Metcalf House, physicians' residence and convalescent home for students, was completed, York & Sawyer, architects. It was the gift of Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Metcalf, parents of Cornelia Metcalf Bontecue, '14.
Pratt House, a residence for the Warden, was completed, York & Sawyer, architects. It was given by Charles M. Pratt, trustee of the college, 1896-1920.
Henry Noble MacCracken, Chaucerian scholar, graduate of New York University with the doctoral degree from Harvard University, assumed the presidency of Vassar College. Dr. MacCracken had taught English at Yale University and Smith College.
Following the junior prom, students were permitted to have male guests on campus on Sunday for the first time since the founding of the college.
Ralph Adams Cram, architect, lectured on "The Culmination of Gothic Architecture in the Thirteenth Century".
The Founder's Day program included the opening and presentation of Taylor Hall, Art Gallery, Allen & Collens, architects. The building was given by Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Pratt in honor of James Monroe Taylor, President, 1886-1914. The event also signalized the opening of the first loan exhibition. Mr. Pratt was a trustee and a generous donor. 1n 1917 he presented a collection of Italian paintings selected by Oswald Siren.
By special request of Vassar students, the Broadway success, Daddy Long Legs, from the book written by Jean Webster, '01, was given at the Collingwood Opera House in Poughkeepsie.
The outdoor theatre was completed. It was given anonymously by Trustee Charles M. Pratt.
The Fiftieth Anniversary of the opening of Vassar College was celebrated with a four-day program which included the following events: Alumnae Commemoration with addresses by Mary Augusta Scott, '76, Ellen Churchill Semple, '82, and Julia Clifford Lathrop, '80; Academic Commemoration, with addresses by President Emeritus James Monroe Taylor, Emily James Putnam and Lillian D. Wald; Intercollegiate Student Conference on "The Function of Non-Academic Activities;" The Pageant of Athena, composed and presented by Vassar College students under the direction of Hazel MacKaye; Vassar Milestones, a play written by alumnae and staged by the New York Branch of the Associate Alumnae; Inauguration of Henry Noble MacCracken as President of Vassar College, with addresses by John H. Finley, George Lyman Kittredge and Dr. MacCracken; Salutations from Mary Emma Woolley, Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve and Arthur Twining Hadley. George E. Dimock was Chairman of the Committee of Trustees, Amy L. Reed, '92, Chairman of the Faculty Committee, and Constance Rourke, '07, the Chronicler.
William Lyon Phelps, Lampson Professor of English at Yale University, lectured on "A Literary Pilgrimage in England".
In recognition of the notable service of the alumnae, the Trustees voted to increase by two the number of alumnae representatives on the Board of Trustees.
Pablo Casals, Spanish violoncellist, conductor and composer, gave a recital under the auspices of the Students' Association.
John Masefield, British poet, lectured on "English Poetry". He lectured again in 1918.
Former President William Howard Taft lectured on "Our World Relationships".
The Ellen H. Richards Memorial Fund was established through gift of the Associate Alumnae of Vassar College in memory of Ellen Swallow Richards, '70. Dr. Richards, a chemist and leader in the home economics movement, was dedicated to broadening the field of science for women. In 1873, she was the first woman to receive the B.S. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Shakespeare Garden, planned in part by the Shakespeare classes under Professor Winifred Smith, '04, was laid out by classes in Botany.
The Shakespeare-Cervantes Tercentenary was celebrated on Founder's Day with production of scenes from Cervantes' Captivity and performance of his Man Who Cured His Wife of Talking and of Shakespeare's Tempest.
The Committee on Admission was formed with C. Mildred Thompson, '03, Assistant Professor of History, as Secretary.
The Permanent Conference of Four Colleges, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Vassar and Wellesley, was established.
President MacCracken announced the completion of the one million dollar endowment fund raised by alumnae and friends of the college. The alumnae had pledged $800,000 to meet a conditional gift from the General Education Board of $200,000. Associate Warden Louise P. Sheppard, '96, was chairman of the alumnae committee.
The Frederick Weyerhaeuser Chair of Biblical Literature was established by Mrs. William Bancroft Hill in memory of her father. It was first held by William Bancroft Hill, Professor of Biblical Literature, 1899-1921.
The Vassar Dramatic Workshop, initiated by the first class in playwriting under Gertrude Buck, Professor of English, 1897-1922, gave its first production, a one-act play adapted from Lagerlof's "A Christmas Guest".
Wilfred Wilson Gibson of Malvern, England, gave a reading from his poems.
Lincoln Center, a community center for underprivileged children, was opened in downtown Poughkeepsie. The idea for the project originated with Mrs. Henry Noble MacCracken and Miss Mary E. Reid, secretary of the Y.W.C.A. in Poughkeepsie. It was sponsored by the Christian Association.
Ground broken for addition of two L-shaped wings on north and south sides of Thompson Memorial Library, Allen & Collens, architects. Gift of Mrs. Mary Clark Thompson, donor of the original building.
"House at 3:12 A.M., Votes for War, 373 to 50; $3,000,000,000 Asked for Army of 1,000,000; Nation's Gigantic Resources Mobilized." New York Times. On this day Maria Dickinson McGraw, a graduate of the Class of 1867, presented an American flag and a fund of $1867 to endow it. The flag was raised by her son, Capt. Stanley McGraw.
Professor Irving Fisher of Yale University spoke on "Life Extension" under the auspices of the Ellen S. Richards Memorial Fund. His talk was published as the first Ellen S. Richards monograph.
The Vassar Dramatic Workshop presented The Princess Marries the Page by Edna St. Vincent Millay, '17, with the author in the leading role.
Julia C. Stimson, '01, sailed for Europe as Chief Nurse of Base Hospital 21, of the St. Louis Unit. In April 1918 she was assigned to the American Red Cross in Paris, where she became Chief Nurse of the Red Cross Nursing Service. In November she was appointed Director of the Nursing Service of the A.E.F. and in July 1919, appointed Acting Superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps and Dean of the Army School of Nursing. On December 30, 1919, she was appointed Superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps. The amended Defense Act of June 4, 1920, gave her the relative rank of major, the only woman in the army in that grade at the time. She continued as Superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps until 1937. In 1942 she was recalled to active service to recruit nurses for the Army Nurse Corps.
The Marston Graduate Fellowship in Music was established by Edgar L. Marston, trustee of Vassar, 1905-1923, and chairman of the Committee on Music. The first recipient was Edith S. Woodruff, '09, a member of the Music Department, 1914-1950.
President MacCracken was appointed National Director of Junior Membership Bureau of the American Red Cross, serving until December 1918. The Junior Red Cross, established by the War Council, was developed and organized by Dr. MacCracken.
The annual fee for tuition and residence was raised to $550.
Dr. Preserved Smith, author, of Poughkeepsie lectured on "Luther and the Reformation after Four Hundred Years".
In the summer of 1917, at the suggestion of Commissioner John H. Finley of New York State, the trustees authorized twelve Vassar students to work eight hours a day on the college farm. The following summer about 200 students participated in the program. Alice M. Campbell, '17, was student manager of the Farm Unit.
The Museum, originally the Riding School and Calisthenium, was remodeled as Assembly Hall to provide a stage and auditorium and classrooms. In 1931/32 the name was changed to Avery in honor of Dr. Alida Avery, Physician and Professor of Physiology and Hygiene from 1865 to 1874.
Vassar was the first college in America to enter drama as a course and to use the theatre in teaching English.
The Associate Alumnae voted to send a Vassar Relief Unit abroad. The Unit was recruited from alumnae and funds were donated by Vassar students, faculty, alumnae and friends. Fanny S. Townsend, '02, was chairman of the Vassar Unit Committee; Elizabeth H. Haight, '94, was the faculty member; the overseas adviser was Major Julia C. Stimson, '01, Chief of the A.E.F. Nursing Service. Under Margaret Lambie, '07, Director, members of the Unit served overseas in the eight Red Cross Recreation Huts for convalescent soldiers at the American Base Hospital Center, Savenay, France, where the Unit was in charge of the Huts. After the Armistice four members of the Unit remained in France, when the Vassar Relief Unit was transferred to Verdun to work under the French government. A Vassar Y.M.C.A. Canteen Unit under Elizabeth K. Van der Veer, '06, was located at Camp Genicart, near Bordeaux. Helen I. Haight, '98, served at Tourney Y., Bordeaux.
Fire destroyed a large part of rear wing of Main Building. Damage was estimated at $165,000. As part of the Main Building reconstruction, Underwood Hall, a two-storied dining room was erected by Allen & Collens, architects. The dining room was given by the Class of 1880 in memory of their classmate, Jennie Cushing Underwood.
Dr. George Sarton of Harvard University spoke on "The History of Science".
A new constitution for the Students' Association was adopted by the faculty and ratified by the students. A more definite statement of the Honor System and provisions for a uniform proctorless system in all halls were important changes. "If you want students to respond to their opportunities at Vassar, make them responsible. There is no other way." The Hickory Limb, by H.N. MacCracken.
John Dewey lectured on "The New Social Psychology".
Thompson Library addition opened to Vassar Community on Founder's Day. During the summer of 1918, all 100,000 books shifted to allow for expansion space in every section.
The college was host for the first "Township Day". A branch of the Public Health Committee, under the chairmanship of Helen Kenyon, '05, directed the occasion. Events included a community sing, a pageant, a track meet for the children, a picnic lunch in the Circle, an address by President MacCracken and presentation of banners to the fifteen schools enrolled in the Junior Red Cross, of which Dr. MacCracken was National Director.
The American Red Cross financed a Training Camp for Nurses at Vassar College, June 29 - Sept. 13, offering college graduates intensive pre-hospital nursing instruction. Professor Herbert E. Mills, Chairman of the Department of Economics, was Dean. Four hundred and thirty-five students, representing one hundred and ten colleges, attended.
Raymond Room, formerly President Raymond's library in the Main Building, was furnished by two alumnae as a place for recreational reading. In 1927 Elizabeth G. Houghton, '73, established the Florence M. Cushing Fund, an endowment fund for the Raymond Room, given in memory of Miss Cushing, a member of the Class of 1874 and long a trustee of the college.
The annual fee for tuition and residence was raised to $650.
"Armistice Signed, End of the War!" New York Times.
The Associate Alumnae transferred to the college $75,000, their first payment for the Vassar Emergency Fund, to be used for the reconstruction of the Main Building. By May the alumnae had raised over $450,000.
Alfred Noyes lectured on "England and America", with readings from his own poems.
The Students' Association voted: "No Vassar student shall smoke while under the jurisdiction of the college, this rule to be enforced under the honor system." The rule was modified in 1925 "to lay responsibility on the individual permitting her to smoke inconspicuously" not in dormitories or other college buildings.
"La Goutte de Lait," a milk station and dispensary providing for babies, the sick, the old and the indigent, was established at Verdun by the Vassar Relief Unit. It was financed by the Unit through September 1920 when, the municipality of Verdun, with the help of Luxembourg and the Netherlands, continued it until the invasion of France in World War II. Elsa Butler Grove, '05, was Vice Director, succeeding Margaret Lambie.
The New York Philharmonic Society, directed by Josef Stransky, gave the first of a series of concerts presented to the college by Edgar L, Marsten, trustee, 1905 - 1923.
Ruth Crawford, '12, went to Prague as head of a group which made a social survey of the city at the request of Alice Masaryk, daughter of the President of Czechoslovakia, who had appealed to the Y.W.C.A. for help. Other members of the group were Mary Hurlbutt and Elinor Prudden, also of the Class of 1912.
The Centenary of Whitman's birth was celebrated by a special Founder's Day program with an address by Edgar Lee Masters, poet. John Burroughs was present and at the close of Masters' address gave an impromptu appreciation of his friend, Whitman. In the summer of 1878 Burroughs had brought Whitman to the college to call on Professor Ritter. The program included a Song contest, the faculty-student baseball game, a pageant and two operas by the Society of American Singers. A Walt Whitman exhibition was held in the Library.
A college procession from the Chapel to Vassar Lake was led by the President, followed by the choir, the faculty and the students. Five trees were planted by the President of the Students' Association and the presidents of the four classes in memory of Lieutenant Alvin Treadwell, son of Aaron L. Treadwell, Professor of Zoology, 1900-1937, Amabel S. Roberts, 113, Ruth Cutler, '12, Dorothea Gay, '11, and those members of the alumnae who died while serving their country.
A memorial service was held by the Associate Alumnae, with an address by the Rev. Henry Stimson of New York. A tablet was placed in the chapel in honor of alumnae who gave their lives in service during the World War.
"Germans Reach Versailles, Treaty to be Signed Today." New York Times.
A Metropolitan Opera box was given to students and faculty by an anonymous donor. It was available annually until the forties.
Tokyo College was adopted as part of "Vassar-in-Japan" program supported by the Christian Association.
Mr. Josef Stransky, Director of the New York Philharmonic Society, gave, for the use of Vassar students, three boxes at four Saturday evening concerts by the New York Philharmonic Society in New York City.
A new plan of admission was adopted by Mount Holyoke, Smith, Vassar and Wellesley, with competitive examinations superseding admission by certificate.
"The 'doorblocks', pads suspended on bedroom doors to receive messages when the occupant was absent or oak-bound, invited scribbles in rhyme, and for a time doorblocks flourished as a type of occasional verse. Some of them were so witty that they were preserved in student albums and memory books. I once offered a prize for the best doorblock, and John Livingstone Lowes of Harvard not only was good enough to act as judge, but came to college and delivered his famous essay 'The Fine Frenzy and the Quiet Eye. ' Much of it later appeared in his great book 'The Road to Xanadu.'" The Hickory Limb, by H.N. MacCracken. Professor Lowes also lectured at the college in March 1922 on "Convention and Revolt in Poetry".
NIneteenth Amendment to U.S. Constitution ratified, granting vote to women.
The Folklore Foundation was established by the gift of an anonymous donor. Martha Warren Beckwith held this research professorship from 1920 until her retirement in 1938, when the Foundation ceased. Fourteen publications were issued by the Foundation.
Vachel Lindsay read his poems. "Vachell Lindsay was so exalted by the success of his reading of 'The Congo' and other poems that he serenaded the seniors afterwards, as they hung perilously from the corridor windows of Main. He made up his own cheer for Vassar, borrowing an apothegm from Josh Billings, whom he was delighted to find as local hero. He chanted:
Better not to know so many things Than to know so much that ain't so! Vassar! Vassar! Vassar!
It took hours to get him to bed, for he was intoxicated with a far more heady wine than mere alcohol." The Hickory Limb, by H.N. MacCracken.
The Mary Augusta Scott Chair of English was established by bequest of Mary Augusta Scott, '76. Dr. Scott, teacher of Rhetoric and Anglo-Saxon at Vassar, 1882-1883, was the first woman to hold a fellowship at Yale University, and one of the first group of women to receive the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The chair was first held by Laura Johnson Wylie, '77, Professor of English, 1895-1924.
Dr. Winifred Clara Cullis, Professor of Physiology at the London School of Medicine for Women, gave a series of lectures on the Ellen H. Richards Foundation.
The annual fee for tuition and residence was raised to $800.
Jan Masaryk, Ambassador from Czechoslovakia, spoke in the chapel. He was later entertained in President MacCracken's home by the five Czech students at Vassar, members of the Class of 1922.
The College participated in the 600th anniversary observance of Dante's death with an address by Bruno Roselli, Professor of Italian, at the Nelson House, Poughkeepsie. Under Dr. Roselli's guidance Vassar students had taken part in a Dante pilgrimage during the summer.
The Salary Endowment Fund was inaugurated with the faculty's request that the trustees be asked to accept $500,000 from the General Educator Board on condition that $1,500,000 in addition be raised. Edna W. Brezee, '05, was campaign director for the alumnae.
Edna St. Vincent Millay, '17, read from her own poems. "The audience... was so large that it was necessary to adjourn to Students' Building... Miss Millay read her poems with an informality which captivated the audience at once, and which seemed her especial prerogative as a very recent graduate. Her interpretation of her poetry, simple and unconscious of self, lent it especial charm." Vassar Miscellany News, Dec. 1920.
Abbe Ernest Dimnet of Paris lectured on "What Americans Should Seek in France."
John Cowper Powys, English author and lecturer, spoke on "Hardy and Meredith - a Contrast."
John Drinkwater, English poet and dramatist, lectured on "Poetry and Life."
The concert by the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, with Nikolai Sokoloff, conductor, was the gift of Mary Carter Norton, ex-'77.
Professor Caroline E. Spurgeon of the University of London gave a series of five lectures on poetry.
The Glee Club gave concerts in Buffalo and Cleveland, their first concert tour. The tour was financed by trustee Edgar L. Marston and the Cleveland and Western New York branches of the Associate Alumnae.
The Political Association was organized. It ceased with the reorganization of the College Government Association at the end of the academic year 1958/59.
Marie Curie spoke on "The Discovery of Radium". Her address was published as the Ellen S. Richards Monograph No. 2.
The Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration of the Organization of the Associate Alumnae of Vassar College was held following commencement. It included a performance of Edna St. Vincent Millay's The Lamp and the Bell, dedicated to the Class of 1917. In a letter to her sister Norma, Vincent wrote: "I am slaving now to typewrite & ship off my Vassar play, Snow White & Rose Red [later entitled The Lamp and the Bell] which I have just finished... It's written in the first place for Vassar College, in the second place it's written to he played out of doors, as spectacularly as possible, & in a foreign country & medieval times because in that way you can use more brilliant costumes, in the third place I haven't had time to work it over at all, in the fourth place it's full of anachronisms which I haven't had time to look up & put right, & in the fifth place it's a frank shameless imitation of the Elizabethan dramas, in style, conversation & everything, & of course does not show up so darn well in comparison. - You'll think from all this that it's a bum play. You're wrong.--I expect the darned thing to make a great hit." Letters of Edna St. Vincent Millay.
"There is some disagreement in facility opinion as to the permanent value of the recent extension of freedom in elections and in class attendance at the college." President's Report, 1921/22.
The Dutchess County Botanical Garden, a field botanical laboratory, the first of its kind in the United States, was financed for seven years by income from the Elizabeth Drinker Storer Fund, the gift of Mrs. Edwin A. Abbey, '70. Professor Edith A. Roberts directed the work. Miss Roberts was a member of the Department of Plant Science, 1919-1948, and its chairman for many years.
The Barrere Ensemble of wood winds gave a concert before a large audience in Assembly Hall. The New York group was directed by George Barrere, French flutist, and a member of the Symphonic Society of New York.
The Adelaide Crapsey Lectures, presented by a group of alumnae in memory of Adelaide Crapsey, '01, consisted of seven lectures on Shakespeare by Florence Keys, formerly Associate Professor of English at Vassar College.
"Hark Alma Mater" was adopted officially as the college Alma Mater. The words were by Amy Wentworth Stone, '98, and the music by George Coleman Gow, Professor of Music, 1895-1932.
Williams House, faculty apartment house, was completed, Hunt & Hunt, architects. It was the gift of Harriet Trumbull Williams, '70.
Amy Lowell, poet and critic, lectured on Keats.
Subjects required for graduation, including the science requirement, were re-defined by the faculty.
The faculty voted that candidates for admission be accepted from the entire list of applicants according to fitness for college work, not priority of application. Since 1915 a certain number of places had been held for admission of honor candidates.
After the Salary Endowment Fund of two million dollars was raised by the alumnae, the trustees voted that the Alumnae Fund Committee of the Associate Alumnae be recognized as an official endowment committee to cooperate with the Trustee Endowment Committee.
George Henry Nettleton, trustee since 1920, became Acting President for the first semester during Dr. MacCracken's absence in Europe. "Dr. Nettleton's great interest in both the life and organization of students was an important factor in the carrying forward and realization of a number of valuable projects." President's Report, 1922/23.
Professor Emile Legouis, author and Professor of English Language and Literature at the Sorbonne, Paris, lectured on "William Wordsworth in the Light of New Documents."
Julia C. Lathrop, '80, former chief of the U.S. Children's Bureau, opened a series of four lectures with a talk on "Ellen Richards."
Last updated: 10 November, 1999, by Jeremy R. Linden, '00.