Category: WordPress Exhibits

by Madeleine Manzer

Smith College Special Collections is home to a vast collection of zines, known as the Sophia Smith Collection of Zines, thanks to Tinuviel who donated her lifetime collection. These zines occupy 29 boxes (thats a lot!), and range a variety of topics, mostly spanning in years from around 1991-1999.

What are Zines ?!

Zines are self-published, small-circulation publications usually focused on niche topics, personal interests, or subcultures. They have been a key part of numerous alternative subcultures, including the Riot Grrrl movement. Zines created and distributed by individuals or small groups of people rather than official publishers.

Alright!, #4; # 5, Summer 1994, undated

In the pre-internet and cell phone days, the Riot Grrrl community was largely spread through personal networks, live shows, zines, and word of mouth. Though the rise of the internet and digital media has changed the landscape of independent publishing, zines continue to thrive in certain communities. They are still celebrated for their creativity, individuality, and grassroots nature.

Zine fairs, workshops, and communities continue to exist, promoting the same principles that gave rise to the zine culture in the first place. Zines remain an important cultural artifact, symbolizing the power of self-expression and independent media.

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What is Riot Grrrl, and what does it have to do with zines?

Riot Grrrl was a movement branching off of punk in the 1990s. It began as a response to the lack of female representation and overall sexism in the punk rock scene. The music was loud, raw, and quite confrontational. Distorted guitars played at fast tempos to lyrics that dealt with personal struggles, relationships, sexual harassment, and societal issues. Some of the most influential bands associated with the Riot Grrrl movement include Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Sleater-Kinney, L7, and Heavens to Betsy. The genre is a mix of a more classic punk, grunge, and garage rock, but with a distinct focus on feminist themes.

“When they became disillusioned with the misogyny of a punk scene that had initially attracted them by it’s self proclaimed support for radical egalitarianism, they began to work out their own rhetorics of protest in music, lyrics, performance styles, and zine production that repeated certain feminist concerns of the 1960s and 1970s while also taking issue with other aspects of feminist discourse as they understood it at the time.” (14, Radway)

Riot Grrrl was about creating space where women could express their anger, frustrations, and experiences with sexism. It sought to redefine what it meant to be a woman in a male-dominated world.

Zines played a crucial role in the Riot Grrrl movement. Many involved in the scene at the time created distributed zines as a way to share feminist ideas, document experiences, and connect with others who had similar struggles and interests.

Bikini Kill: Girl Power, #2, undated, Bikini Kill: A Color and Activity Book, undated

Riot Grrrl was primarily a political movement, pushing back against the male dominated punk and mainstream music scenes, as well as larger scale issues relating to sexism in society. While the Riot Grrrl movement faded in the mid 90s, it left a permanent mark of punk music and the feminist movement.

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DIY Culture & Self Publishing/Producing

Riot Grrrls embraced the do it yourself approach to music, art, and activism. In addition to creating zines, many formed punk bands and organized grassroots community/political events. The DIY culture helped bypass traditional music industry structures, giving women more control over their art and voices.

Since zines are usually made on a small budget, they’re often photocopied or printed cheaply. The focus is on accessibility, so they are typically affordable and can be easily shared or passed around. They are counterculture, rejecting the commercialized formats of mainstream magazines and newspapers. Overall emphasizing raw and authentic voices/ perspectives that are overlooked by mainstream media and music culture.

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Discussion Questions

How did Riot Grrrl zines interact with other movements, such as queer activism, and anti-racism? Where did the movement possibly fall short in attempts to be inclusive? How do zines and smaller-scale activism engage with music? 

How did the diy culture fostered in the music community, especially in punk rock, which encouraged self teaching and learning as you go, lend itself to the self publishing/small scale publishing and distributing that comes with the Zine territory? 

How did the process of producing Riot Grrrl zines challenge or disrupt traditional notions of authorship and authority in publishing?

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Further Reading / Secondary Sources

Chidgey, Red. “Hand-Made Memories: Remediating Cultural Memory in DIY Feminist Networks.” In Feminist Media: Participatory Spaces, Networks and Cultural Citizenship, edited by Elke Zobl and Ricarda Drüeke, 87–97. transcript Verlag, 2012. This article is an exploration of how feminist networks, such as those within the Riot Grrrl movement and other feminist subcultures, use media along with personal archives to create and preserve cultural memory. These networks engage in remediating or reinterpreting history by creating zines, artwork, and other forms of media that counter dominant narratives, fostering a sense of community and cultural citizenship. It examines how diy practices within feminist movements challenge mainstream media representation and contribute to a broader cultural conversation about gender, identity, and activism.

Radway, Janice. “Girl Zine Networks, Underground Itineraries, and Riot Grrrl History: Making Sense of the Struggle for New Social Forms in the 1990s and Beyond.” Journal of American Studies 50, no. 1 (2016): 1–31. This article explores how the Riot Grrrl movement and the creation of girl-centric zines provided a platform for challenging societal norms and build new social structures. The zines, as part of an underground network, became vital tools for feminist expression, activism, and solidarity in the 1990s. The article discusses how these networks empowered women to create their own cultural and social spaces, promoting feminist ideals, and how the impact of this do it yourself approach continues to shape social movements and feminist culture in the years following.

Schilt, Kristin. “’A Little Too Ironic’: The Appropriation and Packaging of Riot grrrlPolitics by Mainstream Female Musicians.” Popular Music and Society Vol. 26 No. 1, 2003. In this article, Schilt focuses on how these radical ideas were co-opted and commercialized by more mainstream female musicians in ways that diluted and misrepresented the original Riot Grrrl movement. The article discusses how musicians, while embracing elements of Riot Grrrl’s feminist messages, did so in a manner that was co-opted and dumbed down for mainstream consumption. Marketing Riot Grrrl politics involves turning the movement’s confrontational, anti-corporate stance into something more marketable and palatable for mass audiences for profit. Schilt explores the irony that these musicians, who were seen as embracing feminist ideals, were also participating in the commercialization of the very politics that Riot Grrrl sought to challenge. The appropriation of its politics strips away the Riot Grrrls radical edge, making it palatable for the commercial music industry. Schilt claims that the mainstreaming of Riot Grrrl politics reduces feminist activism to trends rather than a sustained and productive political movement.

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Further Research

Tinuviel papers

“The Tinúviel Papers consist of 7 linear feet and primarily document her work with Olympia, Washington independent record label, Kill Rock Stars as well as her own Boston-based feminist recording and distribution company, Villa Villakula. Types of material include artwork, posters, flyers, correspondence, recordings (including audiotapes, compact disks, and phonograph records), news clippings, subject files, “Girl zines” (with inserts), writings, financialrecords, and memorabilia. ”

Tinúviel Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.

Women of Rock Oral History Project Records

“This collection includes oral histories of women and gender non-conforming rock musicians prominent from the late twentieth century to the present. Interview narrators were chosen by Tanya Pearson. Interviews are available as video recordings; and transcripts are available for some interviews. The remaining transcripts will be available after 2025. “

Women of Rock Oral History Project records, SSC-MS-00756. Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History.

Sophia Smith Collection Zines Collection

“The Sophia Smith Collection zines collection consists of self-published small magazines (known as “zines”) created primarily by women and girls who share a strong feminist perspective. Topics include “third wave” feminism, African American experiences around gender, lesbian relationships and erotica, and fat liberation.”

Sophia Smith Collection zines collection, SSC-MS-00434, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Mass

Words of Wisdom from Otelia Cromwell to Adelaide Cromwell During Her Time At Smith College 1937-1938

Spring 2025

Otelia Cromwell was the first African-American student to graduate from Smith College in 1900. Her niece Adelaide Cromwell followed in her footsteps, beginning her attendance at Smith in 1936.

The following images are of correspondence from Otelia to Adelaide in her sophomore and junior years at Smith. Otelia Cromwell signs off each letter to Adelaide as “Aunt Tee,”

Aunt Tee asks about Smith traditions like Mountain Day and provides Adelaide with guidance on how to pass German. She gives insight into what classes to take, and she corrects Adelaide’s grammar and spelling.

Though, it may seem impossible to relate to the lives of these women from so long ago, there are words of wisdom to uncover that may just help you get through the day. So take a deep breath, get comfortable and let Aunt Tee’s Advice take you on a journey to the past.

The first image is from a letter that Otelia wrote to Adelaide in October 1937. Next to it is the letter fully transcribed. Aunt Tee is wondering if Mountain Day has happened yet and offers helpful advice on how to pass German, even providing a diagram for the orders of words from her days of studying the language. Her advice here is,

The declensions and conjugations you just learn by heart, by heart, by heart….In a few weeks, the drudgery of it will behind you….

Much love, Aunt Tee

The next images are of a letter written a week later in October 1937. Otelia wants to know how Mountain Day was and shares thoughts on the design aspects of Adelaide’s new evening gown. Additionally, she brings up Adelaide’s birthday present requests, and chides their expensive nature, stating,

Let your birthday gift stay in the lap of the gods, and then be happy.

Which is a phrase used to say a situation cannot be controlled.

Have you ever wanted something and been told it’s too much to want? What did that moment feel like?

Otelia affirms Adelaide’s choice of Archery as a sport and appreciates the time spent with friends:

So you are drinking in, or as you use to say, “inhaling” the nice things your friends tell you.

Well I am glad, rather than otherwise, that people think well of you. Of course you check and double check with the real Adelaide; then watch your step.

But I too read and inhaled. You see I always had a strong case of Adelaideisis.

Take a deep breath. How do you check in with your real self? What does it look like, sound like, feel like?

Otelia inquires about German and how Adelaide is doing with the subject. Even mentioning the fact that they will spend some time studying at home each morning to prep for the midterm exam. Once again, she encourages Adelaide to write to her other Aunts, wanting them to receive the same in-depth updates “full of your experiences.”

The following image is a transcribed letter from Otelia to Adelaide in April of 1938. Otelia expresses support for Adelaide’s choice of Major, which is Sociology. While also emphasizing the importance to take a wide range of courses:

In college – so the wise people advise, one should get all the breath possible, especially through the subjects in which one is not interested.

Otelia mentions Adelaide’s need for “more work in the humanities” highlighting the English department specifically.

“This advise is given you simply because I want my conscience clear.”

Have you ever recieved unsolicited advice? Do remember what it was regarding? Did you take it or ignore it? If you took it, did it help?

Before signing off Otelia requests confirmation that Adelaide recieves the letter which contained money. Otelia expresses dislike for this means of transporting money and wants reassurance when it arrives.

Transcribed letter from Otelia to Adelaide, 1938.

Cromwell Family Papers, Sophia Smith Collection.

The final images showcase Otelia’s educator nature as she not only provides a corrections sheet but also edits Adelaide’s original letter with many markings.

Otelia begins her response to Adelaide by first stating that, “despite my scratches, [it] is a good letter”. There’s some discussion regarding the thoughts and feelings of those back home on Adelaide’s dresses.

When Adelaide describes a professor constantly looking at her while teaching Otelia responds with both a marginal note that reads simply, “Zoo(?)” and the following response: “The cage won’t be necessary, though I hope.”

Otelia goes on to talk about seeing the Disney film, “Snow White” calling it “brilliant” and compliementing it as “superb art.” However, she states her opinions about Snow White as “too sophisticated” for her. Even asking Adelaide:

Do you think that the interpretations of the dwarfs and Snow White herself are far away from the pictures of the fairy tale?

Transcribed letter from Otelia to Adelaide, 1938.

Cromwell Family Papers, Sophia Smith Collection.

Original letter from Adelaide to Otelia with edits, 1938.

Cromwell Family Papers, Sophia Smith Collection.

Questions to think about:

– How often do you listen to advice from your elders?

– What feelings are you left with after looking over this exhibit?

– What words of wisdom will stay with you from this exhibit?

– What more do you want to know about the Cromwells?

More about the Cromwells

Adelaide Cromwell, Oral History Interview

Adelaide Cromwell, Unveiled Voices, Unvarnished Memories: The Cromwell Family in Slavery and Segregation, 1692-1972, University of Missouri Press, 2007. 

Adelaide Cromwell, My Mothering Aunt: Otelia Cromwell, Smith College Class of 1900, Smith College Office of College Relations, 2010.  

Bibliography(Annotated)

Adelaide Cromwell Profile BU → Adelaide Cromwell (Hon.’95), Founder of BU’s African American Studies Program, Dies at 99. This profile provides an overarching recap of Adelaide’s work and career. It is useful in gaining context to her larger work and how she impacted higher education communities.  

Otelia Cromwell Bio Yale → Otelia Cromwell Biography and Bibliography from Yale provides a general overview of her life and career. The profile also includes listings of the work Otelia published and works that Adelaide wrote on Otelia.

Study Shows Strong Racial Identity Improves Academic Performance of Young Black Women → This study provides context for the importance of these types of projects. Making connections to the Cromwell’s legacy encourages Black students to acknowledge and feel pride in their racial identity.

The 1929 Stock Market crash sparked economic catastrophe, panic, and despair across the United States and around the world. Children felt these effects acutely, as their unemployed parents often struggled to keep the family afloat. Many had to take on additional responsibilities and adapt to the challenges of the Depression.

This moment also shaped children’s lives in two unexpected ways: it increased school attendance rates and put pressure on children to participate in mass culture and consumerism.

High unemployment and a changing economy requiring increased training for more kinds of positions combined to cause more teenagers, who might have otherwise dropped out to start working, to stay in school longer. Additionally, stores, desperate to make money in a depressed economy, ramped up advertising and targeted children as a consumer base. The result was that attending school became an experience shared by most children, and schools became a place where young people felt the pressures of both conformity and consumerism.

Working-class children often felt pressure to conform to the social standards established by their middle-class peers. Children who wore clothing that clearly marked them as a “relief kid,” meaning their family received governmental aid and one or both parents were out of work, often felt embarrassed by this label. Some impoverished children felt isolated from their peers because of it.

“We also received clothing––baggy and gray mostly, some brown and black, and shoes, all looking like prison issue. These garments––sweaters, jeans, skirts, shirts, and stockings––were so distinctive that you were marked as a “relief kid” the minute you wore any of it to school. This was particularly mortifying to girls, but we boys didn’t care.”

– Tomás Ramirez, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, born 1926

“I remember my senior year in high school, 1932. I had two pairs of overalls. I had one with patches on it and I had one that didn’t have patches on it. That was the good one. You wore that to school; you changed immediately when you came home and put on the pair with the patches.”

– John Godwin, Pembroke, North Carolina, born 1915

Kids acutely perceived the clothing worn by their classmates and the social status it implied. Certain clothing items carried particular weight. Overalls indicated working-class status, while knickers (baggy pants that cinched just below the knee) signaled wealth.

“Knickers were a big deal then, and most of the rich boys had them. Plaid-patterned stockings were, of course, de rigeur––they were transformed into pint-sized Ben Hogans. It was just as well that we couldn’t afford them; our amputee stockings would’ve looked awful with knickers. I remember wearing bib overalls––no style sense––until eighth grade. They covered a multitude of sins.”

– Tomás Ramirez, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, born 1926

Kids often could tell where their classmates’ clothing came from. For some children more than others, this aspect of their clothing carried significant social weight. Working-class kids often received “relief issue” clothing or hand-me-downs from friends and neighbors.

“As for clothes, except for shoes, they were the last thing Mother thought of spending money on. Mostly we depended on hand-me-downs. In the girls’ fiction I read, the less well-off children and youth resented clothes from rich relatives or “the missionary barrel.” Even Mary Elizabeth, who probably suffered more than Caroline and I did from not having store-bought clothes, liked clothes given to us by people that we liked. I remember feeling almost glamorous in dresses that my Expression teacher gave me and those of Lousie Adams, “Miss McKenzie” year after year in the town’s beauty pageant.”

– U.T. Miller Summers, McKenzie, Tennessee, born 1920

While the mothers of working-class children were busy with work outside of the home and often didn’t own sewing machines, middle-class children wore primarily homemade clothing. Mothers and older sisters sewed clothing for the whole family. The fabric for these garments often came from store-bought bolts of fabric.

“Momma bought two bolts of cloth each year for winter and summer clothes. She made my school dresses, underslips, bloomers, handkerchiefs, Bailey’s shirts, shorts, her aprons, house dresses and waists from the rolls shipped to Stamps by Sears and Roebuck.”

– Maya Angelou (née Marguerite Johnson), Stamps, Arkansas, born 1928

Especially as the depression set in and tightened family budgets, women turned to the cotton sacks that flour, oats, and animal feed were sold in to replace store-bought fabric. Once companies realized that people were making clothing out of their packaging, they started producing these bags in fashionable prints and colors to appeal to consumers and their determination to repurpose and make do.

“Bunny remained my best friend of all…. Her mother, like mine, made her clothes, and in second grade we had twin sailor dresses with white stars and braids on the collar.”

– June Pair Kilpatrick, Edgarton, Virginia, born 1932

Girls’ dresses in this era were short. The above-the-knee style was modeled after the dresses worn by famous child star Shirley Temple, whose influence was nearly ubiquitous. Movies shaped how this generation saw themselves and the world around them.

“Movies, in spite of the times, were affordable to nearly everyone, no matter how poor. Shirley Temple, whom I both adored and envied, was only a year older than I. She became my first heroine.”

– June Pair Kilpatrick, Edgarton, Virginia, born 1932

“All the girls in second grade at St. Boniface School idolize Shirley. She’s the model of goodness and beauty in days filled with bad things happening in our city and in the world. I save my pennies so I can go to these Saturday matinees as many times as I can. My heart gets jiggly as I watch Shirley dance across the big screen, her shiny curls bouncing, ruled dresses twirling, and her dimpled smile meant just for me.”

– Ludmilla Bollow (née Rosik), Manitowoc, Wisconsin, born 1926

Children whose families could afford it bought factory-made, ready-to-wear clothing from stores. This clothing was often seen as more elegant or “sophisticated” than homemade clothing.

“My Arizona uncle had sent me five dollars, which I spent on the sunburst pleated skirt in practical navy blue, the first new ready-made skirt I had ever owned. I enjoyed riding my bicycle in my sunburst pleated skirt past Ulysses S. Grant High School to Fernwood.”

– Beverly Cleary (née Bunn), Portland, Oregon, born 1916

“The dress I wore my first day in seventh grade in McKenzie was sure to be good for conversation. It was made from the shiny yellow material called Peter Pan on which I had embroidered a hoop-skirted lady in a lower garden when I was in fourth grade, and it couldn’t have been more different from the neat white-collared blouse and pleated skirt that Lloyd Allison wore. A Shaeffer fountain pen on a black ribbon hung around her neck. . . . As I accepted Lloyd’s paper, I thought that if Annie Fellows Johnston, or any other children’s author, were to walk into the room, she would choose Lloyd, the prettiest and best-dressed girl in the room, to be the heroine.”

– U.T. Miller Summers, McKenzie, Tennesse, born 1920

Many teenagers and adolescents worked part-time to save up money to buy the clothes and makeup they felt would earn them social status or security at school.

“In our neighborhood, no girl would dream of entering high school in half socks. I used hoarded nickels and dimes to buy silk stockings.”

“I detoured from my usual route to buy, with twenty-five cents saved a nickel at a time, a pair of red bobby socks at Woolworth’s. Mother made me return them on my next trip overtown. Risking mother’s disapproval of lipstick on young girls, I bought a tube of Tangee lipstick at the dime store and applied it the minute I got home from the orthodontist.“

– Beverly Cleary (née Bunn), Portland, Oregon, born 1916

“I was thrilled to be earning four dollars a week. I now had my own money to buy such luxuries as Tangee Lipstick, hair set gel, an extra pair of shoes––and Kotex sanitary napkins. In those days one could buy a very nice sweater for seventy-five cents.”

– Mildred Armstrong Kalish, Monroe Township, Iowa, born 1922

Wearing lipstick was an important signal of adulthood and independence for teenage girls in the 1930s. The high school social world saw wearing lipstick as an announcement of being “dateable,” and a signifier that they and their parents were on board with the dating and dancing that characterized modern adolescence. Girls whose parents did not approve, or who could not afford lipstick or did not desire to wear it, faced social exclusion.

“I never found my place among either boys or girls during the high school years. My hair remained straight, slicked back behind my ears.  I did not even begin wearing pinky orange Tangee lipstick until I was a junior. I was notoriously bookish. . . . With my reputation for studiousness, not dancing, not wearing makeup and not dating, I had no hope of enticing any boyfriend, so I kept quiet.”

– U.T. Miller Summers, McKenzie, Tennessee, born 1920

These teenagers often felt disappointment when their purchases did not give them the status they’d hoped for.

“With a bank account and clothes that I had bought for myself, I was sure that I had learned and earned the magic formula which would make me a part of the gay life my contemporaries led. Not a bit of it. Within weeks, I realized that my schoolmates and I were on paths moving diametrically away from each other.”

– Maya Angelou (née Marguerite Johnson), Stamps, Arkansas, born 1928

1930s children’s everyday lives were highly shaped by the social and political forces around them. They learned their parents’ prejudices, insecurities, and the nativist, racist, status quo and applied it to their peers in the classroom. The forces that became a norm of childhood in the 1930s continue to shape children today. Roughly 94% of U.S. kids attend public and private schools and mass media and culture shape kids lives more than ever before. Kids continue to feel consumerist pressures from their peers and face eduction systems that reproduce social inequality.

Reading these anecdotes, what stories resonated with you? Do any of the narratives evoke particular memories? Feel free to share them on one of the notecards on the desk.

What surprised you about the clothes themselves? Do you notice any motifs or patterns? What does this say about politics in 1930s America?

Further reading:

Lindenmeyer, Kriste. The Greatest Generation Grows up: American Childhood in the 1930s. American Childhoods. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2005.

This book offers a foundational introduction to childhood in the Depression-era United States. Lindenmeyer explains the issues faced by 1930s children and the way economic collapse affected children of different demographic groups differently. She pays particular attention to how school became the normative experience of childhood during the 1930s, and the role of popular culture and consumerism.

Matsumoto, Valerie J. City Girls: The Nisei Social World in Los Angeles, 1920 – 1950. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Valerie Matsumoto’s overview of life for Japanese-American teenage girls during the 1930s and 1940s provides valuable context for the clothing I have on display and the experiences of Japanese-American oral history narrators. Matsumoto’s research seeks to analyze spaces of “ethnocultural peer association in which girls could claim modern femininity and American status while continuing to serve their families and communities.” Since clothing choices were an integral part of both “modern femininity” and “American status,” this book is an excellent next step for understanding how urban Nisei, or second-generation Japanese immigrants, navigated school and adolescence.

Pomerantz, Shauna. “‘Did You See What She Was Wearing?’ The Power and Politics of Schoolgirl Style.” In Girlhood: Redefining the Limits, edited by Yasmin Jiwani, Claudia Mitchell, and Candis Steenbergen. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 2006.

For readers looking to understand childhood conceptions of clothing and social status at school outside of the 1930s, this chapter is a great place to start. Pomerantz offers her findings from an ethnographic study on teenage girls, clothing choices, and social status that she conducted in a Canadian High School in the early 2000s. She works to understand how “resistance is often expressed through the language of style” and the relationship between style and girls’ identity construction.

Scheiner, Georganne. “The Deanna Durbin Devotees: Fan Clubs and Spectatorship.” In Generations of Youth: Youth Cultures and History in Twentieth-Century America, edited by Joe Austin and Michael Nevin Willard. New York London: New York University Press, 1998.

This chapter offers an analysis of the ways increasingly prevalent movie and film culture shaped the self-perception and fashion choices of adolescent girls in the 1930s. This provides important context for trends of the time and how children responded to broader cultural influences, as girls may have sought to dress like their favorite movie stars, or admired female classmates who did.

Sources for quotes:

Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. A Bantam Book. New York: Bantam Books, 1969.

Bollow, Ludmilla. Lulu’s Christmas Story: A True Story of Faith and Hope During the Great Depression. New York: Titletown Publishing, 2014.

Cleary, Beverly. A Girl from Yamhill: A Memoir. New York, NY: Morrow, 1988.

Godwin, John. Interview by Renate Dahlin. 27 June 1984. Transcript. Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Kalish, Mildred Armstrong. Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm during the Great Depression. New York, NY: Bantam Books, 2007.

Kilpatrick, June Pair. Wasps in the Bedroom, Butter in the Well: Growing up during the Great Depression: A Memoir. Portland, OR: Inkwater Press, 2012.

Ramirez, Thomas P. That Wonderful Mexican Band: A Memoir of the Great Depression. Fond du Lac, WI: T.P. Ramirez, 2017.

Summers, U.T. Miller. Hold tight, Sweetheart: A Memoir of the Twenties and the Great Depression. 2007.

Archival repositories and oral history projects with more narratives of 1930s childhood for continued reading:

Documenting the American South, Oral Histories of the American South, Southern Oral History Program, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (Oral histories of American Southerners)

Hanashi Oral History Collection, Go For Broke National Education Center. (Oral histories with Japanese-American World War II veterans)

HistoryMakers Digital Archive, Carnegie Mellon University. (Oral histories of Black Americans)

Houston Asian American Archives, Woodson Research Center, Rice University. (Oral histories of Asian Americans, particularly concentrated in the South)

Mexican-American Oral History Project, Oral History Collection, Minnesota Historical Society. (Oral histories of Mexican-American residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul)

The Vermilion Lake People: Vermilion Lake Bois Forte Oral History Project, Oral History Collection, Minnesota Historical Society. (Oral histories of Ojibwe residents of Bois Forte Reservation in Minnesota)

Creator’s note: this project is rooted in my firm belief in reproductive justice, which asserts the fundamental human right of every individual to lead autonomous, pleasurable, and resourced reproductive lives. Realizing a reproductive justice future cannot happen unless we confront the long history and present of reproductive injustices, and I believe this work is especially critical at a historically women’s college.

Origins and Evolution of American Eugenics

The American eugenics movement was born out of a desire to “scientifically” prove racial hierarchy, and was based on the unfounded racist theories of elite European men dating back to the 15th century, coincidentally when justifications were needed to legitimize colonization and the institution of slavery.

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Eugenics, formally coined by Francis Galton (1822–1911), the cousin of Charles Darwin, gained scientific credibility through the influence of Social Darwinism and the rediscovery of Mendelian genetics, which reinforced its claim of a strict biological determinist view of human behavior. This ideological foundation sparked an insidious movement in the United States that has shaped immigration and sterilization policies, inspired the horrific actions of Nazi Germany, and even influenced progressive causes like birth control and environmentalism. Despite its far-reaching impact, the American eugenics movement was originally driven by a small circle of elite white men who believed it was their responsibility to influence the nation’s reproductive future and prevent what they saw as the racial decay and degeneration which threatened the future of white supremacy.²

By the beginning of the 20th century, the American eugenics movement was in full force, implementing strategies to fund eugenic research, influence public policy, and disseminate eugenic ideologies into the public consciousness, primarily through educational initiatives.

Holding the reigns was biologist and Harvard graduate Charles Davenport, who, along with his cronies, founded the three main eugenics organizations in the US: the Eugenics Records Office (ERO), the Eugenics Research Association (ERA), and the American Eugenics Society (AES). Along with ardently racist, ableist, and classist eugenicists Madison Grant, H. H. Goddard and Harry Laughlin, Smith College zoology professor H. H. Wilder and his replacement, physical anthropologist Morris Steggerda, were staunch supporters of Davenport’s eugenic mission and active in the ERO.³

Though the racial pseudoscience of “mainline” eugenics eventually fell into public disfavor with the acceptance of the Boasian cultural paradigm by the 1930s and the horrors of Hitlerism which followed, the movement and its influence were far from over. With much important overlap, a new wave of eugenicists entered the scene during the 1920s, replacing their mainline predecessors and essentially rebranding eugenics to fit with the changing times. Among these “reform” eugenicists, who do not fit with our modern understanding of eugenicists as “political conservatives, [open] racists, and opponents of true democracy,”⁴ was sociologist Frank Hamilton Hankins.

A “Progressive” Eugenicist?

“While we are denying the extravagant claims of the Nordicists, we also deny the equally perverse and doctrinaire contentions of the race egalitarians. There is no respect, apparently, in which races are equal; but their differences must be thought of in terms of relative frequencies, and not as absolute differences in kind. They are like the differences between classes in the same population. It thus appears that the eugenic contentions are fundamentally sound, as against both the racialists on one extreme and the thorough environmentalists on the other.”⁶

Frank H. Hankins, The Racial Basis of Civilization, ix

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Although his book The Racial Basis of Civilization: A Critique of the Nordic Doctrine (which the Smith College finding aid calls a “ground-breaking study”⁷), is lauded as evidence of his anti-eugenics beliefs for its critique of Nordicism, disparaging Madison Grant’s foundational eugenic text The Passing of the Great Race, Hankins clearly does not reject eugenics and fundamentally upholds racial hierarchy, even as this becomes less apparent in his later work. While Hankins critiqued the notion of racial purity, he openly advocated for eugenic applications of birth control, selective reproduction, and the sterilization of the “unfit,” primarily for low-income and disabled individuals, and also supported eugenic immigration policies.

Hankins was actively involved in numerous eugenics organizations including the American Eugenics Society, the American Population Association, the Population Reference Bureau, the Euthanasia Society of America, and the American Birth Control League (later renamed Planned Parenthood), among others. His eugenic activities outside of Smith College were extensive and continued beyond the expiration of eugenics’ scientific validity. Hankins’ papers provide important insight into how the eugenics movement adapted to maintain a semblance of credibility, eventually even partially accepting the influence of environment on human behavior. Yet they maintained their fundamental claims that certain populations were “unfit” to reproduce, and posed a threat to the future of civilization.

Professor of Sociology, 1922-1946

Because the field of sociology was still developing, Hankins tended to combine it with statistics (influenced by Galton) and biology, the two primary fields within which eugenics was first theorized. As late as the 1940s he was teaching courses such as “Theories of Cultural Evolution: Role of race and environment in the development of civilization. Heredity and eugenics, education and environmental improvement” and “Problems of Population Quality: Human variability; roles of heredity and selection; social stratification; heredity versus environment in individual and racial differences; eugenics.”⁸

Beyond the eugenic content he explored within the classroom, Hankins’ engaged in practical experiences conducting eugenic fieldwork and research, enabled by his position at Smith College.

Hankins’ Eugenic Work at Smith

click on headings for details

Sex Questionnaire, 1925

In 1925, Professor Hankins gave the students in his sociology seminar a questionnaire on sex and family. Because eugenicists viewed college students as the ideal reproducers of the nation, Smith students’ views on sex and family were undoubtedly a subject of great interest. Eugenicists feared that educating upper class white women might negatively affect their desire to make use of their “superior germplasms” and produce large families.⁹

The Shutesbury Project, 1928

In 1928, Leon Whitney, the secretary of the American Eugenics Society and dog breeder from Northampton, approached Professor Hankins with a project to study the genetic histories of nearby towns Leverett and Shutesbury. Hankins recruited his students, eager to gain experience doing field work, to unethically survey and perform mental tests on individuals in these rural and low income communities in an effort to prove their supposed genetic “degeneracy.” The study was fundamentally flawed both ethically and intellectually from the start, and contradicts Hankins’ reputation as an empirical scientist. This research informed Whitney’s book, Case for Sterilization, which advocated for negative eugenic policies and was praised by none other than Adolf Hitler.¹⁰

Sabbatical in Nazi Germany, 1936

Although various publications and his obituaries refer to Hankins’ sabbatical studying “on the scene, social conditions in Nazi Germany,”¹¹ they omit the content of his research, which was undeniably eugenic in nature. While negative eugenics, the practice of discouraging or outright preventing certain populations from reproducing, positive eugenics focuses on encouraging the reproduction of “desirable” populations. This latter iteration of eugenics was the focus of Hankins’ study in Nazi Germany.

Birth Rate Study of Smith Alumnae, 1946

Given the eugenic fear of “race suicide,” eugenicists were deeply concerned with the birth rates of elite white college students. The Population Reference Bureau (PRB), of which Hankins was a part, organized a nation-wide study to determine whether students were having enough children to replace themselves. As the liaison between the PRB and Smith alum, Hankins conducted this research by sending out surveys to the classes of 1921 and 1936.

“Attention, Smith Wives! … Because of this favorable combination of heredity and environment, the sources of future nation-builders lie with us and those like us, the women graduates of America. Are we doing our part? The Population Reference Bureau says ‘No.’ … for the goal is to increase the percentage of our population consisting of intrinsically able people, and we, their mothers, are falling quite short of even replacing ourselves.”

Letter to Smith Alums from the Alumnae Association of Smith College, 1946. Frank Hamilton Hankins Papers, Smith College Archives.

The results of the study concerned Hankins and the PRB, and the though Alumnae Association of Smith College refrained from publicizing the results, they sent out a letter urging Smithies to have more babies.

_{Letter to Smith Alums from the Alumnae Association of Smith College, 1946. Frank Hamilton Hankins Papers, Smith College Archives.}

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Discussion Questions

• Why is it important to reckon with Smith’s eugenic past? What might be a meaningful and substantial way to do so?
• Where do we see the influence of eugenic ideology in our current time? What eugenic assumptions about reproduction have lingered in the public consciousness?

Further Reading

• Robert Wald Sussman’s book The Myth of Race provides a comprehensive overview of the history of eugenics and scientific racism, from its early philosophical origins, to the rise and fall of the American eugenics movement, to the persistence of eugenic ideology and modern scientific racism.
• Betsy Hartmann’s essay, “Population Control I: Birth of an Ideology,” traces the origins of population control theory to the eugenics movement, especially due to its significant influences on the birth control movement, which first gained traction due to its practical potential to curb the fertility of “undesirable” populations.
• Lorreta J. Ross and Rickie Solinger’s book Reproductive Justice: An Introduction is an essential and comprehensive overview of the reproductive justice movement. It is grounded in an intersectional analysis of race, class and gender politics throughout the history of reproductive injustice in the United States, which is of course intertwined with the eugenics movement.

Further Research

The Eugenics Archive provides several interactive tools to learn about eugenics including a comprehensive timeline, stories from survivors, and an interactive map of the web of ideas, events, and people connected to the history.

Yale’s anti-eugenics initiative, “Eugenics and Its Afterlives,” confronts the history of eugenics at Yale, which hosted the American Eugenics Society and provides resources to learn more about eugenics from a variety of disciplines and perspectives. This website provides an example of how an institution has reckoned with its involvement in eugenics.

Archival Collections

Frank Hamilton Hankins Papers, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-00060, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Smith College Archivist reference files, CA-MS-01213. Smith College Archives.

Student papers and theses collection, College Archives, CA-MS-01113. Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Works Cited

1. John Macmillan, “Home Sweet Haynes,” Smith College News & Events, February 26, 2024, https://www.smith.edu/news-events/news/home-sweet-haynes ↩︎
2. Robert Wald Sussman, The Myth of Race, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2014). ↩︎
3. Sussman, Myth of Race. ↩︎
4. Simone Diender. The “Reasonable” Professor Hankins: Eugenics, Science and Women’s Education in the 1920s. 2007. Student papers and theses collection, College Archives, CA-MS-01113, Box 1. Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts. ↩︎
5. Charles H. Page, “Obituary of Frank H. Hankins,” The American Sociologist, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 288-289, https://www.asanet.org/frank-h-hankins/. Accessed March 26, 2025. ↩︎
6. Frank H. Hankins, The Racial Basis of Civilization. A Critique of the Nordic Doctrine, Alfred A. Knopp, Inc., 1926. ↩︎
7. Frank Hamilton Hankins Papers, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-00060, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts, https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/4/resources/362, Accessed March 26, 2025. ↩︎
8. Smith College Catalogue, Smith College, 1942. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/smithcata4243smit/page/n155/mode/2up?q=hankins, Accessed March 29, 2025. ↩︎
9. Diender, The “Reasonable” Professor Hankins. ↩︎
10. Diender, The “Reasonable” Professor Hankins. ↩︎
11. Page, “Obituary.” ↩︎

Below, you will find a selection of op-eds and letters to the editor from 1978, in which students from all corners of campus weigh in on the rights of lesbians at Smith.²

The controversy begins

The Smith Lesbian Alliance was chartered in the spring of 1977.³ Though this was an indicator of rising lesbian visibility on campus, the group was met with opposition—a majority of the student body voted against providing funding to the Lesbian Alliance from the student activity fee.

That fall, members of the student religious groups the Christian Council approached the Newman Association and Hillel to co-sign a statement of support for the Lesbian Alliance.⁴ It went to print in the Sophian on February 9, 1978.

It may surprise some audiences that student religious groups were the first outspoken defenders of lesbians in this saga, since modern anti-gay movements are most commonly associated with Christianity. However, this initiative from the Smith Christian Council, an ecumenical Protestant group affiliated with the Helen Hills-Hills Chapel, was in-step with many other mainline Protestant denominations of the time. Other archival records of this era show that the Chapel was even actively collecting resources for “open and affirming” pastoral leadership.⁵

The following week, the Sophian published an impassioned response from “born-again Christian” student Theresa Dolan, who claimed that “any form of homosexuality is an abomination to God.”

Dolan, as a graduate student in the education department, would not have had any financial stake in the allocation of undergraduate student activity fee. Her letter, therefore, is a personal condemnation of lesbian students and those that support them.

Religion majors fire back

Two religious studies students picked apart Dolan’s biblical interpretations, criticizing them as literalist and out of context. Lehmann went even further to call anti-homosexual rhetoric of Dolan and Anita Bryant to be yet another “atrocity” committed in the name of Christianity. Both letters point out the hypocrisy of wielding biblical scripture as a defense for an opinion that is based in fear and ignorance.

Note that neither student indicates that they are religious themselves—their critiques seem to be purely academic. Who has more say in the fundamental truths of a religion? The scholar, or the believer?

Feminist atheists weigh in

“I refuse to appeal to a man for salvation, Jesus Christ or any other historical figure”

Others disputed the validity of looking towards religion at all for moral guidance. These students wrote in the next week, expressing support for lesbianism as a feminist political identity that rejected oppressive patriarchal structures. What do you think about their framing of lesbianism as a political choice rather than an inclination one is born with, as it is more commonly conceived of today? Do you think this framing helps or hinders their argument in the context of this debate?

Hate the sin, but fund the sinner

Does this surprise you? How does their stance challenge (or affirm) your assumptions about evangelical Christians?

Enough is enough

The Sophian editors may have realized that the debate had run its course when they received a letter with the ever-asked for opinion of an Amherst man. He suggested that the lack of lesbians outing themselves publicly in the Sophian indicates “an inner shame”—never mind the fact that the entire issue stemmed from the Lesbian Alliance needing funding to host an array of workshops and events that defended and promoted their cause.

On March 16, over a month after the original controversy began, the Sophian printed a notice that they would no longer publish letters on the matter:

Think about how polarizing issues are discussed on campus today. What are the benefits and drawbacks of the letter to the editor/op-ed format, where the letters must be signed and editors act as moderators? What do you think is the best platform for debate to occur?

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Further reading

All of these viewpoints have their basis in broader historical movements, from the rise of the Christian right to the shifting campus cultures of women’s colleges. It is worth considering these contexts and how they have shaped debates on homosexuality, both in 1978 and today.

• Conway, Jill Ker. A Woman’s Education. Alfred A. Knopf, 2001.

Jill Ker Conway served as the first woman president of Smith College, from 1975 to 1985. During her tenure, Smith underwent huge transformations politically, culturally, and academically. Elite all-male universities were beginning to accept women, and women’s colleges like Smith had to decide how they would remain relevant: go co-educational, or foster a new identity that would attract people to their unique environment. This memoir by Conway details her time at Smith, and she reflects on these issues as well as how gay rights, civil rights, and feminist movements made their mark on the college.

• Fetner,  Tina. “Working Anita Bryant: The Impact of Christian Anti-Gay Activism on Lesbian and Gay Movement Claims,” Social Problems 48, no. 3 (August 2001): 411-428.

Investigations of the debates around gay rights in 1978 cannot be had without looking into Anita Bryant and her 1977 “Save the Children” campaign. Her anti-gay activism, based in conservative Christian morality politics, was hugely influential on the rise of the Christian right that found its footing during the Reagan era and continues to this day. As one of the Sophian letters points out, Theresa Dolan appears to have taken her rhetorical cues from Anita Bryant, and so this article provides valuable insight into the larger impact on the LGBTQ+ movement that Bryant had.

• Gasaway, Brantley W. Progressive Evangelicals and the Pursuit of Social Justice. University of North Carolina Press, 2014.

We tend to think of evangelicals as synonymous with the Christian right, always at the forefront of anti-gay rhetoric. But in the 1960s and 70s, there was a small but passionate contingent of evangelicals more aligned with the Democratic party and contemporary social movements. They walked a narrow line between the political left and religious: they promoted racial and economic justice, protested American militarism, and defended feminism and gay civil rights, all while denying women leadership positions in their own churches and denouncing the sin of homosexuality. This branch of evangelicalism seems to be the heritage of the Smith Evangelical Christian Fellowship, and Gasaway’s book sheds light on this seldom-considered sphere of opinion. 

• Lesbianism file, 1977-1983, Box 2, Helen Hills-Hills Chapel Collection, CA-MS-01111, Smith College Archives, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton MA. 

This file contains most of the clippings of this entire Sophian drama, as well as resources for developing a gay-affirming congregation. It also contains a draft of a letter signed by college religious life staff and faculty supporting the funding of the Lesbian Alliance which later appeared in the Sophian in 1979 when the budget was up for debate again. These records are a fascinating glimpse into the practices and politics of religious life at Smith, and suggest that it was one of the most progressive areas of campus during a time of upheaval. 

• White, Heather R. Reforming Sodom: Protestants and the Rise of Gay Rights. University of North Carolina Press, 2015.

This work challenges the idea that the gay rights movements were always diametrically opposed to Christianity, or that the movement can only make strides through the secularization of society. White details the rise of mainline Protestant support for homosexuality in the 1960s, particularly from its clergy, and makes a case for their importance in consolidating the modern gay and lesbian movement. The Christian Council and Helen Hills-Hills Chapel records indicate an alignment with this context, and show that Christian life at Smith was generally in line with the most progressive religious movements.

Works Cited

1. Dave Bergman, “The Top 25 Most LGBTQ Friendly Colleges,” College Transitions, February 15, 2023, https://www.collegetransitions.com/blog/great-colleges-for-lgbtq-students/. ↩︎
2. Sophian, 1977 – 1978, Student publications and student publication records, CA-MS-01049, Smith College Archives, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton MA. https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/4/archival_objects/410999 ↩︎
3. Financial material, budget proposals, 1976-2001, Box 3016, Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Alliance records, CA-MS-00112, Smith College Archives, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton MA. https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/4/archival_objects/4530 ↩︎
4. ECARR FILE 1/ Christian Council, 1977-1978, Box 18, Center for Religious and Spiritual Life records, CA-MS-01057, Smith College Archives, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton MA. https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/4/archival_objects/368956 ↩︎
5. Lesbianism file, 1977-1983, Box 2, Helen Hills-Hills Chapel Collection, CA-MS-01111, Smith College Archives, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton MA. https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/4/archival_objects/390138 ↩︎

“Disability justice in an educational context is about envisioning a better world for everybody and a place where… all of the different ways of learning and teaching are honored, and …where anyone who wants to show up to learn and teach has the opportunity to do that.“

Seibert, EJ, interview by Sarah Mitrani, transcript of video recording, March 12, 2025, p. 19.

Question: “What does disability justice mean to you in an educational context?”

SEIBERT: “Yeah, that’s a big question. I love that question. I mean, I think about universal design, but it’s not just universal design. It’s really, it’s a foundational restructuring of the systems that we’ve been handed. It’s being able to say, this was, this is actually wrong from the start, with everyone’s best intentions, this educational system– and I don’t just mean Smith, but like education as a broader system– it was just wrong from the start. And we can say that from the disability justice angle, as much as we can say it from a decolonial angle, as much as we can say from an anti-racist angle, as much as we can say it, right, with all of the lenses. And I think disability justice to me is able to hold each of our part in that. And then it’s not just saying, hey, this was wrong from the start, it was set up, it’s exclusive, we want something that’s inclusive, is then to make the jump into here’s how we envision that, and here’s not just how we envision that theoretically, but here’s how we actually move the action forward on that. So I think disability justice in an educational context is about envisioning a better world for everybody and a place where, like all of the different ways of learning and teaching are honored, and a place where anyone who wants to show up to learn and teach has the opportunity to do that.“

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“In terms of the biggest challenge or barrier… is just inertia… and then with an inertia… we’ve been heading in this direction for so long and everyone’s kind of used to heading this direction, so it feels like work to… make some accessibility updates, even if eventually it would lighten the load.“

Seibert, EJ, interview by Sarah Mitrani, transcript of video recording, March 12, 2025, p. 17.

Question: “What do you think is the biggest challenge to making Smith more accessible, like whether that’s physical, academic, or social environment, what’s been the most resistant to accessibility improvements?“

SEIBERT: “Mmm, that’s a great question. I mean my first, like, impulse to respond is inertia. Like I actually, right, and I think that some of the changes we most need, like there’s a challenge with physical and mobility improvements because the campus, some of the structures are really old. So it’s a lot to update old structures, right. Where there are certain things that can’t be updated. Like we can mitigate mold in a basement, but we can’t actually rebuild the entire building. And so some of those challenges are there, but I, I, you know, I think in terms of the biggest challenge or barrier, I think is just inertia. Right. And then with an inertia, it’s like we’re well, we’ve been heading in this direction for so long and everyone’s kind of used to heading this direction so it feels like work to try to change course or make some accessibility updates, even if eventually it would lighten the load. Right, like if we implement universal design and that’s like not just kind of like encouraged, but actually really required in many ways. That would actually– eventually not in the initial change– but it would eventually lighten the load for instructors in addition to students and students, whether or not they have identified disabilities. Right. And that feels like a heavy lift to people because everyone’s so at the edge of capacity, right, and feels overburdened for understandable reasons. So I think that inertia is the biggest barrier, you know.” 

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“Students bring a different level of disability pride, a different level of willingness and capacity to engage conversations about access needs.“

Seibert, EJ, interview by Sarah Mitrani, transcript of video recording, March 12, 2025, p. 18.

Question: “Getting into comparing your experience as a student and as an administrator. So looking at Smith from both of these perspectives, you’ve talked a little bit about some of the most significant changes that you’ve seen, like dining or having more staff, but is there a meaningful difference in the way that the college approaches disability support? Is there a mindset shift, a culture shift?”

SEIBERT: “Yeah, yeah, I think there is a different openness. I think students I think that first of all comes from students, right? When I was a student, you know, the first time my girlfriend said, Go to disability services, I was like, I don’t need that, and I don’t want to be seen going in there, right? The internalized ableism was so deep. And I think part of that was the time, right? Like, so that in the early 2000s was not a time when people were very open about access needs… And so I think part of it, the culture, the larger culture we all swim in has shifted some, and like that’s unfortunately because also struggles are so widespread like, and this was true before the pandemic. I mean, having worked at UMass, I can say mental health needs spiked around 2016… Yeah, there are some changes in this country around 2016 that were particularly right, like, impacted folks around mental health. And, and then the pandemic just kind of made it even worse. But so we’re now seeing more folks being open about needs sometimes just because they have to be. Which then, although it doesn’t break open a conversation for others. And so I think that larger context has shifted. And students bring a different level of disability pride, a different level of willingness and capacity to engage conversations about access needs. And then I think that follows with, like the rest of the structure… I remember this moment it was maybe in the first month of President Sarah starting, and she knocked on our office door one morning and she said, I can’t believe I haven’t met you all yet. You do some of the most important work on this campus. Right? And it was like, okay, like, we have real support and people who understand the value of this work. And that makes a difference, too, right? And, and I don’t think, like in all the conversations I’ve been in, I haven’t really run into folks who are like, We don’t want accessibility here. I run into a lot of folks who are like, We don’t know how to do this, or we don’t feel like we have time. Can you help us out with this? Right. And when we then have people in the structure of Smith, in the institution of Smith, from the President on down saying this is important, it then helps to make space for those conversations to deepen. So I do think it feels really different here.”

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“Students are the driving force.”

Seibert, EJ, interview by Sarah Mitrani, transcript of video recording, March 12, 2025, p. 19.

Question: What do you think the student role in changing Smith is?

SEIBERT: I think, Smith’s capacity to really engage what change means has shifted. 

MITRANI: Yeah. Can you expand a little bit more on what you think the student role in that is? 

SEIBERT: Oh, huge. Yeah. I mean students are the driving force. Right. And I think that, there are times where, you know, I could say or someone else could say, hey, we need this. And then we have like 500 students saying that sometimes way more eloquently than we do. And also like in numbers. Right? And really like showing this is actually important. That’s actually often what moves things forward. Right, like the student role in our ARC strategic planning process is so key, which is part of why we have the ongoing student advisory group. Right. It’s so that we can collaborate because often students, first of all, like current students tell us what the exact needs are. I can make guesses. And sometimes those guesses are really accurate, and other times they may, like, have 20 years ago me informing my guess about what’s needed, and that’s not helpful, right? So having current students inform us of like exactly what is your experience, that’s really helpful. And then again, like having numbers and having, having that energy, it’s like, is so often what actually moves things forward.

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“Welcome.”

Seibert, EJ, interview by Sarah Mitrani, transcript of video recording, March 12, 2025, p. 21.

Question: “If you could say one thing to a student who just arrived to Smith and was either aware of their access needs or is just starting to become aware, what would you say to them?”

SEIBERT: “Oh, welcome. Yeah. Welcome. And like, when it feels possible, and it won’t always feel possible, have patience with yourself in the process. Right. Like I think that that kind of like self-compassion and other compassion and, it can be really hard in those moments because there’s so much of like coming up against a barrier feels personal and, and like cuts into our energy and cuts into our feelings of self-worth and cuts into all these things, but I think that that patience, when we can have that patience to know, like, okay, if I come at something with patience and some curiosity, sometimes that will help open a door.”

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Guiding Questions

Take a second to share your thoughts on this project and interview below. Here are a few questions to think about:

1. What was your knowledge, understanding, or awareness of the history of accessibility, disability, and the students and administrators who led the changes?
2. Why do you think this history is not widely known?
3. From watching these clips and/or reading the transcript, what are the significant changes ej seibert identified, and what is the student role?
4. What is the value and importance of documenting and preserving the narratives and experiences of current Smith students and administrators?

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Further Research

In fall 2023, I wrote a seminar paper and recorded a podcast documenting the development of Smith’s disability policy and accessibility efforts from 1973 to 1994.

Read the paper here.

Listen to the podcast here (Google Drive link).

For more resources about the history of accessibility at Smith, check out my shared google drive of the documents* I scanned during the first phase of this research. The documents come from the College Archives, specifically the collections: Office of the Dean of the College Records, Office of the Class Deans records, Office of the President Thomas Corwin Mendenhall Files, Office of the Provost/Dean of the Faculty records, and Student publications and student publications records.

*Many of the documents I tried to access were restricted, and many I felt that I could not, in good conscience, post online without receiving consent.

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Secondary Sources

Hanscom, Elizabeth D., and Helen French Greene. Sophia Smith and the Beginnings of Smith College. 1926.

This is the book that started this whole project for me. When I learned that Sophia Smith became Deaf over the course of her life, I was surprised, but I was even more shocked that it took until my junior year to learn this. This book discusses how Sophia Smith’s life and identity led to the founding of Smith College. I find it interesting because it highlights how she truly felt disabled by her Deafness, and I believe that it had an influence on her desire to found a college

Madaus, Joseph W. “The History of Disability Services in Higher Education.” New Directions for Higher Education, no. 154, 2011, pp. 5–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/he.429.

In this article, Madaus goes into the history of disabled students and the services provided to them in higher education from the early 1800s to 2011. It provides helpful context to the first disabled students in college and gives a good overview of the development of disability policy. In order to understand Smith’s disability policy and accessibility developments, one must place it in a broader context; Madaus sets the context and defines it as a constant and difficult struggle, which aligns with Smith’s journey.

Patterson, Lindsey. “Points of Access: Rehabilitation Centers, Summer Camps, and Student Life in the Making of Disability Activism, 1960-1973.” Journal of Social History, vol. 46, no. 2, 2012, pp. 473–99. https://doi.org/10.1093/jsh/shs099.

Patterson’s article provides a fantastic historical perspective on how disabled people came together to organize for disability justice. Her description of how disabled college students in the late 1950s and 1960s, specifically at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of California Berkeley, and the State University of New York, organized to advocate for disability justice. She argues that universities were some of the first places other than specific summer camps for disabled people, where people with similar experiences of exclusion, discrimination, and denied access connected and challenged their universities to accommodate them. Her discussion of how they began developing networks of activism that spread beyond their colleges is highly relevant to my research.

Pelka, Fred. “Institutions, Part 1.” What We Have Done: An Oral History of the Disability Rights Movement, University of Massachusetts Press, 2012, pp. 48–60. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vk2js.7.

This is just one chapter I have read, but Pelka’s book documents the ugly and painful details of the conditions and cruelty experienced by disabled people before the civil rights movement. His work using oral histories of prominent advocates is helpful because I conducted an oral history and am using it to tell a larger narrative. The ways that Pelka integrates the oral histories is an intriguing strategy, especially given the popular history aspects and democratic nature of of oral histories.

Smith College prides itself on raising students who break the rules of society and build new rules for themself. Just this past year, the college endorsed this idea at its annual Rally Day, encouraging students to “Be Brave, Set High Goals, Break Barriers.”¹ It’s an institution that praises activists and feminists and those who go on to pioneer new horizons, even if that means breaking the rules.  But it is just that: an institution, with regulations and policies strongly enforced by Residence Life, the Conduct Board, and the Administration – something that stands in direct contradiction with its ideals for its students post-grad.

The Warden

Before Smith had a Dean of Students, they had a Warden – a quite intense title for the faculty member overseeing the academic and personal success of Smith College students. The most prominent holder of this title is our very own Laura Scales, who served in the 1920s & 30s. Her main duties meant enforcing discipline across the college – just three demerits and Smith students would be expelled, or, sorry, politely asked to take a permanent suspension. ^{2 3}

Shown here are a selection of letters from the Office of the Warden, in a folder titled Special Cases, but a more apt label is Expulsions. From smoking, to immoral behavior at parties, to missing curfew, there were a whole slew of rules that could end any Smithie’s college career:

What rules make sense? What are too harsh? What do these rules say about the moral standards Smith students – and women, more generally – were held to? What do current rules say about current moral standards? If you were a student in the 1930s, what would you have been expelled for?

Blight Girls

From the 1890s, until the late 1960s, Smith College had two rival secret societies: the Ancient Order of the Hibernians and the Orangemen.⁴ Both stem from pre-existing Irish religious groups, but became something entirely different here on campus.

While not entirely against the rules, the societies kicked up major controversy across campus – including multiple opinion pieces to campus publications, calling for their disbandment on the grounds of being “undemocratic.” 

What did they do on campus? Mostly, they hated each other for seemingly no reason! And wrote mean things about each other in a scrapbook – think the Mean Girls Burn Book, circa 1938.⁵

Some of the most scathing quotes include these pages. Note the language they use – not always outwardly mean, but cutting in a sickly sweet, too polite, academic way:

Why do you think they were so mean to each other? What does this say about the way girls and women are allowed to be aggressive or fight?

The AOH and Orangemen were disbanded officially in 1948, but both clubs continued unofficially well into the late 60s. Now, they only exist in memory and in the archives, and in the questions they inspire. 

What is the appeal of joining an exclusive group? Why do you think these secret societies were so attractive to Smith students? Should we bring secret societies back? If so, how would we have to restructure them to be more democratic?

Meant to Be Broken

Not all rules are meant to be followed – what happens when Smith students speak against the college, pull senior pranks, or throw unregistered parties, if all of these activities are against policy?

In 1986, around 200 students staged a sit-in at College Hall to protest the college’s investment in the South African apartheid.⁶ Smith has a long tradition of protests and demonstrations, stretching back to 1933,⁷ but this was by far the most prominent and public display, getting attention from the Hampshire Gazette and United Press International.⁸ 

The protest disrupted college operations and stood in violation of many policies.⁹ Yet in these photos – two of many documenting the event – the protesters show their faces proudly, identifying themselves as the perpetrators. They stand together in solidarity – a collective rule breaking.

Should protests be against the rules? When is it necessary to break rules?

Recommended Reading

Lee, Mabel Barbee. “Censoring the Conduct of College Women.” The Atlantic, April 1, 1930. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1930/04/censoring-the-conduct-of-college-women/305844/.

This newspaper article from the 1930s brings in an outside perspective on how college women were perceived as well as the growing youth culture and shifts in morality of this time period. It is in direct conversation with the archival materials, but offers a different external perspective that gives context to the society surrounding Smith College and its policies in the early 20th century.

Nikolaidis, A. C., and Winstron C. Thompson. “Breaking School Rules: The Permissibility of Student Noncompliance in an Unjust Educational System.” Harvard Educational Review, vol. 91, 2021, pp. 204–26.

Nikolaidis and Thompson’s writings discuss the sociological tendency to break rules and how rules are treated when they are perceived as unjust or unfair. This valuable insight will supplement the archival materials to understand why certain rules are more likely to be broken and whether or not they are ethical despite their status as policy. 

Simmons, Rachel. “Introduction.” Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls. Harcourt, 2003.

A contemporary of Queen Bees and Wannabes (Tina Fey’s inspiration for Mean Girls), Simmons’ book explores aggression and bullying in teenage girls, the underhanded ways in which they fight and the need for that aggression – and how it differs from the moral standards fighting between boys is granted. While Simmons’ research focuses on middle and high school students in the early 2000s, the same methods and theories she draws on can apply to the secret societies at Smith, giving us a psychological and sociological perspective to this history.

Bibliography

Archival Materials

Absence Card, 1930s. Social Regulations, Administrative Office Records, Box 578, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-01005, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Curfew Reminder, 1920s. Social Regulations, Administrative Office Records, Box 579, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-01005, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Smoking Regulations, 1920s. Social Regulations, Administrative Office Records, Box 579, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-01005, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Shirley Gordon, 1933. Special Cases, Office of Student Affairs Records, Box 58, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-01055, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Dorothy Gill, 1930. Special Cases, Office of Student Affairs Records, Box 58, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-01055, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Scrapbook, 1938-1966, Ancient Order of Hibernians Records, Box 3011.1, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-00023,  Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.

“Are Secret Societies Necessary,” Smith College Weekly, April 10, 1940. Ancient Order of the Hibernians Records, Box 3011.1, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-00023,  Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.

College Hall Occupation, 1986. College Hall Occupation, Student Demonstrations, Box CA Shared 128, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-00317 Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Protest banners at College Hall, 1986. College Hall Occupation, Student Demonstrations, Box CA Shared 128, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-00317 Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.

footnotes

1. Dellecese, Cheryl. “News of Note,” Smith College Website, published February 24, 2025. https://www.smith.edu/news-events/news/be-brave-set-high-goals-break-barriers ↩︎
2. Laura Woolsey Lord Scales Papers, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-00088, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts, accessed March 14, 2025. https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/4/resources/392 ↩︎
3. Office of the Warden, Office of Student Affairs Records, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-01055, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts, accessed March 14, 2025. ↩︎
4. Ancient Order of Hibernians Records, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-00023, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts, accessed March 14, 2025, https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/4/resources/145 ↩︎
5. Scrapbook, 1938-1966, Ancient Order of Hibernians Records, Box 3011.1, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-00023,  Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts. ↩︎
6. “Why Smith and Why Now? A Look at the Events of February 1986”, May 2 1986. College Hall Occupation Oral History Project, Student Demonstrations, CA-MS-00317, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts. ↩︎
7. Student Demonstrations, CA-MS-00317, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts. ↩︎
8. “Students occupy Smith College administration building.” Feb. 26, 1986. United Press International Archives. Accessed March 24, 2025. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/02/26/Students-occupy-Smith-College-administration-building/5419509778000/ ↩︎
9. “It Happened at Smith”, May 2 1986. College Hall Occupation Oral History Project, Student Demonstrations, CA-MS-00317 Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts. ↩︎