September 19, 1918: Mary Enters with Her Brother William

On this date ninety years ago, women entered the College of William and Mary as students. The women made up around 20% of the total number of students enrolled in the College and almost a third of the freshman class, due in large part to the country's involvement in World War I. These "pioneers," as they were often called, included:

Lilian Hope Baines, Martha Barksdale, Margaret Florence Bridges, Lucille Brown, Janet Coleman, Ruth Taylor Conkey, Catherine Dennis, Mary Haile, Florence Mae Harris, Ruth Harris, Elizabeth Lee, Margaret Lee, Evelyn Palmer, Alice Person, Edna Widgen Reid, Laura Louise Reid, Celeste Ross, Elizabeth Scott, Margaret Thornton, and Marie Wilkins.

This list is from the document "Names of girls at William and Mary, Oct., 8, 1918" from the office of Herbert L. Bridges. Bridges served as Registrar and Secretary of the Faculty from 1907 until 1928 and held several other positions at the College as well during his tenure from 1881 through 1933. Click image to enlarge.

Other lists also include Alice Burke, Winifred Goodwin, Emily Hall, and Alice Powers as part of the first class of women. President Lyon G. Tyler would later refer to these women in a letter to Catherine Dennis as the "noble band of girls who broke the ice at William and Mary, and led the way in the emancipation of their sex." Still, as of September, 19, 1918, they were also just the latest in a long line of new students to College - facing the challenges of classes and a new social environment.

The women may or may not have know it then, but this was just the beginning of a year full of change at William and Mary.


A copy of the Strode Bill that allowed women to attend William and Mary from the records of President Lyon G. Tyler. Click image to enlarge.







This post was composed by Jordan Ecker and 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.

March 15, 1918: Strode Bill Approved

Just a quick post to note that the Strode Bill making coeducation at the College of William and Mary official was approved on March 15, 1918.

The bill's sponsor, Senator Aubrey E. Strode of Amherst, Virginia, may be better known for drafting Virginia's Eugenical Sterilization Act (1924), which he later argued in favor of before the U.S. Supreme Court as Buck v. Bell (1927). Strode's support for coeducation, which began in 1910 with his proposal of a bill to bring a coordinate college (a women's college) to the University of Virginia continued as he supported coeducation at VPI after William and Mary brought women to campus. To learn more about coeducation at VPI (Virginia Tech), including Strode's role, see Access and Inclusion: Women Students at VPI, 1914-1964 and for more information about coeducation at the University of Virginia, see Breaking and Making Tradition: Women at the University of Virginia.



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.

March 13, 1918: The Flat Hat

The Flat Hat article of March 13, 1918, about coeducation at the College of William and Mary, which appeared after the House of Delegates had voted in favor of the Strode Bill, was a bit more optimistic than the article of February 27 (there was no mention in the newspaper's March 6 or 10 issues). The article stressed how the college would benefit from coeducation, with larger appropriations from the General Assembly for more buildings, including "new dormitories, another dining hall, and a new and more commodious gym." The newspaper anticipated the "new social element" that the presence of women would bring to William and Mary and predicted that the "bonds of tradition would be broken" with coeducation. No longer would things have to be done merely because "that's the way it's always been done," and the participation of women in activities would "rejuvenate them with better standards."



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 27, 1918: The Flat Hat

To again quote from Laura Parrish's M.A. thesis When Mary Entered with Her Brother William: Women Students at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945:

The Flat Hat, the student newspaper and chief forum of student opinion at the College of William and Mary, did not comment on the Strode Bill until after it had passed the Senate. On February 27, the paper discussed the effects of coeducation in negative terms. It saw the necessary enlargement of the physical plant and of the faculty as being of questionable value and as a step that would not "help our tradition in the least." The article, or editorial as it may have been, suggested making another college coeducational or upgrading one of the women's normal schools. It concluded with the hopes that if coeducation became a reality, the students would "make the best of it," and "that our environment--socially and in every other way [would] be benefited by coeducation."

The Strode bill had passed the Virginia Senate by a vote of 19 to 13. The necessary physical plant improvements at the College included expanding certain departments (more faculty) and adding more dormitories and in the short-term completing the remodeling of existing dorms to accommodate "such a new addition to our student body." The Flat Hat's editors seem to have accepted the eventuality of coeducation at their College by this date.



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 21, 1918: The Virginia Gazette

So what did the local press have to say about coeducation at the College of William and Mary?


The Virginia Gazette included an article about the progress of the Strode Bill on page 1 of the February 21, 1918, issue. About half of the article was dedicated to the "details of caring for women students" such as living quarters for fall 1918 and beyond. Click on the image at right to enlarge the article.

Laura Parrish noted in her M.A. thesis When Mary Entered with Her Brother William: Women Students at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945:

"On 21 February 1918 the Virginia Gazette damned the Strode Bill with faint praise, noting that coeducation would probably turn out well--after all, other states had survived the ordeal. The editorial also noted that women sought coeducation "at the price of the womanhood Virginia had cherished as a sacred thing," thus expressing the age-old belief that higher education was somehow beyond the capabilities of women and would lead to the destruction of their physical, as well as their mental, health."

Here is the complete editorial for your reading pleasure. Click on the image to enlarge the article.













Laura Parrish's thesis is available online as part of the Petticoat Invasion online exhibit and of course you are welcome to visit the Special Collections Research Center to read the paper copy anytime we are open. The Virginia Gazette is available on microfilm on the ground floor of Swem Library. We do have paper copies here in the SCRC, but you might find the longer hours and printer/scanners in the microforms area more convenient.



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 12, 1918: Board of Visitors Endorsement

On February 12, 1918, the Board of Visitors of the College of William and Mary adopted a resolution of support for the Strode Bill, the legislation which would open William and Mary to women. The Board of Visitors' resolution passed with three dissenting votes: Rector Robert M. Hughes, Samuel W. Williams, and H.F. Hutcheson.

College President Lyon Gardiner Tyler was a long-time supporter of women's rights speaking on the issue numerous times including off campus in 1911 and 1912 (see page 4).

Proposed by Senator Aubrey E. Strode of Amherst County, the varying versions of legislation to establish a women's college in Virginia had been proposed at each session of the General Assembly since 1910. In the version of legislation submitted by Strode in late 1917, making the College of William and Mary co-ed was included.


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.