March 11, 1919: Letter to a Student

In some ways, little has changed for students at the College of William and Mary since the early 20th century. The College of William and Mary remains a relatively inexpensive choice considering the unique atmosphere on the campus. But college is college and although it may seem trite to repeat, colleges and universities across time and space have shared a common reality: students are broke.

Below is the transcription of a two-page letter sent to student Evelyn V. Palmer from her mother dated and postmarked March 11, 1919. Evelyn Palmer graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1920 and was part of the first class of women to enroll at William and Mary in 1918. Miss Palmer lived on campus in the Tyler Hall dormitory. It appears that Evelyn had asked her mother for money in a previous letter. Although we do not have that original letter, we do have her mother’s response to the request and while it did not include the requested funds there was the promise of a bit of money later. Evelyn’s mother answered by writing that she would travel to Williamsburg to sell "goods" to raise some money the next week. Perhaps in a 1910’s context such a proposition would not seem as foreign as it would to students today!

March 11,1919;

Dear Evelyn,

I received your letter and am sorry you feel so lonesome.

I wish I could let you have a lot of money. I do the best I can and your request for three dollars was unexpected and did bother me.

I will come to Williamsburg next week for a couple of days and hope I can sell some goods.

The chickens are growing real nice. The new brooder beats lamp brooding all to pieces.

Daddy is working at the city clerk’s office with Mr. Hutchins, this week. I don’t know how long the work will last.

There isn’t any news here and the chickens and everything keeps me so busy. I don’t know what to do first.

We all send lots of love your loving Mamma

And this final note was written in at the top of the letter: "I will send you some change soon."


This post was composed by Michael Lusby.


This letter sent to student Evelyn Palmer is a new addition to the resources in the Special Collections Research Center, but unlike the "new" scrapbook that was uncovered in 2008 while this blog was being published, this letter arrived earlier this year. The letter (and its envelope) were donated in January 2010 by Connie Green. Ms. Green had no relationship to William and Mary, but found the letter amongst material she purchased at an estate sale. She realized William and Mary was the best place for the letter and we can't help but agree!


For additional information about the first women students at the College of William and Mary see: When Mary Entered with her Brother William: Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945 by Laura F. Parrish; "The Petticoat Invasion": Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945; The Martha Barksdale Papers; and the Women at the College of William and Mary page on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki.

Remembering Their William and Mary Years

In September 1918, women entered the classrooms of the College of William and Mary and made history. We know that in the minds of at least some of the early women students, their actions were not necessarily viewed as ground breaking.

In 1982, some of these early women students shared their experiences at William and Mary in surveys for graduate student Laura Parrish's thesis. One woman remembered her friends' romances, while another commented on her role as a "house president" of Tyler Hall. Most conveyed a sense of honor and pride that they had been able to attend William and Mary. One said specifically "I can truthfully say that the years that I spent at W + M (sic) were the happiest years of my life."

Although some women fondly remembered the College, those feelings were, not surprisingly, not univerisal. One woman said that "as a freshman...I was not very happy." She recalled that "Co-eds were not welcomed by the men," and nothing about the College felt welcoming.

As with any event, personal experience and memories are nuanced and rarely universal. For example, in the 1970s oral history interview of alumna Janet Coleman Kimbrough, Emily Williams, the interviewer, asked if Kimbrough felt that she and the other women "was striking a blow for women's rights in some way" when they enrolled. Kimbrough stated bluntly "no, I don't think we felt that way," even though the professors and others constantly called them "pioneers," something that Kimbrough hated. "We got very tired of that word," explains Kimbrough.

As the 1918-1919 school year closed, these women likely looked back on it with mixed feelings. Some may have felt proud and enthusiastic about the year gone by and looking forward to returning in the fall. Others may just have been glad it was over. As much as some may not have liked the moniker, these students will always be remembered as pioneers.


This post was composed by Jordan Ecker.


For additional information about the first women students at the College of William and Mary see: When Mary Entered with her Brother William: Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945 by Laura F. Parrish; "The Petticoat Invasion": Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945; The Martha Barksdale Papers; and the Women at the College of William and Mary page on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki.

June 10, 1919: Commencement Activities Part 2

The final day of College of William and Mary commencement activities in 1919 was a lighter day with the final exercises, including the all important conferring of nine bachelors degrees and five teacher's diplomas upon the graduates, on Tuesday, June 10th followed by the aptly named Final Ball later in the evening.

The commencement program opened with an academic procession from the library (today's Tucker Hall) to the chapel in the Wren Building. An opening prayer was given by Rev. John K. Walker followed by a musical selection and the commencement address by George Bryan. Awards and honors were then presented followed by the awarding of Teacher's Diplomas and Bachelor of Science and Arts degrees. After another musical interlude, the honorary Doctor of Laws degree was bestowed on President Lyon G. Tyler by Rector of the Board of Visitors James H. Dillard. After a fifth musical selection, the retiring William and Mary president gave his closing remarks.

Tyler's farewell address (which was also his final report to the Board of Visitors) naturally recounted his time in service to the institution as its president over the previous thirty-one years. The complete text of his address is available in the Special Collections Research Center with an excerpt provided here:

"I have never seen the State of Virginia yet refuse an appropriation when the argument could be advanced that the College was over-flowing. I rejoice that my last fight in the Legislature for the admission of women will contribute to this end. The experiment of admitting women to the College of William and Mary has been fully vindicated by the results of this session. The young ladies have been models of decorum and have stood among the first in their classes. I rejoice that old William and Mary has taken the lead among the colleges of Virginia in this particular, and I hope soon to see women accorded all the legal and political rights which justly belong to them."

While none of women students who entered William and Mary in the fall of 1918 were among the graduates of 1919, they would begin participating in the annual festivities the following year. In 1920, Margaret Marion Lee received a Teacher's Diploma and Edna Zinn Juchhoff earned her Masters of Arts degree. Their place among the "firsts" were followed in 1921 when six women participating in commencement exercises earned their Bachelors of Arts and three women earned the Bachelors of Science in Music.

For additional information about the first women students at the College of William and Mary see: When Mary Entered with her Brother William: Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945 by Laura F. Parrish; "The Petticoat Invasion": Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945; The Martha Barksdale Papers; and the Women at the College of William and Mary page on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki.

June 9, 1919: Annual Report from the President

On June 9, 1919, outgoing President Lyon G. Tyler submitted his final annual report to the Board of Visitors. President Tyler provided an overview of the academic year at the College of William and Mary including attendance numbers, average age of the students, and resignations of professors. Within his report, which was also published as his farewell address, President Tyler commented on the state or experience of admitting female student to the College of William and Mary:

"The experiment of admitting women to the College has been fully vindicated by the results of this year. The young ladies were models of decorum and stood among the first in their classes. I rejoice that it helped in the Legislature to have William and Mary take the lead among Virginia colleges in this particular, and hope soon to see women fully accorded all the rights of the law and suffrage, which justly belong to them. Miss Baer's Department of Economics was also put upon a good footing, and she was herself useful to the state by visiting at the request of the State Superintendent many of the high schools of the Commonwealth. It is to be hoped that next year, with the certain influx of women students already guaranteed to us, her classes will be fully attended, which was too much to expect from the late hour at which she was called to the College last session. She asks for an assistant to round out her courses."

Later in President Tyler's report, he mentions the pioneering class of women when discussing the history of enrollment at the College:

"When we come to the attendance of students at the Institution we note that the largest number ever at the College before 1888 was in 1840 when the number reached 140--30 of whom were law students. The year before the European War (1916) the number was 237. The introduction of women, through the Bill introduced in the Legislature by Hon. Aubrey Strode, doubles the opportunity for development, and when normal times return the attendance of the College should reach readily 500."

It is clear from President Tyler's comments in this report to the Board of Visitors and in previous reports, the addition of women as students was beneficial to the College of William and Mary. In addition, President Tyler's support of the women students and their rights as human beings was important to Tyler, as he mentions his desire for women's suffrage. While this may have been a political and financial move, the College of William and Mary and President Tyler, were pioneers in furthering the social, cultural and political stance of women in Virginia.


This post was composed by Jeffreen Hayes.

For additional information about the first women students at the College of William and Mary see: When Mary Entered with her Brother William: Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945 by Laura F. Parrish; "The Petticoat Invasion": Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945; The Martha Barksdale Papers; and the Women at the College of William and Mary page on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki.

June 7-9, 1919: Commencement Activities Part 1

Commencement activities at the College of William and Mary in 1919 were similar to those 90 years later in that events were held over the course of several days from June 7-10th and featured a mix of ceremony and entertainment for the graduates.

Activities began on Saturday, June 7th, with the Cotillion Club Dance in the evening. Sunday morning there was a Baccalaurate (sic) Sermon by Rev. C. Braxton Bryan, D.D. Activities continued on Monday with the Final Literary Society Program in the morning, Senior Class Exercises in the afternoon, the Alumni Address and the Alumni Smoker in the evening, with another dance - this time the Kappa Sigma Dance - closing out the evening.

Among the oldest records of student organizations at the College of William and Mary are those from the various literary societies, of which William and Mary had several. These societies, which were popular all over the country in the late eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, sought to train their members in public speaking by sponsoring debates and dramatic readings. Some also assigned their members to write essays, which were then critiqued. While the Special Collections Research Center does not have a complete set of records from all of the literary societies, substantial quantities of these records do exist, including nineteenth and twentieth- century minute books, constitutions, by-laws, membership lists, and treasurer's books. The Phoenix and Philomathean Societies, although not the oldest groups, were the longest lived and therefore more material exists for them including from the early twentieth century.

The Hon. Schuyler Otis Bland attended the College of William and Mary and in 1919, when he gave the Alumni Address to the soon-to-be-minted newest alumni, was still a new member of the U.S. House of Representatives, having been elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-fifth Congress in 1918 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Rep. William A. Jones. Bland was reelected to the Sixty-sixth and to the fifteen succeeding Congresses and served until his death in 1950. Bland's personal papers are part of the Special Collections Research Center's collections and available for public use in Swem Library.

For additional information about the first women students at the College of William and Mary see: When Mary Entered with her Brother William: Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945 by Laura F. Parrish; "The Petticoat Invasion": Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945; The Martha Barksdale Papers; and the Women at the College of William and Mary page on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki.

June 1919: Physical Director of Women

The June 1919 Bulletin of the College of William and Mary, which published the academic year catalogue 1918-1919, listed a new physical director of women, Bertha Wilder. This is inline with the hiring of new staff to oversee and educate the newly admitted Marys. Although Ms. Wilder is listed in the catagloue, her hire is not mentioned in the Board of Visitors meeting minutes. The catalogue defines and describes the necessity of physical education for women as

"The physical training for women includes various forms of gymnasium exercises, folk dancing, basket-ball, field hockey, baseball and tennis. Every student is required to take three hours a week of regular gymnasium work, unless excused for reasons of health; in which case special exercises will be adopted by the physical director to suit the individual needs of the student."

In addition to the 1918-1919 catalgoue, Ms. Wilder appears in the 1919 Colonial Echo yearbook with the title of "Athletic Director."

This post was composed by Jeffreen Hayes.


For additional information about the first women students at the College of William and Mary see: When Mary Entered with her Brother William: Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945 by Laura F. Parrish; "The Petticoat Invasion": Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945; The Martha Barksdale Papers; and the Women at the College of William and Mary page on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki.

May 14, 1919: Stay in Williamsburg for Commencement

The Flat Hat newspaper implored College of William and Mary students to remain in Williamsburg in the article "Remain for Finals" (see page 2) of the May 14, 1919, issue.

"It is now time for every student in College to begin to make plans for remaining in Williamsburg through Finals. No three or four days could be spent more wisely. Many students go through the first three years of their college life and have never been present at a single commencement exercise. The consequence is that when, at the end of their fourth year, they find themselves about to graduate, they have no idea what to look forward to in the way of celebrations. And then it is that they begin to realize that they have lost much that could so easily have been taken advantage of if they had only done so.


Perhaps one of the best arguments why a student should remain on the campus until the close of all activities is because of the support and respect that he owes to the graduating class."

The article concluded: "So we trust that the habit of boarding the first train after examinations have closed will not prevail this year. We shall have several long, warm months to stay at home after we get there and no doubt shall grow restless under them, so let all of us put off going home for just a few days, and stay over in Williamsburg; have a jolly good time and give the class of ’19 the biggest send off of any class that has ever left our institution."


For additional information about the first women students at the College of William and Mary see: When Mary Entered with her Brother William: Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945 by Laura F. Parrish; "The Petticoat Invasion": Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945; The Martha Barksdale Papers; and the Women at the College of William and Mary page on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki.