Does the archives represent Mount Holyoke College as a community?

Maragareta Casanave

In arguing whether or not the Mount Holyoke archives represent the Mount Holyoke community, it is necessary to define what we mean by “community.” I will use Hobsbawm’s definition of tradition as a rationalizing precursor to current change (2) and represent “community” as the group which seeks out the past in order to pave the way to a pre-conceptualized future.

Near to the more recently venerated Smith College and situated in the US state which claims the most institutions for higher learning, Mount Holyoke must define itself carefully. The lesbian members of the Mount Holyoke will be happy to learn that many ladies of MHC past had inter-gender commitments which defined their work and lives. Yet the moralist members of the community need not acknowledge “the love that dare not speak its name” (Wilde) since its name is not captioned in modern form at the bottom of the photograph. The admissions office ties the past with the present and future in order to convince prospective students of the value of Mount Holyoke. “The first of the Seven Sisters (the female equivalent of the formerly all-male Ivy League), Mount Holyoke graduates independent critical thinkers who speak and write powerfully, are technologically savvy, and are distinguished by their ability to lead in a complex, pluralistic world.” The material at the Mount Holyoke archives is highly useful both in the information it gives and that which it lacks. It is being drawn upon to define the “Mount Holyoke Community” with enormous success.