Radcliffe College
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Radcliffe College is the historical name of a women's educational institution closely associated with Harvard University. It was one of the original Seven Sisters colleges.
The "Harvard Annex" for women's instruction by Harvard faculty was founded in 1879 and chartered as Radcliffe College by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1894. It is named for Lady Ann Mowlson, born Radcliffe, who established the first scholarship at Harvard in 1643. The first president was Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, widow of Harvard professor Louis Agassiz. Radcliffe built its own campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, not far from that of Harvard.
During World War II, Harvard and Radcliffe signed an agreement which allowed women to attend classes at Harvard for the first time, officially beginning joint instruction in 1943. From 1963, Radcliffe students received Harvard diplomas signed by the presidents of Radcliffe and Harvard, and joint commencement exercises began in 1970. The same year, several Harvard and Radcliffe dormitories began swapping students experimentally, and in 1972 full coresidence was instituted. The schools' departments of athletics merged shortly thereafter.
In 1977, Harvard and Radcliffe signed an agreement which put undergraduate women entirely in Harvard College, maintaining for them only a nominal enrollment in Radcliffe College. In practice all the energies of Radcliffe (which remained an autonomous institution) were devoted to its other initiatives, such as the Bunting fellowship program. During this time, the Harvard undergraduate community and class was officially known as "Harvard and Radcliffe" or "Harvard-Radcliffe", and female students continued to be awarded degrees signed by both presidents, even though Radcliffe had little to no impact on the average undergraduate's experience at the university.
On October 1, 1999, this unique arrangement came to an end, as Radcliffe College was finally fully absorbed into Harvard University; female undergraduates were henceforward members only of Harvard College while Radcliffe College evolved into the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
However, several undergraduate student organizations in Harvard College still refer to Radcliffe in their names, (for example the Radcliffe Union of Students, Harvard's feminist organization, Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra and Radcliffe Choral Society). Two athletic teams still compete under the Radcliffe name: varsity crew, which still rows with Radcliffe's black-and-white oarblades and uniforms instead of Harvard's crimson-and-white (in 1973 the team had been the only varsity team which voted not to adopt the Harvard name); and club rugby. In addition, the Harvard University Band still plays a Radcliffe fight song.
Alumnae
- Margaret Atwood, 1947 - author
- Melissa Block, radio journalist, Co-host, All Things Considered
- Stockard Channing, actress, famous for her roles in Grease and The West Wing.
- Amy Gutmann, Current president of the University of Pennsylvania
- Abigail Folger, 1964 - American heiress and murder victim.
- Helen Keller, deafblind writer, activist
- Ursula K. Le Guin, American writer, poet
- Elizabeth (Sadie) Holloway Marston, M.A. 1921 - co-creator of the comic book character, Wonder Woman
- Anne McCaffrey, 1947 - Science fiction author
- Gertrude Stein, American writer, poet, playwright and feminist
- Abby Sutherland, cum laude graduate, head mistress, president, and owner of The Ogontz School for Girls. Sutherland deeded the school to Penn State in 1950.
- Charlotte Wilder, M.A. - poet and eldest sister of Thornton Wilder
Fictional alumnae
- Brenda Patimkin, from the novella and consequent film Goodbye, Columbus
- Jennifer Cavalleri, from the film Love Story
Popular culture
- I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can: an episode of The Simpsons where Lisa Simpson is tempted by the Siren-like representatives of the Seven Sisters (and George Plimpton), who offer a free ride to the Sister school of her choice (and a George Plimpton hot plate) if she will throw a Spelling Bee [link].
References
- Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz. Alma Mater: Design and Experience in the Women's Colleges from Their Nineteenth-Century Beginnings to the 1930s. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1993 (2nd edition).
External links
- [Radcliffe Institute For Advanced Study - Harvard University]
- [Her Two Lives The biography of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study's Founder by author Elaine Yaffe]
- [Radcliffe Crew]
| Schools of Harvard University |
|---|
| Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences>Faculty of Arts and Sciences: College • Graduate School of Arts and Sciences • Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences • Continuing Education |
| Faculty of Medicine: Harvard Medical School>Medical School • School of Dental Medicine |
| Harvard Divinity School>Divinity School • Law School • Business School • Graduate School of Design |
| Harvard Graduate School of Education>Graduate School of Education • School of Public Health • Kennedy School of Government |
| Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (successor to Radcliffe College) |
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