A OL L E E C G OF H E R OW N The History of Barnard ROBERT M AU HEY C G C A COLLEGE OF HER OWN A COLLEGE OF HER OWN T H E H I ST O RY O F BA R NA R D ROBERT McCAUGHEY Columbia University Press New York Columbia University Press gratefully acknowledges the generous support for this book provided by a Publisher’s Circle member. Columbia University Press wishes to express its appreciation for assistance given by the Pushkin Fund in the publication of this book. Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu Copyright © 2020 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: McCaughey, Robert A., author. Title: A college of her own : the history of Barnard / Robert McCaughey. Other titles: History of Barnard Description: First Edition. | New York : Columbia University Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019059107 (print) | LCCN 2019059108 (ebook) | ISBN 9780231178006 (Cloth) | ISBN 9780231552004 (eBook) Subjects: LCSH: Barnard College—History. Classification: LCC LD7033 .M34 2020 (print) | LCC LD7033 (ebook) | DDC 378.747/1—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019059107 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019059108 Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. Printed in the United States of America Cover design: Noah Arlow Cover image: ©Barnard College For Hannah, BC ’89 and Stephen, John and Sarah River and Bode, Wyatt and Fiona, BC 2030, And, as Always, Con Molto Amore, Ann. And for Colleagues Who Died in The Service of Barnard College Annette Baxter, BC ’47 Bernice Segal Sally Chapman Les Lessinger Barbara Miller, BC ’61 Bill Mcneil Irene Bloom Natalie Kampen Alan Segal Cathy Nepomnaschy • CONTENTS Preface ix Acknowledgments xiii 1. “WHAT’S A NEW YORK GIRL TO DO?”(cid:3)1 2. EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE: A TALE OF TWO CITIES(cid:3)26 3. BECOMING BARNARD: A PLACE IN THE CITY(cid:3)59 4. WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA GILDERSLEEVE?(cid:3)79 5. GOOD TIMES: BARNARD IN THE TWENTIES(cid:3)104 6. TOUGH TIMES: DEPRESSION, WAR, AND OTHER DISTRACTIONS(cid:3)132 7. AGAINST NOSTALGIA: THE McINTOSH ERA(cid:3)156 8. INTO THE STORM(cid:3)190 9. SAYING NO TO ZEUS(cid:3)215 10. BARNARD RISING(cid:3)234 11. “NEW YORK, NEW YORK”(cid:3)262 12. GOING GLOBAL(cid:3)286 Notes 309 Selected Bibliography 345 Index 353 PREFACE A COLLEGE OF HER OWN: THE HISTORY OF BARNARD What follows in this book is a comprehensive history of Barnard C ollege. It tells the story of an educational institution, from its founding in 1889 to the outset of its current presidency in 2019. Like others, past and pres- ent, Barnard is an academically rigorous, private, liberal arts college for women that, beginning in the 1920s, numbered among the prestigious Seven Sister colleges and, with five of them, has retained its original single-sex status. However, its affiliation with Columbia University and its location in New York City set Barnard apart. While my history considers a variety of institutional characteristics, I am unevenly equipped to give each equal justice. Barnard’s private status, its curriculum, and its place among other women’s colleges all fall within the workaday concerns of historians of American higher education, which for my sins I am so classified. The college’s other defining charac- teristics are more problematic. In my favor is that I have written a history of Columbia University and another on Columbia’s engineering school, I have been a member of the Columbia History Department for most of my Barnard-based career, and I have served for seven years as Barnard Dean of the Faculty; with these credentials, I hope I am able to shed new light on the ups and downs of the Barnard-Columbia relationship.