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 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.

February 19, 1919: "Pres. Resigns: Dr. Lyon G. Tyler Resigns After Thirty Years of Faithful Service"

After serving as president of the College of William and Mary since 1888, the February 19, 1919, article regarding President Lyon G. Tyler's resignation appeared in the student newspaper The Flat Hat. The article chronicled the tenure of President Tyler, highlighting his most important accomplishments on behalf of William and Mary. For example, Tyler secured state funds for the College by overseeing its transfer to the Commonwealth of Virginia, transitioning its private institution status to a public institution. Another significant highlight during Tyler's tenure and the college's history is the historic admittance of women, as mentioned in the article:

"Another and more recent development in William and Mary was the establishment of the women's department. At the last legislative meeting, a bill was introduced with sympathetic support of the president, admitting women to all the courses at William and Mary. This great innovation in the higher educational field in Virginia was successfully begun this session with a promising enrollment of representative students."

The article continues to discuss the new Home Economics department established and the role of the dean of women. It ends with:

"This victory for the higher education of women by the state marks with distinction the closing session of President Tyler's thirty years of service and of the first quarter of the third century in the history of William and Mary."

Regardless of how the male and female students may have felt about their co-education, there appeared to be a consensus of the monumentality of educating women in addition to President Tyler's vision of William and Mary. What a way to end one's career, on a historic high note.

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.

Feburary 11, 1919: President's Report to Board of Visitors

At the February 11, 1919, Board of Visitors meeting, President Lyon G. Tyler submitted his report of happenings at the College of William and Mary since his last report at the June 25, 1918 meeting.
In the president's report, he mentions the admission of women and the hiring of two women to oversee the female students:

"Another feature of the session was the admission of women to the College in pursuance of an Act passed by the legislation at its last session. There were 21 of these young ladies, who were placed under the immediate care of Miss C. F. Tupper, Dean of Women and Miss M. Gatling, Lady in Charge. These have proved fine students and I believe very little friction has resulted from their presence."

President Tyler further stated: "Miss Gatling resigned as Lady in Charge of the Women's Department and Miss Tupper, Dean of Women is trying to find another party to take her place."

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.

November 23, 1918: Dance Recital

Unlike many of the classes at the College of William and Mary in 1918, physical education was not coeducational. Activities such as basketball and tennis were popular in the women's class, as well as "aesthetic dancing." Female students learned themed dances during class and later presented them to an audience - fully costumed. On November 23, 1918, The Colonial Echo noted that the women students "entertain[ed] with choral dances, Spanish and Russian specialties. The audience remained throughout."

These photos from the day are from Catherine Dennis' scrapbook.

Catherine Dennis, in Italian Dance costume

Marceline Galting, women's physical education instructor, in costume

Women's gymnasium class in costume

top row, left-right: Margaret Lee, Martha Barksdale, Florence Harris, Louise Reid, Elizabeth Scott, Alice Person, Margaret Bridges, Elizabeth Lee, Edna Reid, Janet Coleman

bottom row, l-r: Ruth Conkey, Margaret Thornton, Hope Baines, Evelyn Palmer

Editions of The Colonial Echo and Catherine Dennis' scrapbook are available in the Special Collections Research Center.

This post was composed by Kate Hill.

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.

A Step Away from 1918-1919: Barksdale Field

On October 10, 1975, the field located adjacent to Phi Beta Kappa Hall and William Barton Rogers Hall, at the corner of Jamestown Road and Landrum Drive on the College of William and Mary campus was renamed to honor a member of the first class of women students and long-time Physical Education Professor, Martha Barksdale. Barksdale Field has evolved into a venue for intramural football and soccer by students.


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.

August 10, 1918: The College Continues to Confront the Effects of World War I

The College of William and Mary did not decide on a whim to admit women. While the College was busily preparing for the first co-ed incoming class, there was a war raging across the Atlantic in Europe.

World War I had begun four years earlier, and the United States joined the previous year, 1917. In the summer of 1918, the country was unsure of how long the war would continue, and had to prepare for the worst. The College's admissions were probably dropping as prospective and returning William and Mary students were being shipped off to the European front, and something had to be done to try to raise or at least maintain enrollment at the small institution.

On August 10, 1918, previous male students of the College received a letter from the registrar H.L. Bridges urging them to return to William and Mary. The registrar stated that he understood that "there seems to be some doubt in the minds of students as to what they should do next session," but urged them to enroll for the fall semester. Why would the registrar be urging possibly needed soldiers to stay on the homefront? The registrar's letter went onto explain that "provision is being made to train all college students while they are doing their regular [college] work....The War Department wants you in college next year."

Instead of shutting down the educational opportunities for the men who had not been drafted, and possibly saving small colleges, such as William and Mary from closing their doors, the United States government wanted to keep their prospective soldiers prepared for possible deployment as well as educated.

The registrar may have also been pushing this new option on returning male students to possibly offset the effect of women coming on campus. If women did not make up a significant percentage of the incoming class, than their influence in the fall would be limited or not even felt. Also, co-education was still an untried experiment. If the experiment did not work out, and the war continued for multiple years, then the College might have been in an enrollment bind from which it could not free itself.

However, none of the worst case scenarios came to pass. World War I ended in November 1918, and co-education at the College was successful. But, it is interesting to see how people were reacting to and preparing for the unforeseen continuation of World War I.

The letter cited in this post is available in the folder "World War I" in the University Archives Subject File Collection in the Special Collections Research Center.

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.

July 1918: The New Dean of Women

Sometime during the summer months of 1918, President Lyon G. Tyler chose Caroline Tupper to be the first Dean of Women at the College of William and Mary. Unfortunately, there is not a great deal of information known about Dean Tupper. What is known has come from Laura Parrish's thesis. Parrish uncovered that Tupper was from Charleston, South Carolina and received her BA, MA, and Ph.D. in English from Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prior to coming to the College, the thesis explains that Tupper "had previously taught high school and college English. She was in Virginia in 1918 working as a housing and employment secretary, helping wives of servicemen find homes and jobs near their husbands' military camps."

Tyler explained in a June 4, 1918 letter to Dr. Walter Montgomery that he wanted a woman who "the young ladies might look for example" to be the Dean of Women, and it appears that Tupper fit that description. From the recollections of Janet Coleman Kimbrough, one of those first women students, it appears that Tupper "was quite liberal for the period," who wanted the women to do things through "tradition" rather than create rules. Tupper's liberalness was fine under the Tyler administration, but when President Julian Alvin Carroll Chandler became president in 1919, it was less acceptable. It appears from the student recollections that halfway through the 1919-1920 school year, Tupper resigned from the College of William and Mary.

Though Tupper was not the Dean of Women for very long, she made an impact during the first year of co-education. From what little information there is about Tupper, it appears as though she was a forward thinker who refused to create and enforce rules for women just because they were women.

Information about Tupper in the Special Collections Research Center includes photographs, collected information in the University Archives Faculty-Alumni File Collection, and the memories of Janet Coleman Kimbrough in the University Archives Oral History Collection. For more information on Caroline Tupper, you may wish to contact Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study's Schlesinger Library, which currently holds the former Radcliffe College archives.

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 25, 1918: A Visitor Protests and Preparing for the Marys

At the June 25th meeting of the Board of Visitors, member Major James New Stubbs "offered a resolution to the effect that the Strode Bill was in direct opposition to the 1906 contract by which the Commonwealth of Virginia had taken full responsibility for the College of William and Mary and that therefore the College should refuse to accept women. The 1906 act had specifically stated that William and Mary was to educate men, and admitting women was a violation of that contract. Stubbs argued that the contract would have to be renegotiated before women could be admitted." (Laura Parrish, When Mary Entered with Her Brother William: Women Students at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945, M.A. thesis)




The Visitors voted six to one against Stubbs' resolution. Stubbs had not been in attendance at the Board's February 12th meeting where members Hughes, Richardson, and Hutcheson voted against a motion of support for the Strode Bill, but within the week Stubbs contacted William and Mary President Lyon Gardiner Tyler in protest to no avail.


After voting down Stubbs' motion, the Board of Visitors moved on to other business including allocating funds to prepare a Women's Department and the salary for a woman to oversee the women's dormitory.

The Board of Visitors approves the compensation of the lady in charge of the women's dormitory.

The section of the 1918-1919 budget with expenses for fitting a Women's Department and compensation for a lady in charge of the women's dormitory.









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, 1918: Assembling the Faculty

Routine business at the June 10th meeting of the College of William and Mary's Board of Visitors included the formal election by the BOV of faculty for the 1918-1919 academic year including Miss Caroline F. Tupper as the College's first Dean of Women.

The Boarding House Committee of the BOV made several recommendations at this meeting including hiring a "Lady in charge" in the women's dormitory who would report to the Dean of Women.

Finally, the Finance Committee reported that there was up to $1,000 to spend repairing the dormitory for the women due on campus in September.




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.