A College of Her Own: The History of Barnard

385 Pages·2020·17.595 MB·English

by  Robert McCaughey

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.