up the suggestion, and with the aid of some of his colleagues, succeeded in interesting many of the prominent members of the faculty. A committee on arrangements was formed of Cambridge ladies: Mrs. Gilman, Mrs. Greenough, Miss Horsford, Miss Longfellow, Mrs. Josiah P. Cooke, and Mrs. Louis Aggasiz, a group described by Mr. Gilman as "The first ladies of Harvard Annex, a body of ladies not exponents of any course, but simply persons of social position interested in the education of women." In February, 1879, the committee issued a circular which stated that: The ladies whose names are appended below are authorized to say that a number of professors and other instructors in Harvard College have consented to give private tuition to properly qualified young women who desire to pursue advanced studies in Cambridge. Other professors, whose occupations prevent them from giving such tuition, are willing to assist young ladies by advice and by lectures.1 This and later circulars made clear that the entrance examinations were to be the same as those of Harvard, that "no instruction will be provided of a lower grade than that given in Harvard College," and that the courses would be identical with those of Harvard College, though fewer in number. Thirty-seven professors and instructors offered courses, among them many of the most distinguished teachers of the university. Five of the group of instructors were nominated as advisory board and were made responsible for the courses of instruction, examinations, etc., thus securing from the beginning the standard of scholarship. The report of 1883 explains more fully why women wish the same curriculum that men have. Women seeking opportunities for the higher education naturally prefer to find them at an institution which is allied, at least, to one established and carried on for men, because they think that there they will be in the line of progress Present them a course of instruction different from that offered to men, and they do not eye it askance because they think it is not so good, but because it is probably just out of the line upon which progress and improvement are to be expected. This is one of the reasons why thoughtful women have less confidence in courses of instruction especially prepared for them than they have in that one upon which the wisdom of men has for generations been working and is still working. Furthermore, Radcliffe believed that it had the advantage in the way in which its curriculum was administered. The secretary states: In Smith College the teaching force is composed of men and women, în Wellesley College the teaching is done by women only. In our classes. on the contrary, the instructors are men only, and we are still more restricted in our 1 Warner, Joseph. Radcliffe College, p. 332. 2 Ibid., p. 333. Harvard Graduates' Magazine, March, 1894, choice, for the men who already give instruction in Harvard College are the only ones from whom we permit ourselves to select our teachers.1 Although the salaries given to the professors were inappreciable, the college, since it had no endowment, needed some money. Boston was interested in the experiment and at once supplied money enough to carry it on for four years. A few rooms rented in a house at 6 Appian Way provided a place where the instructors could meet their classes, and 27 students began their work there in September, 1879. The courses offered were much more numerous than those which were in 1879 prescribed for Harvard freshmen. Most of the Radcliffe students were specials and many were ready to take advantage of advanced work. Only three began the regular required course. The departments of study opened were: Greek, Latin, German, * French, Sanskrit, English, philosophy, political economy, history, music, mathematics, physics, botany. * * * * The departments marked with a star were prescribed elementary courses in the freshman year at Harvard, and therefore at Radcliffe. The second year's curriculum offered: Greek, 4 courses; Latin, 6 courses; Sanskrit and comparative philology, 1 course; English, 4 courses; German, 5 courses; French, 4 courses; Italian and Spanish, 3 courses; philosophy, 6 courses; political economy, 2 courses; history, 5 courses; music, 3 courses; mathematics, 5 courses; physics, 4 courses; mineralogy, 2 courses; natural history (geology, 1; botany, 2; zoology, 2), 5 courses. Of these 59 courses the secretary reports that 29 were taught to 42 ladies. The department of mineralogy had been opened to replace chemistry, which could not be given because of lack of laboratory. Two years later the difficulty was overcome, and the department of chemistry started in 1882. In 1881 Sanskrit and comparative philology became a separate department, and the fine arts and astronomy were added. After the addition of Hebrew in 1883, and some voluntary lectures in physiology and hygiene, no new departments were added for eight years. The number of courses in that time, however, increased steadily from 59 to 77, and the number of instructors from 37 to 55. At Radcliffe the curriculum was kept in advance of the demand upon it. The explanation is given in the regents' annual report of 1894. When this very full list was made and published, it was with knowledge that but few could be found able or could make it convenient with such short notice to enter upon the work the first year, but it was considered wise to present it 1 Report of the Secretary. Twelfth year, 1891. 2 Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women. Report of first year. Arthur Gilman, secretary. P. 15. entire in the hope that many, seeing that such advanced work is offered here, might prepare themselves to share it in the future, if it should not prove pos sible to do so at once.1 The catalogue early stated that "the managers reserve the right to withdraw any course not taken by three persons." 2 On the other hand, the course in astronomy won a place in the curriculum through the persistence of one student in 1881. In the fifth report, 1884, the committee states that it "prefers to err on the side of generosity as often as possible, because it is the most advanced students who give character to the classes and the institution." Even in the 1914 report of the president and treasurer, 47 courses were noted as having been given to less than three students in a class. In her curriculum, Radcliffe has from the beginning been generous in her response to the intellectual demands of her students. During the third year, the "managers" obtained a charter under the seal of the State of Massachusetts, and a legal name, "The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women," a name which was seldom used, however, as by this time the title "Harvard Annex" had the sanction of usage. The charter announced the aim of the organization, "to promote the education of women with the assistance of the instructors of Harvard University." 3 Under the heading, "The Society not creating, but satisfying a demand," the secretary's report makes a statement of the aims of the society. The emphasis on the value of education per se strikes a note a little different from that of Mr. Vassar or Mr. Durant.^ Mrs. Agassiz, in her report, remarks: Were every facility offered them, however, we hardly suppose that women would ever look upon a college course of study subsequent to their school life as an inevitable or even necessary part of their education; nor do I think it would seem to any of us desirable that they should do so. But this being granted, there still remain quite enough for whom such a completion of their early training is important in view of their occupation as teachers, and if there are others who ask it purely for its own sake, we surely should not deny them. 1 Regents' Annual Report, 1894, p. 16. 2 Courses of Study, 1882-83. * Reports of the Secretary and Treasurer. of Women. Third year. p. 3. The Society for the Collegiate Instruction "It is not the purpose of the society to stimulate a demand for the education that it offers. Its directors have never held the doctrine that it is the duty of every young woman to pass through a regular course of study such as is represented by the four years' course of the candidates for the bachelor's degree in college. simply to offer women advantage for this highest instruction and to admit to the It is their wish privileges of the society anyone who may actually need them. "The teachers of America are to a large degree women, and it is desirable that all But it is not teachers only who wish the highest 1 In 1894 she writes of the purpose with which the college started as that "of making a large and liberal provision for the education of women according to their tastes and pursuits, and according also to their necessities, should it be needful for them to use their education as a means of support." The estimate which Radcliffe has had of special students has been different from that of the other colleges for women. Their admission has, as the other colleges feared, inevitably acted on the curriculum, but apparently not in the manner conventionally expected. One report states: The special students have among us an unusual importance, because they represent investigators, sometimes advanced in years and experience, who come to us with a strong purpose which contact with the world and a struggle for self-support have intensified to an extent that the ordinary undergraduate has no conception of. These women when they leave us carry our methods and principles into immediate action, applying them with energy, and with an efficiency which the graduate from a four years' course can obtain only after years of labor.2 After its charter, the next important acquisition of the college was a place in which it might be more comfortably housed. In 1885 Fay House, on Garden Street, was purchased, and the idea of the college for the first time took on corporeal embodiment. Laboratories and lecture rooms in which the instructors could actually leave material for their students provided an equipment by no means equal to that of Harvard, but at least supplying the students with the conveniences generally supposed to be essential to an education. For the next few years the number of courses remained about the same, in the neighborhood of 58. The report of the secretary for the third year announces under, "Courses offered but not taken: It appears that 28 courses were given during the year, and that 27 offered were not given. This shows that the courses offered are for the present beyond the immediate demand for any one year, but, as the demand varies from year to year, with the progress of the different classes and the differing tastes and needs of the students, the list of electives can not be curtailed to advantage.3 Up to 1894, the governing board at Harvard had not officially recognized the college, though the body of instructors connected with it included many of the older and more influential men of the university. On December 6, 1893, the board of overseers of Harvard by unanimous vote gave its consent to an arrangement to be made between the university and the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women, assuming definite and official relations with the work. In 1 Report of president, 1894, p. 9. 2 Report of secretary, 1888. Report of secretary, third year, 1882. "Voted, That it is desirable to change the name of this corporation [The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women] to Radcliffe College, and that proper legal steps be taken to effect that change." March, 1894, an act was signed by the governor which allowed “the younger institution to enter upon the heritage of the traditions and opportunities which it has been the good fortune of the older institution to attain during its long history."1 By this time the quality of the work at Radcliffe was well established. Says Joseph Warner: It is to be remembered that the grade of undergraduate work of the annex is that of Harvard College, which is decidedly in advance of that of almost every other college, whether of men or women, in this country. At least the entire work now done in the senior year at the annex would be graduate work in any American college to which women are now admitted, and any woman whose proficiency is fixed by the A. B. degree of one of those colleges must take an entire year of work in the annex before being qualified for its final certificate." Except for the introduction of comparative literature in 1892, and of economics to replace political economy, in 1893, no new departments had been added since 1883. In this one year, then, 1894-95, by the new classification of courses, and by actual addition, seven new departments appeared in the catalogue. With the declared connection with the university in 1894, the number of electives was increased. The following table compares the course of instruction in the different departments as given in 1893-94, and as offered for 1894-95: 3 1 Radcliffe College. The Regent's Annual Report, 1894, p. 15. 2 Warner, Joseph B. Radcliffe College. Harvard Graduates' Magazine, March, 1894, p. 338. Report of Regents, 1894, p. 16. |