Prehistory – Forty Years: The History of Women at Bowdoin

Joshua Chamberlain’s Inaugural Address

Opportunities for higher education for women were very rare in the early 1800s. Oberlin College opened its doors to women in 1833 and is recognized as the first college to become coeducational. The situation changed rapidly, though, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Before 1870, only one in six women pursuing higher education did so at a coeducational college or university. Ten years later this changed to two in five women. Following the pattern, three in five women in higher education studied at coeducational institutions in 1880. Coeducation at this time, however, did not mean equal education. Women were admitted to increasing numbers of previously all-male colleges, but they were rarely welcomed to equal academic, social, and extracurricular experiences.

While many colleges became coeducational, single sex schools in the northeast resisted, primarily because with their better economic resources, they faced no financial burden by remaining single sex. By 1945, seventy percent of all institutions had become coeducational, and this number increased another five percent by 1955. But only in the late 1960s did Ivy-league colleges begin to make the transition, and once they did, many other schools, including Bowdoin, followed suit. The first mention of coeducation at Bowdoin was made many years earlier by Joshua Chamberlain, sixth president the College in his 1871 inaugural address (Document SC, 1). Interestingly, coeducation officially began at the college exactly one hundred years later in 1971.

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The Summer School of Science

Contrary to what many people believe, women actually studied on campus at Bowdoin about one hundred years before coeducation was instituted. The Summer School of Science began at Bowdoin in 1876, and this institute included eleven women among twenty-seven students. The goal of the summer school program was to give students interested in the field an opportunity to practice. This program focused on chemistry, mineralogy and zoology, and students could take two concurrent classes. Students were given the opportunity to dissect animals, handle chemicals, and go on trips to quarries to gain hands-on experience. The only requirement was that students fill out an application, but space was limited. This document (Document SC, 2) provides a description of the Summer School of Science in its third year, 1878, and lists the names of the men and women enrolled.

Poem in the Bugle, “Bowdoin Coeds”

This poem (Document 3, GB) was published in 1890, in the Bowdoin College yearbook, which has been in continuous publication since 1847. The mission of the yearbook states that it is “to document people, campus events, student organizations and athletics from a student’s perspective in a comprehensive volume to be published each academic year.” By publishing this poem in the college yearbook, the editors make a statement that coeducation was not compatible with the values of the college. In 1890, popular attitude still believed that women had no place in an institution like Bowdoin.

In 1890, men still felt superior to women and assumed that college, at least their college, was no place for women. The picture that accompanies the poem depicts a wall separating the man from the woman symbolizes this definite separatism. A century later, in 1971, Bowdoin finally became coeducational. And today, in 2011, more women than men attend Bowdoin.

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Society of Bowdoin Women Constitution

The Society of Bowdoin Women was established in 1922 for two main purposes; first, to help with the endowment, and second, to offer a hospitable place for women while they waited on the campus. The Society offered a gathering place for women to wait for “their” Bowdoin men and to meet other women. Members had to pay annual dues. They also had to “love” a Bowdoin man, whether he be a grandson, son, brother, husband, or friend.

The Society was composed of a governing board of five people including president, honorary president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. The honorary president was the role reserved for the College president’s wife. The remaining members of the Executive Board held their positions for two years and took turns doing so.

The Society had a positive impact on the College. The Constitution states that the intention of the society was to assist in the College’s endowment (Document SC, 4). In addition to this, with their annual dues the group was able to make small donations to the College, including china for the Dean’s house and a television for the Infirmary. The members also sponsored lectures by exceptional women. They established the Edith Lansing Sills Lecture Fund in honor of Mrs. Sills, wife of a former Bowdoin president. This became a biannual lecture on campus. The most recent Edith Lansing Sills Lecturers at Bowdoin were Anita Hill in 2008 and Bettye Collier-Thomas in 2011.

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Society of Bowdoin Women: Kate Douglas Wiggin Room in 1968 and 2011

The Kate Douglas Wiggin Room was home to the Society of Bowdoin Women. It was named after the first president of the Society, who received an honorary Bowdoin degree in 1904. The Society did not initially have a fixed space but instead moved around to various campus locations for its meetings. Eventually the group established the Kate Douglas Wiggin Room and furnished it as headquarters and as a place to wait while their husbands conducted Bowdoin business.

The original meeting place was in a parlor on Federal Street. From here, the society rented a house on Cleveland Street until the porch collapsed beneath them in 1932. They then received permission to use Gibson Hall in 1955. This was their first official space on campus, but it brought much discomfort to many of its members because of the all male environment. In 1965, the Society offered to refurnish and decorate a room in Cram Alumni House in exchange for its permanent use. Three years later they redecorated a small adjoining room to create additional space. In 1983, the College requested temporary use of this room for eighteen to twenty-four months. Three years later, the College took over the space permanently, leaving the Society without a meeting place. The Society women took a stand for themselves and tried to reach a compromise with the College. They were offered another room downstairs in the south parlor of the Alumni House, which they rededicated as the Kate Douglas Wiggin Room. This document (Document SC, 5) displays pictures of this room in 1968 and 2011, portraying how much change this room underwent over the years.

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