Affectionate Women – Community and Kinship at Smith College in the Early Twentieth Century

Community and Kinship at Smith College in the Early Twentieth Century

Take a glimpse into the private lives of women faculty at Smith College

If you were a woman on the faculty at Smith College in the early twentieth century, you might have received an invitation to tea from three households: Classicists Florence Gragg and Amy Barbour, Mathematicians Suzan Benedict and Susan Rambo, or Writer Louisa Cheever. Tea at the Gragg-Barbour household was held on Tuesdays, Benedict-Rambo teas were on Thursdays, and the week ended with tea on Friday at Cheever’s home.Their weekly teas were regularly attended by a small group of women faculty, many of whom were Smith alumnae who had returned to Smith to teach after pursuing higher education.

Margaret Storrs Grierson's description of weekly teas at the homes of other women faculty at Smith College. — Margaret Storrs Grierson description of Weekly Teas.
Sketches of persons in Smith College history known by MSG, undated, Margaret Storrs Grierson papers, Box 2, Folder 7, Smith College Archives.

What can the private lives of women faculty at Smith tell us about community and love between women in the early twentieth century?

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