Radcliffe College
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the school in the United Kingdom, see Ratcliffe College.
Radcliffe College was a women's college closely associated with Harvard University. It was one of the Seven Sisters colleges.
The "Harvard Annex" for women's instruction by Harvard faculty was founded in 1879. In 1904, a popular historian wrote, of its genesis:
- ...it set up housekeeping in two unpretending rooms in the Appian Way, Cambridge.... Probably in all the history of colleges in America there could not be found a story so full of colour[sic] and interest as that of the beginning of this woman's[sic] college. The bathroom of the little house was pressed into service as a laboratory for physics, students and instructors alike making the best of all inconveniences. Because the institution was housed with a private family, generous mothering was given to the girls when they needed it.[1]
It was chartered as Radcliffe College by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1894 (the Boston Globe reported "President of Harvard To Sign Parchments of the Fair Graduates").[2]. It is named for Lady Ann Mowlson, born Radcliffe, who established the first scholarship at Harvard in 1643. The first president was Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, widow of Harvard professor Louis Agassiz. Radcliffe built its own campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, not far from that of Harvard.
By 1896, the Globe could headline a story: "Sweet Girls. They Graduate in Shoals at Radcliffe. Commencement Exercises at Sanders Theatre. Galleries Filled with Fair Friends and Students. Handsome Mrs. Agassiz Made Fine Address. Pres Eliot Commends the Work of the New Institution." The Globe said "Eliot stated that the percentage of graduates with distinction is much higher at Radcliffe than at Harvard" and that "although it is to yet to be seen whether the women have the originality and pioneering spirit which will fit them to be leaders, perhaps they will when they have had as many generations of thorough education as men."[3]
During World War II, Harvard and Radcliffe signed an agreement which allowed women to attend classes at Harvard for the first time, officially beginning joint instruction in 1943. From 1963, Radcliffe students received Harvard diplomas signed by the presidents of Radcliffe and Harvard, and joint commencement exercises began in 1970. The same year, several Harvard and Radcliffe dormitories began swapping students experimentally, and in 1972 full coresidence was instituted. The schools' departments of athletics merged shortly thereafter.
In 1977, Harvard and Radcliffe signed an agreement which put undergraduate women entirely in Harvard College, maintaining for them only a nominal enrollment in Radcliffe College. In practice most of the energies of Radcliffe (which remained an autonomous institution) were devoted to its other initiatives, such as the Bunting fellowship program, rather than to female undergraduates. During this time, the Harvard undergraduate community and class was officially known as "Harvard and Radcliffe" or "Harvard-Radcliffe", and female students continued to be awarded degrees signed by both presidents, even though Radcliffe usually had little to no impact on the average undergraduate's experience at the university.
On October 1, 1999, this unique arrangement came to an end, as Radcliffe College was finally fully absorbed into Harvard University; female undergraduates were henceforward members only of Harvard College while Radcliffe College evolved into the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
However, several undergraduate student organizations in Harvard College still refer to Radcliffe in their names, (for example the Radcliffe Union of Students, Harvard's feminist organization, Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra and Radcliffe Choral Society). Two athletic teams still compete under the Radcliffe name: varsity crew, which still rows with Radcliffe's black-and-white oarblades and uniforms instead of Harvard's crimson-and-white (in 1973 the team had been the only varsity team which voted not to adopt the Harvard name); and club rugby. In addition, the Harvard University Band still plays a Radcliffe fight song.
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[edit] Notable alumnae
- Margaret Atwood, 1947—author
- Gail Lee Bernstein, Japanese historian
- Benazir Bhutto, ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan.
- Melissa Block, radio journalist, Co-host, All Things Considered
- Caitlin Carson, actress
- Stockard Channing, actress, famous for her roles in Grease and The West Wing.
- Amy Gutmann, Current president of the University of Pennsylvania
- Abigail Folger, 1964—American heiress and murder victim.
- Rona Jaffe, author
- Helen Keller, deafblind writer, activist
- Ursula K. Le Guin, American writer, poet
- Elizabeth (Sadie) Holloway Marston, M.A. 1921—co-creator of the comic book character, Wonder Woman
- Anne McCaffrey, 1947—Science fiction author
- Gertrude Stein, American writer, poet, playwright and feminist
- Abby Sutherland, cum laude graduate, head mistress, president, and owner of The Ogontz School for Girls. Sutherland deeded the school to Penn State in 1950.
- Charlotte Wilder, M.A.—poet and eldest sister of Thornton Wilder
- Julia Quinn, New York Times Best Selling Author.
- Edie Sedgwick, iconic American socialite and Warhol Superstar
[edit] Fictional alumnae
- Brenda Patimkin, from the novella and consequent film Goodbye, Columbus
- Jennifer Cavalleri, from the film Love Story
- "Florentyna Kane", from Jeffrey Archer's book "The Prodigal Daughter"
- Sarah Goode, from Wendy Wasserstein's play The Sisters Rosensweig
[edit] Popular culture
- "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can": an episode of The Simpsons where Lisa Simpson is tempted by the Siren-like representatives of the Seven Sisters (and George Plimpton), who offer a free ride to the Sister school of her choice (and a George Plimpton hot plate) if she will throw a Spelling Bee [1].
- Radcliffy: An adjective coined by the dating website OkCupid to describe a characteristics stereotypically associated with females who go to Harvard University.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz. Alma Mater: Design and Experience in the Women's Colleges from Their Nineteenth-Century Beginnings to the 1930s. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1993 (2nd edition).
- ^ Crawford, Mary Caroline (1904). The College Girl of America. Boston: L. C. Page., p. 99-100
- ^ "Christened 'Radcliffe;' Annex Girls May Receive A College Degree. Overseers Vote to Carry Out Plans of the Friends of Fay House. President of Harvard To Sign Parchments of the Fair Graduates." The Boston Daily Globe, Dec. 7, 1893, p. 6
- ^ "Sweet Girls. They Graduate in Shoals at Radcliffe. Commencement Exercises at Sanders Theatre. Galleries Filled with Fair Friends and Students. Handsome Mrs. Agassiz Made Fine address. Pres Eliot Commends the Work of the New Institution." The Boston Daily Globe, June 24, 1896, p. 4
[edit] Books about Radcliffe
- Dowst, Henry Payson, John Albert Seaford (1913). Radcliffe College. H. B. Humphrey Company.. Brief text; content is mostly illustrations by John Albert Seaford Online page images and PDF at Google Books
[edit] External links
- Radcliffe Institute For Advanced Study—Harvard University
- Her Two Lives The biography of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study's Founder by author Elaine Yaffe
- Radcliffe Crew
| Schools of Harvard University |
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| Faculty of Arts and Sciences: College • Graduate School of Arts and Sciences • Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences • Continuing Education |
| Faculty of Medicine: Medical School • School of Dental Medicine |
| Divinity School • Law School • Business School • Graduate School of Design |
| Graduate School of Education • School of Public Health • Kennedy School of Government |
| Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (successor to Radcliffe College) |
| Seven Sisters Colleges |
|---|
| Barnard College • Bryn Mawr College • Mount Holyoke College • Radcliffe College • Smith College • Vassar College • Wellesley College |
