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Mount Holyoke: 1951 and 2004
Laura J. Curry
Mary Browning, Mount Holyoke alumna from the class of 1951, wrote letters home very regularly during her first year of college detailing both social and academic aspects of campus life. From these letters we have a first-person account of what Mary’s courses and campus jobs were like, as well as traditions, clubs, and big social events that she describes. It is easy to see that during her first year here, Mary was heavily involved in campus life; she was a member of the Dramatic society, often went on trips to the Outing Club cabin, attended many dances, and took on many odd jobs to earn extra money.[1] Mary also writes a lot about her courses and how much studying she has to do, and it is clear that it balancing her workload with all her extracurricular activities is not a simple task; it is this aspect of her life that most reminded me of my own experience at Mount Holyoke. Fifty-six years later, the world is a different place and countless aspects of campus have changed, but the struggle to complete all of one’s work and still manage to enjoy college remains a salient theme for the Mount Holyoke student body.
A review of Mary Browning’s college aptitude on her student card says that Mary is “Capable of carrying col. wk. successfully,” and the card shows that she was in the top 36% of her small high school class during her senior year. The “special interests” section lists that she participated in basketball, dancing lessons, swimming, tennis, riding, skating, and her church youth group and choir.[2] There is certainly evidence that she was a conscientious student and would have been accustomed to handling a full schedule.
Nevertheless, Mary often writes about how much work she has at Mount Holyoke, and descriptions of social activities are almost always followed by an admission that she had to put her work aside. Even at the start of the semester, in a letter dated around September 20, 1947, she mentions that she declined to go to town with some friends on the weekend because “we have quite a bit of homework.”[3] On November 29 of that same semester, Mary writes to her mother about her Thanksgiving break, which at the time of the letter has been spent having fun with the other students from her dorm staying on campus for the holiday and picking up extra work to earn money. She begins, “I’ve been awfully busy these past two weeks so haven’t had much time for writing. It is certainly good to have a little time to rest up, for I am quite tired. However, I do mean to do some work during this recess.” She goes on to explain her upcoming exams and says “they certainly are keeping us busy and working us awfully hard.”[4]
Clearly students in Mary’s day felt the same as students today feel about the demands a Mount Holyoke workload makes on one’s time. And not only is the strain of trying to keep up with coursework an individual sentiment, but a common tie – to the point that being busy has become a “norm” of campus life. This is not to say, however, that Mary does not have fun. Indeed, around November 9th of her first year she dedicates almost a whole page to describing “Hazing Day” to her Mother without any mention of classes, exams, or homework at all.[5] Around March 6, 1948, after recounting the “Soph Hop” dance, she says, “You can see that I had quite a lively week end with no studying at all. Of course it was much more fun this way,” and concludes, “Well, I’ve got an awful pile of work to do and I better get at it.”[6] And so prevalent is this constant struggle between excelling academically and participating in social activities that not only is it evident in Mary’s personal letters home, but it is actually institutionalized here at Mount Holyoke.
Two publications in particular illustrate the conflicting nature of Mount Holyoke’s expectations during Mary’s time here. The Mount Holyoke College Bulletin from January 1948 outlines a new grading system and explains clearly that college standards require that “students shall be excluded who in any one year receives nine hours of “6” or fails to receive at least nine hours of “3” or better.”[7] (pg. 46) The 1947 Freshman Handbook, presented by the junior class, explains, “A Phi Beta Kappa key is the highest academic honor given, and the College is always eager to see who the chosen few will be.” (pg. 30) Seven pages later it says, “The social life on this campus is also very important to us and our dances are big events.” In a section entitled “Words to the Wise” the older students advise that their “little sisters” keep their academic work in perspective: “don’t forget home—write often even when you’re so bowed down with work it isn’t funny! It really only seems that way.”[8] (pg. 13)
Mount Holyoke students receive these same conflicting messages today. There is certainly a high standard for academic work, and most students have no shortage of studying to do, but at the same time we are encouraged not to “stress out” and to get involved in social activities available on campus and in the area. Furthermore, we hear both sides of this argument from everyone around us: our parents, friends, and professors all have their own reasons for wanting to see us succeed, but we are also constantly told that it’s not good to work too much, or take academic success too seriously. Nevertheless, our professors are the ones assigning the work, our parents are typically paying the tuition, and the workload is a unifying factor of the student body, making our own friends possibly the most active in enforcing this norm.
It is difficult to say, of course, exactly what the typical homework load was for the Class of 1951; even now it probably varies widely across departments and individual semester schedules. Nevertheless, similar messages about work and stress are still an institutionalized aspect of campus, as they were in Mary’s day. Naturally, Mount Holyoke still maintains academic standards, and the general concern over student stress levels seems more public now than it was then. Exam period, a notorious time of student stress, offers a prime example of this. The library begins to stay open 24 hours a day, theoretically to offer students a quiet space to study at whatever time they choose; but this very option suggests to many students that they ought to be studying 24 hours a day. Take a walk through the stacks during this time and you’ll see so many students camped out in the library that one gets the distinct sense that exams are something to be very worried about—everyone else is, after all.
In response to this very phenomenon, the December 12, 2003 issue of the College Street Journal listed the “No-Study Zone III: The de-stressor event of the year!” in Chapin Auditorium, and a “Stress Reduction Meditation” at the Abbey Interfaith Sanctuary on Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.[9] In a similar fashion to the juniors who wrote that homework “really only seems” to be too much to handle in 1947, an article headlined “Nerd Alert” in the Mount Holyoke News from November 2002 by Leslie Kogan, class of 2003, chastises the student body for studying too much and missing out on the fun college life has to offer.
“In the library, students anxiously pored over books in anticipation of the coming week; at meals, I overheard countless conversations of students lamenting what had to be done before the end of the semester; in the dorms, doors were closed and halls were quiet as students studied or recovered from previous study sessions. We need to relax!”
In the same issue, Haley Huiting, class of 2003, writes about student enforcement of the stressed norm on campus in “Spreading the Stress; The Domino effect of rampant negativity.”[10]
In Mary’s time and in the present, students take in these two opposing ideas—“work hard and get good grades! But never take school too seriously, don’t stress!”—from their environment and reproduce them. I see a striking similarity in the way Mary writes about dances and times with her friends, but often includes a note about how much work she has to do for her classes; when she writes about her class projects and her grades, she is sure to add that she is looking forward to a reprieve in the near future. I e-mail my mother telling her all the fun I’m having, but it is always a trade-off; it only means I have been neglecting my work (after all, it is never really finished.) Every freshman in Mary’s day learned this lesson just as I and all the members of my class did four years ago, and so strong is the tradition of work here at Mount Holyoke I see no sign that this “traditional” campus ethic will go out of style any time soon.
[1] Mary Browning Nelson Papers, Browning to her mother, (academic year of 1947-1948). Archives and Special Collections, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
[2] Class of 1951, Browning class card, February 25, 1947- June 4, 1951. Archives and Special Collections, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
[3] Mary Nelson Browning Papers, Browning to her mother, ca. September 20, 1947. Archives and Special Collections, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
[4] Mary Nelson Browning Papers, Browning to her mother, November 29, 1947. Archives and Special Collections, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
[5] Mary Nelson Browning Papers, Browning to her mother, ca. November 9, 1947. Archives and Special Collections, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
[6] Mary Nelson Browning Papers, Browning to her mother, ca. March 6, 1948. Archives and Special Collections, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
[7] Mount Holyoke College Bulletin, The Catalogue Number. Bulletin series 41, no. 4. January, 1948: South Hadley, MA
[8] Class of 1949, Mount Holyoke College Class of 1951 Freshman Handbook. 1947: Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
[9] “Happenings,” College Street Journal. December 12, 2003. Vol. 17, No. 14. Office of Communications, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
[10] Mount Holyoke News, November 12, 2002. vol. 85, no.10. Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
Bibliography
South Hadley, MA. Archives and Special Collections, Mount Holyoke College. Alumnae Biographical Files.
South Hadley, MA. Archives and Special Collections, Mount Holyoke College. Class of 1951 Files.
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