen ’89, White House deputy chief of staff, in a feature Q&A titled “Inside the Real West Wing”
The Quarterly publishes an article entitled, “Facebook: It’s Not Just for Teens” explaining this new social networking phenomenon and inviting alumnae to “keep the Mount Holyoke Facebook network strong.”
Kendade Hall
Michael Malyszko
A LU M NAE
FA L L 2007 HISTORY OF THE QUA RTERLY
The Quarterly promotes its new “blogazine” that “lets you comment instantly on articles and learn what others have to say.” WINTER 2008
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Ben Barnhart
Nobody puts Baby in the corner
R E U N ION
Reunion reporting The magazine expands reunion coverage, including reporting not only on beloved events like the laurel parade but on new traditions, including the Welcome New Alumnae Ceremony and Back to Class, now staples of an event that continues to bring more than 1,000 alumnae to campus over two weekends each May.
The Quarterly features “The Great MHC Pop Culture Quiz” with a series of ten questions over two issues. Our favorite: “What 1987 film, set at a Catskills resort, features a heroine nicknamed Baby, who plans to enter MHC when summer ends?”
SU M M E R 2 011
S P R ING 2011
CAMP U S
1990 – present
HISTORY OF THE QUA RT E R LY
SEE MORE AT
The Quarterly runs an article in comic strip format, sharing the College’s financial update.
Glenna Collett ’72
WINTER 1990
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ESSAY
My Voice
Songs My Mother Didn’t Teach Me By GALE STUBB S Mc CLUNG ’45
HAVE AN O PI N I O N TO S HAR E?
Pitch your topic at quarterly@ mtholyoke.edu.
AS I WAS G ROW IN G UP, my mother was a great embarrassment to me. She had a sense of the absurd—a way of acting ridiculous which made other people laugh but which mortified me. She would go as a guest to a dinner party with a two-foot-long peacock feather perched rakishly in her hair, or with a front tooth blacked out, her coat buttoned out of kilter, and her stockings sagging around her ankles. At perfectly normal, serious meetings at her church I became or women’s club or music society, increasingly she would interject a silly ditty or outrageous song. She was a “ham” aware of the at heart, and whenever I was with her and she was clowning around, joy she had I had the urge to crawl under a chair and hide. Mothers weren’t brought to so supposed to act that way. Mother, who never touched many lives. a drop of alcohol in her life, and who was outspokenly opposed to all who did, often in her nonsense acted as if she had had a few drops too many. People marveled at how uninhibited she was. At the rehearsal dinner, on the night before Bob and I were married, she went to the piano, played, and belted out in her own inimitable style “She Was Happy Till She Met You!” My father, who always sat quietly on the sidelines and smiled with seeming approval (I think he really did admire her style), did his usual thing, while my parents-in-law-to-be took a few moments to realize that it was funny and that they could (and should) laugh. (On the day of the wedding, on the other hand, Mother sang, in her extraordinarily beautiful contralto voice, two lovely solos of love and joy. She wasn’t always the clown, even though I tended to think so.) Many people would tell me that my mother made them feel good. True, I recognized that she was an upbeat person, and also a very good listener to whom many turned with their troubles; but I wished, so often, that she would “behave herself.”
After she had died, and I had matured, I became increasingly aware of the joy she had brought to so many lives. And just about the time I was coming to that realization, I met a woman, Dorothy Wright, who was closer to my mother’s age than to mine, and whose off-beat humor made me and many other people feel good. Somehow Dorothy gave me a new perspective on my mother. She often noted, especially during the troublesome 1960s, that too many people took themselves much too seriously. She aimed to help people lighten their loads, to add a little sunshine to their lives, offering an absurd story, a witty line or poem or song (or ridiculous gift) for any occasion. She had an enticing turn of phrase, and a joyful way of singing and playing with the piano, that made everyone want to be with her—to join in the fun. As I delighted in what Dorothy had to offer, I became increasingly sorry that I had not appreciated my mother more. I also was sorry that the two of them never met. They were kindred spirits. With Dorothy I began to share some of the laughter and enthusiasm. She and I together wrote (and sang or recited) some pretty silly songs and poems. My mother would have approved. And I figured that we were on the right track when a ninety-year-old man told us how much he appreciated having an occasion to laugh out loud. Though some of my friends may not believe it, I’m nothing like the extrovert my mother—or Dorothy Wright—was. And though I may have some small measure of talent, I can’t begin to match either of them. Nor would I try. But I think I have learned from both of them a lesson in joy—in not taking life too seriously—in trying to bring at least a little song and laughter into our sometimes humdrum, often overburdened, work-a-day lives. Maybe this is a small bit of success. WINT ER 1 99 0
Gale Stubbs McClung ’45 served as editor of the Alumnae Quarterly from 1962 to 1989. This essay was one of nearly two dozen published in the Quarterly in response to a call for articles from alumnae on the meaning of success.
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Happy FebruMary! Get ready for a month of fun and games celebrating the exciting traditions, legends, myths, and icons that make Mount Holyoke special. februmary@mtholyoke.edu | #FebruMary
(Your very own mini Mary!)
Q S R O S E I K O O C D N A K L I M A R G N L E G Z J S
J G R E E N G R I F F I N M A I C O N V O C A T I O N T
S R Y P U T A P A N G Y D A Y N G U I W E A U P V P A R
H A R S B N G E L Y B U N T D B B N T I T N R I I H M A
O C G U A K I L U S R E P S E V L T E N A O E F N I O W
W I E P D C G O M H M S M P F U A S E D E E L H G L U B
X O F P V O R Z N R A R N U I H C H L E R S C O H A N E
H U E O A M E E A I R E E R N E K O T C U I H R E N T R
A S B R N M E G E N Y K W P I T H L N A A N A T Y T H R
P D R T C E N A I G X C D L N H I Y A D L G I E E H O I
P I U Y E N P E C A L A O E G R S O L E A O N N L R L E
Y N M S M C U U E N Y R N P B O T K P C C S L S L O Y S
S N A E E E R H L D O C O H C U O E R H C U Y E O P O A
F E R N N M S R E R N D R O O G R N A A A S O P W Y K N
A R Y I T E E C B O K N S E M H Y T E L B T N A S F E D
C E F O U N D E R S D A Y N M V M R Y L R A S R P S F C
U D L R O T W P A E W K I I U M O A T E J I E K H B U H
L P O B I O V E T S I L G X N F N D S N R N V E I O N A
T E R A M H W B E L F I N G I E T I R G I S Y R N F D M
Y G E L B I E R B X U M S A T O H T I E T V T D X H A P
S A C L L G K S N H B Z U R Y C Y I F S E H H A C Y O A
H S T I R P S N O I T A T N E I R O U Q D T G Y D X Y G
O U G O Z E O I B N M O U N T A I N D A Y O I A E T A N
W S J S V I V H E B L U E L I O N S Y G A M Y B U I Y E
Word Search Key (partial) Baccalaureate Commencement Convocation Elfing
Faculty Show Founder’s Day Gracious Dinner Hortense Parker Day
Laurel Chain Milk and Cookies Mountain Day Mount Holyoke Fund
Orientation Pangy Day Reunion Senior Ball
This puzzle has over 40 words related to this year’s FebruMary celebration. Did you get them all? Visit mtholyoke.edu/go/februmary to see the full word-search key, and for more FebruMary fun!
The Mount Holyoke Fund
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50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075
From its very first issue the Alumnae Quarterly runs advertisements, and in July 1929 the ads begin to appear for the first time on the back cover. William Skinner & Sons, a fabric business with local ties, is the first to appear in the prominent ad space. J U LY 1 93 0
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