Contents: (Volume 15, number 2 -- Fall 1999)
- November 10 tour celebrates fourth-floor revonation by Monica Driscoll Beatty
- A friend for life - Suzanne Carreau Mueller '46
- Wellesley's 'Nasty feminine rows' by Priscilla J. Brewer, Associate Professor of American Studies, University of South Florida
- In praise of donors: an exhibition of gifts to Special Collections by Ruth R. Rogers, Special Collections Librarian
- Govan to lecture on rare botanical illustrations in Special Collections
- Calendar
November 10 tour celebrates fourth-floor renovations
by Monica Driscoll Beatty '78
Friends
of the Library and the staff of Margaret Clapp Library announce with
pleasure completion of the long-awaited fourth-floor renovation. To
celebrate this event, Friends of the Library are invited to attend a
reception at the Library on Wednesday, November 10, from 4:30 to 6:30
p.m. Micheline Jedrey, College Librarian and Vice President for Information
Services, will meet guests at 4:30 p.m. in Clapp lobby to outline the
renovation's history. From 4:45 to 5:45 p.m., visitors can attend guided
tours of the renovated Archives, Special Collections, and Book Arts
Lab, and of the new Conservation facility. Wellesley College Archivist
Wilma Slaight and Archives Assistant Jean Berry will show guests
the Archives, especially the new Reading Room.
A History Wall, located along the exterior
wall of Archives, displays enlarged photographs depicting both non-academic
and academic moments in the lives of Wellesley students: arrivals on
campus, dormitory scenes, social events, classroom activities, and Commencement.
Special Collections Librarian Ruth Rogers and
Special Collections Assistant Jill Bent will be on hand in Special Collections
to answer questions and to direct attention to "In Praise of Donors,"
the exhibition of major gifts to Special Collections throughout its
history.
Book Arts Instructor and Special Collections
Assistant Marilyn Hatch will explain letterpress printing in the Book
Arts Lab and describe the lab's use in teaching the history of the book.
Visitors may print their own book marks and view students'work.
Serials Librarian and Preservation Administrator Jane
Hedberg and Preservation Assistant Sue Leong will guide guests through
the new Conservation facility. This large, high-ceilinged, naturally
fit room houses custom-made workbenches completely outfitted with tools
and supplies for particular treatments. The Conservation area is fully
secured sophisticated sprinkler system and digital one-card access.
A reception in the Book Arts Lab from 5:45 to 6:30 p.m. will cap the
afternoon. Join us to share this remarkable moment in the history of
the Margaret Clapp Library and of Wellesley College.
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Reunion '99 - Alumnae, 150
of whom toured the Library in June, inspect the plotter given to the Knapp Center by Friends. |
Suzanne Carreau Mueller
'46, the impetus behind formation the Friends of the Library, is emphatic:
"Libraries are my bag." With consummate skill, she has raised the profile
of libraries from New York to Massachusetts, increasing their base of
support. For three libraries, including our own, she has created a group
of supporters who are often not users, but who have the libraries' interest
at heart.
In the mid-eighties, when Nan Keohane was College
president, she asked Sue to start a Friends of the Library group. Do
for the Wellesley Library what you're doing for the New York Public
Library, Nan urged. "If the president asks you to do something," says
Sue matter-of-factly, you do it." Working with a Steering Committee,
Sue and Eleanor Gustafson, former College Librarian, established guidelines
for membership and proposed two programs a year at the Library. The
first speaker, popular cookbook author and New York Times writer inspect
plotter Marian Fox Burros '54, drew a large and enthusiastic crowd.
As the number of Friends grew, so did contributions. Responding to Eleanor
Gustafson's "wish list," over time Friends were able to donate funds
to the Library's Special Collections, Book Arts Lab, and other Library
projects.
Suzanne Carreau Mueller '46
Sue's love of libraries sprang from a
love of reading instilled by her mother, Helen McCutcheon Carreau '
17, a collector of books. "I always thought libraries were special places,"
says Sue. As a young mother of five, she had moved from "reader" into
organizational work, raising funds for the Ridgewood, N.J., Public Library
and eventually serving as Chairman of the Ridgewood Libraries and Vice
President of the New Jersey Library Trustees Association.
When Sue and her husband Carl moved to
New York City, their present home, Sue became a Trustee of the New York
Public Library, then in financial straits. Realizing that people who
use libraries most-students, scholars, writers, researchers, and those
seeking to better themselves-have limited discretionary income, Sue
devised programs to involve "the check-writers," many of whom had not
set foot in a public library in years.
A Life member of the Friends, Sue regularly
suggests ideas to its Steering Committee and generously supports the
group's efforts, realizing that libraries' needs have never been greater
as they now adapt to new and expensive information technology. Sue also
served on the College's Board of Trustees for eighteen years and is
a Trustee Emerita.
Like Andrew Carnegie, Sue Mueller believes
that world societies advance through the use and accessibility of libraries.
Users of the Wellesley College Library, this beloved and respected instition
- students, faculty, and researchers - depend on alumnae, on supporters
in the community, and on Friends to meet their needs. We cherish our
first Friend, Sue Mueller.
Wellesley's 'Nasty feminine rows'
by Priscilla J.
Brewer,
Associate Professor of American Studies,
University of South Florida
A hundred years ago, Americans were fascinated by what one song called the "flashing, dashing, modern college girl." Yet people found it hard to take these young women seriously. Magazines ran stories about their "madcap frolics" and advertisers suggested their degrees would help them choose the best corset. Intrigued by this representation, I recently began work on a book about the reality of the "college girl" experience at Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley between 1865 and 1930. My work in the Wellesley Archives suggests that female college students had little in common with the frivolous popular stereotype. The passion with which they pursued campus politics is just one indication that they came to college for much more than "larks and pranks."
The contentiousness of student campaigns was rarely reported in published accounts of college life, yet archival sources reveal intrigues worthy of Tammany Hall. Political struggles began early in Wellesley's history. In letters home, Lucia Grieve of the Class of 1883 recounted the "tough time" she and her classmates had had electing freshman officers. It took them two hours to elect Ruby Harding president, and the difficulties did not stop there. "Over ... Recording Secretary we had another squabble," Grieve reported. "The Presidential election had divided the class into two parts . . . 'The Clique' and 'our side' (Most of 'the clique' belonged to the 'Society set,' the girls who liked to dance, and to be exclusive, while ,our side' were the democratic hard-working girls." Belle French, of "our side," was ultimately chosen, but "the clique" managed to elect May Brewster Class Historian. "We are dreadfully angry," Grieve wrote. "But it can't be helped, so I suppose we must make the best of it." Her disappointment was assuaged when the new president tried to mend fences. "Ruby feels very badly to have her flock so divided," Grieve wrote. 'She ... says I must not despair so of class unity.... She [also] says we must bring our Christianity into everything."
Wellesley's evangelical atmosphere muted these political divisions, but secularization soon promoted a more antagonistic atmosphere. The experience of the Class of 1899 demonstrates how rapidly freshman idealism could degenerate into scheming cynicism. On March 23, 1896, Mabel Lovett Bishop wrote her mother about her class's first election: "At last we have got a President!" she gushed. "Agnes Louise McFarland, the one we wanted. The sophomore president presented McFarland with a gavel 'covered with flowers,' and the junior and senior presidents stopped by with more flowers. Then the freshmen took over the celebration." "[W]e ... carried Miss McFarland down-stairs," Bishop continued. "We have a cry which we christened on that occasion: 'Three times ten times three plus nine, Wellesley Wellesley '99."'
Sadly, the facade of class unity was quickly shattered. On April 8th, the class met to elect a mistress of ceremonies for Tree Day. Three candidates were nominated: Edith Tewksbury, Jeannette Marks, and Lucy Plympton. After five ballots, Plympton withdrew. Nevertheless, the class was unable to elect either 2 Tewksbury or Marks (it is unclear why) and had to schedule another meeting. Perhaps repulsed by her classmates' mulishness, McFarland resigned the presidency. Her stunned fellows quickly voted to reject her resignation, but she insisted on stepping down and Plympton, who tried but failed to withdraw her name, completed (McFarland's) term.
The following fall, after failing three times to convene a quorum, the class elected Martha Griswold president and, in 1897, McFarland was re-elected. Jeannette Marks's name was not mentioned for the presidency in either year, nor was she nominated for any other office. The snub stung and set up a bitter fight for the senior presidency, an office which required a three-fourths majority. On May 12, 1898, Mary Barnett Gilson '99 wrote her parents: "This ... is ... election day. The girls are crazy over the prospects. Lou [McFarland] would stand a fine chance, but the Zeta Alpha girls are ... electioneering for one of their number [Marks] who has opposed Lou since Freshman year, so Lou is going to withdraw her name as soon as she is nominated. She is a very sensitive girl," Gilson went on approvingly, "and says that under no circumstances would she accept the presidency .... It will be a nasty feminine row .... I never heard anything like the mean low things people can say about a girl when they want to defeat her." McFarland, Gilson asserted, "is admired more than any girl in college & it will be consistent with her dignity to step down and out of all the mud-throwing. And won't there be trouble, for the class will fight with teeth and nails on [sic] the other two candidates. I'd sooner leave college than have one of them elected," she concluded, 'but I have vowed ... to keep perfectly mum ... for there will be enough back-biting without mine. I am disgusted with the whole nasty business."
Gilson's predictions were borne out by events. At the class meeting that afternoon, McFarland received 41 nominating votes, Marks 26, Olive Rosencranz, the junior vice president, 24, and Griswold 3. Contrary to Gilson's expectation, however, McFarland allowed her name to be placed in nomination, but the second ballot produced results nearly identical to the first. Class minutes record the chaos that followed: "Miss McFarland withdrew her name.... Motion made and seconded we do not accept Miss McFarland's withdrawal. Carried. Motion made and seconded that the motion not to accept Miss McFarland's with-drawal of her name be rescinded. Lost. Motion made & seconded that a second vote be taken on the question. Motion withdrawn. After discussion ... it was decided that precedent advocated accepting Miss McFarland's withdrawal." That point deter-mined, the class proceeded with the election. Rosencranz was favored over Marks, but Marks's supporters clung to her stubbornly. Finally, on the fifth ballot, Rosencranz was elected.
Political wrangles such as these are significant because they gave female college students the opportunity to debate, campaign, and lobby. These skills proved useful after graduation, particularly to women who became active in social settlements, women's clubs, and local and national efforts to pass women's suffrage and prohibi-tion. Without archival sources such as Wellesley's, however, the nuances and conflicts of young women's collegiate training in politics would be extremely difficult to uncover.
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Chari Isaacs '68 presents
congratulations and $500 check to Kristin Lovejoy '01 for winning
design in Friends-sponsored student logo contest. Design may be
used in Library's celebration of College's 125th anniversary.
|
"In Praise of Donors": An exhibition of gifts to Special Collections
by Ruth R. Rogers, Special Collections Librarian
In conjunction with the recently completed renovation of Special Collections and the entire fourth floor of Margaret Clapp Library, a new exhibition features selected gifts to the Library throughout its history. The word "selected" is key, since major portions of Special Collections result from gifts and generous bequests too numerous to mention.
On display are books and manuscripts dating from the founding of Wellesley College: the first edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, for example, published in 1855, with the famous engraved portrait of the young poet. It is an inscribed presentation copy from Whitman to George Herbert Palmer (husband of Wellesley's second president, Alice Freeman Palmer), whose English Poetry Collection forms one of the largest gifts to the Library. Other early gifts on display include De Laudibus Mariae, a magnificent fourteenth-century illuminated manuscript on vellum given by President Caroline Hazard (who also gave the Browning love letters), and selections from the Elbert Collection on slavery, emancipation, and Reconstruction, given by Ella Smith Elbert, class of 1888, Wellesley's second black graduate.
Alumnae are not the only donors who deserve mention. Fathers and husbands of Wellesley women have been equally generous. In 1920, renowned antiquarian bookseller Charles Eliot Goodspeed, whose two daughters were graduates, gave his comprehensive collection of John Ruskin's major works, containing limited edition books, autograph letters, watercolors, and drawings. A treasure on display from this collection is the unpublished sketchbook of Roadside Songs of Tuscany by Francesca Alexander, an American artist from a prominent Boston family whom Ruskin befriended and assisted. In honor of his wife, Jane Murray Beck, class of 1930, Dr. William C. Beck gave one of the most important books in the history of science, Andreas Vesalius's De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1568), with detailed woodcuts of the muscular, circulatory, and skeletal structure. Based on his own dissections, Vesalius was the first physician to describe the human body systematically.
When is a gift to the Library not a book, but a gift to all books? In 1993, Mr. Walter C. Klein endowed Special Collections with a substantial preservation fund providing annual income to repair fragile books and documents. A professional rare books conservator treated the De Laudibus manuscript mentioned earlier with proceeds from this gift. Mr. Klein created this much needed endowment in memory of his wife, Mary Eddy Klein '42, and in honor of his daughter, Margaret Kennedy Klein '72.
It is impossible to acknowedge in one exhibition the hundreds of donors whose gifts to Special Collections have contributed to its present-day riches in the humanities and the sciences. Those mentioned appear only to tempt the reader to visit "In Praise of Donors." The exhibition is located both inside Special Collections and in display cases on the fourth floor outside the entrance to Special Collections.
"In Praise of Donors" is open to the public during Clapp Library hours, 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 12 - 9 p.m. on Sunday. Special Collections is open from 10-12 and 1-5 weekdays. For more information, call (781)-283-3592.
Govan
to lecture on rare botanical illustrations in Special Collections
|
Using centuries-old books from Special Collections, Carol Govan, noted educator from Garden in the Woods, will lecture on the art of botanical illustration on January 13, 2-4 p.m., in Special Collections. Her program offers a unique opportunity for participants to view such treasures as early scientific illustrations of gorgeous lilies and orchids in "elephant" folios (over-sized) and original, sixteenth-century "herbals" first used as field guides. |
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When Ms. Govan saw these rare books at a Special Collections exhibition five years ago, their splendor made her "heart beat faster." She had seen many photo reproductions of old masterpieces, but viewing original litho-graphs, woodcuts, and engravings added immeasurably to her appreciation both of the botanical illustrations and of the printing processes used.
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Special Collections Librarian Ruth Rogers will arrange books for viewing. She will emphasize procedures for preserving these precious volumes-wearing gloves when handling them, and using velvet book supports to protect spines. Participants will use magnifying glasses to see detail. Because of the fragility of these rare books, program attendance will be limited to twenty. Invitations will be mailed to all Friends in December, and sign-ups will be on a first-come, first-served basis. |
We'd love to hear from you, our readers, if you have suggestions
for activities during this period from Fall 1999 - Spring 2000. Please
contact:
Friends of the Library
Margaret Clapp Library,
Wellesley College,
Wellesley, MA 02481.
NOVEMBER 10
Open house and guided tour of the renovated Fourth Floor. Sponsored by Friends of the Library, 4:30- 5:45 p.m. Margaret Clapp Library. Reception, 5:45-6:30 p.m
NOVEMBER 17
Fall 1999 Authors on Stage. Moderator: Robert D. Hale.Featured authors: Lisa Grunwald, from Whitman to George Herbert not a book, but a gift to all books? editor, Letters of the Century: America 1900-1999; novelist David Huddle, The Story of a Million Years; and Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones, The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind the New York Times. Coffee hour, 9:45 a.m., program, 10:30 a.m. Cost, $15. Call (781) 237-2921 for information and reservations.
JANUARY 13
Carol Govan discussing botanical arts, using materials from Special Collections. Sponsored by Friends of the Library. Special Collections, Clapp Library, 2-4 p.m. Snow date: January 20.
EXHIBITIONS
"In Praise of Donors: An Exhibition of Gifts to Special Collections." October 21 -January 14. Located inside Special Collections and in fourth-floor display cases outside Special Collections entrance. Open to public during Clapp Library Hours, 9 a.m.- 9 p.m., Monday-Saturday, 12-9 p.m. Sunday. Special Collections is open from 10- 12, 1-5 weekdays.For more information, call (781) 283-3592.
Friends of the Library
Steering Committee 1999-2000
Honorary Chairperson
Diana Chapman Walsh '66
Founding Member
Mary E. Jackson '24
Co-Chairpersons
Ruth R. Rogers
June M. Stobaugh '66
Newsletter Editor
Wanda Lankenner MacDonald '72
Steering Committee
Monica D. Beatty '78
Claire M. Broder '61
Nancy Grannan, ex-officio
Judith E. Harper '75
Janice G. Hunt '52
Charlotte L. Isaacs '68
Micheline E. Jedrey
Cynthia Johnson '72
Nancy L Pasley '65
Lia Gelin Poorvu '56
Kathryn Preyer
Melissa Shaw '94, ex-officio
Elinor Bunn Thompson '37
Pamela Walker Turner '65
Kathleen Thompson DS '80
Sigrid R. Watson '47
Virginia B. Wickwire DS '81
Thanks to Paula M. Wagner, Desktop Publishing Specialist, Printing Services, designer of the printed version of the Newsletter.
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Friends of the Wellesley College Library
- Comments to: Nancy Grannan,
- Wellesley College Library
- Date created: December 1, 1999
- Last modified: December 7, 1999
- Expires: permanent