A Look into a 1917 Yearbook

She with all the charm of woman;

She with all the breadth of man.

-anonymous

A few weeks ago, I casually mentioned to a new neighbor how I enjoy studying vintage yearbooks. She was generous enough to add a new volume to my collection! This 1917 yearbook (incidentally the same year my house was constructed) was from a local all-female college just a few blocks away. I found the quotes under the senior portraits interesting. Several referred to beauty and charm, but there were also several “girl power” quotes. Later, I realized in trying to trace these that they had simply replaced masculine pronouns with feminine ones. The quote above seemed like it might be an unaltered quote, but I was unable to trace its origin to verify.

In some ways, college life has not changed much. There was intramural basketball in the fall (each class had a team, with the addition of a faculty team “the members of which demonstrated remarkable activity if but little action”) and field day activities in the spring. The nine fraternities (which, yes, were interestingly enough labelled as fraternities instead of sororities) were housed in adorable little bungalows in the wooded area behind the campus. The YWCA, two literary societies, and a suffrage club were also a part of the campus life. The suffrage club was “not militant yet, only quietly determined and sitting confidently on the beach until the rising tide comes in.” These accomplished and educated women still had three more years to wait before they would be allowed the vote.

The typical day was described as full of foreign language (Latin, French, and more) recitation and translation, a failed lab experiment, potato chips and chocolate at supper to everyone’s pleasure, and time in the library “where all is light and laughter”. I sympathize with the roommate who “is getting out her five blankets and her footwarmers” while “the radiator is getting up air for its nightly frolic.” It is interesting that the biggest difference we see in today’s colleges (aside from central heating and cooling) is the lack of language instruction. Hhmm, that topic might need a blog post of its own.

There were no personal notes in this one so I could not identify which woman the book had belonged to, but I still enjoyed reading it. The senior portraits were a little surprising. The ladies looked so elegant and sophisticated, but all of them were wearing what appears to be… a neck brace? I’m assuming this was to ensure correct posture, but didn’t they realize that it would be obvious in the picture? If anyone else has insight into this strange practice, I am very curious.

I loved the few full color pages which were section dividers. Only the seniors, garbed in cap and gown, received individual portraits. However, the portraits taken of large groups or of casual moments helped me get an idea of the fashion trends. It’s conceivable that groups of these very same college girls might have walked past the construction site for my home with the same interest that I now have as I pass their beautiful old campus. The college was many years established by 1917 and boasted approximately 600 students from 35 states and foreign countries.

For a time period which still seems very formal to our point of view, despite the steady march towards flapper styles, women’s suffrage, and prohibition, I love the little moments of humor evidenced in a few comic strips and joke pages. Fire drills were a source of student frustration even then. Side note, in a novel I am reading which was written in 1915, the children of an orphanage begin to practice fire drills. Half of the boys were assigned toddlers and babies to carry out while the other half were to be devoted to salvage! “On the occasion of our first drill… the contents of a dozen clothes-lockers were dumped into sheets and hurled out of the windows. I usurped dictatorship just in time to keep the pillows and the mattresses from following. We spent hours resorting those clothes…” Maybe times have changed a bit. The book is Dear Enemy by Jean Webster if you are curious.

Finally, the ads cap off the volume. I am always interested in what was being advertised (Kodak cameras, victrolas, chocolates, ice cream shops, stationary, clothing stores, etc.) as well as to see how things were made appealing. Jello was advertised because it was impossible to mess up, even if you didn’t have a cook! Local friends may recognize some of these businesses still.