Bryn Mawr College Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College Publications, Special Books, pamphlets, catalogues, and scrapbooks Collections, Digitized Books 1986 The Women of Summer: The Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers: 1921-1938 Rita Rubinstein Heller [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmc_books Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Custom Citation Rita Rubinstein Heller, "The Women of Summer: The Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers: 1921-1938," Ph.D. dissertation, Rutgers University, 1986. This paper is posted at Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College. https://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmc_books/43 For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE WOMEN OF SUMMER: THE BRYN MAWR SUMMER SCHOOL FOR WOMEN WORKERS: 1921-1938 By RITA RUBINSTEIN HELPER A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment cf the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in History Written under the direction of Professor William L. O'Neill and approved by O' New Brunswick, New Jersey May, 1986 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (c) 1986 Rita Rubinstein Heller ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS The Women of Summer: The Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers: 1921-1938 by RITA RUBINSTEIN HELLER, Ph.D. Dissertation Director: Professor William L. O'Neill The Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers: 1921-1938, exem­ plified the progressive era's vision of social progress through educa­ tion, cross-class cooperation, and gradualism. The women who conceived it, Bryn Mawr President M. Carey Thomas and her then-dean Hilda Worthington Smith, were products of their time, filled with enthusiasm for the liberal education offered at universities and colleges, particu­ larly at women's colleges. Thomas and Smith, intent upon spreading women's influence in the area of social change, drew on the accomplish­ ments of contemporary social feminist organizations, most notably, the National Women's Trade Union League, the National Consumers League, and the Young Women’s Christian Association. All were mixed class undertak­ ings which wished to remedy the harsh results of industrialization and reduce inequities between rich and poor. With Brookwood Labor College, also started in 1921, the Bryn Mawr Summer School launched the American workers education movement. Brookwood, sponsored by unionists and socialists, became the leading co-educational, year-round program for training labor activists. Bryn Mawr became the flagship humanistic program for women workers. In a unique follow-up study conducted forty to sixty years after the experience on 3% of the students, this researcher documented the School's impact. An overwhelming proportion of the canvassed women stated that the School had had a considerable impact on their lives and ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. had significantly contributed to enhance self-image and skill develop­ ment. A survey of twenty-eight faculty members revealed that many became New Deal leaders of note. In the Fall of 1938 the School ended when the novelty wore thin, the money ran out, and a legitimized labor movement made its work less necessary. As early as 1934-1935 a crisis over involvement with the Seabrook Farms Strike had slowed the operation's momentum. During its lifetime the utopian School linked the educated elite with workers, introduced experienced women reformers to the newly militant laboring classes and progressives to nascent New Dealers. Rita Heller co-produced a National Endowment for the Humanities documentary film, on the same subject, also entitled "The Women of Summer," and released in 1985. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Few long term writing projects are ever the sole work of one person. This dissertation was no exception. Many people, as well as libraries and institutions, provided invaluable help over several years. Their much appreciated assistance has brought me debts along with important friendships. I am deeply grateful to my dissertation mentors at Rutgers University who, from the outset, appreciated the richness of the Bryn Mawr Summer School story and gave freely of their wisdom and encourage­ ment. William O'Neill provided help beyond measure as historian and editor. His receptivity, to my dream of transforming the Summer School research into a documentary film, was absolutely crucial. That detour, from formal doctoral work, proved successful and thrilling although considerably delayed completion of the dissertation. The resulting film project thrust Professor O'Neill into the role of film consultant, one he proceeded to fill with imagination and exceptional generosity. Joan Burstyn expanded my understanding of many thorny questions with an un­ stinting expenditure of erudition, time, friendship and nurturance as both a dissertation and film adviser. Mary Hartman was the first to appreciate the potential of an oral historical treatment of the Bryn Mawr Summer School story, to give early drafts close readings, and do all this with her special enthusiasm. Dee Garrison clarified my thinking on key areas of interpretation. I am greatly indebted to Lucy Fisher West, the archivist at Bryn Mawr College, for making her informed judgments available to me over a long period. In the process Lucy became a valued friend. Grateful thanks go to Bernard Downey and Marge Watson at the Rutgers Labor Education Center. Staff at the Library of the School of Industrial and iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Labor Relations, Cornell University and the Schlesinger Library have been available and interested in the project. I wish to thank both the Department of Labor's National Council on Employment Policy and Rutgers University from whom I received a doctoral grant and fellowship, respectively. These awards permitted me to pursue my research on a broad scale — to interview a national constituency of Summer School students and faculty and to use the collections at major archival repositories. Oral histories proved to be the heart of my data. Esther Peterson, who also served as film consultant, Alice Hanson Cook, the late Carmen Lucia, Broadus Mitchell, Freddy Drake Paine, Susan Shepherd Sweezy, Colston Name and Caroline Ware were exceedingly generous in my inter­ view follow-ups. The late Sophie Schmidt Rodolfo, in the Philippines, urged me to come film her before "she became the sub-soil of the Luzon Technical Institute." The National Endowment for the Humanities turned my dream, about a documentary film on the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers, into a reality with their award of script, production ind supplemental grants. I owe special debts to N2H officers Dai-Sil Kim-Gibson and Holly Tank. Producing the film brought the opportunity for additional interviews (on film and in living color) and for creative collaboration with a wonderfully talented production team. My filmmaker associate Suzanne Bauman shared my enthusiasm for the Summer School story from our very first phone conversation and added to my appreciation of its visual dimensions. This total immersion in my subject occasioned by the film work had the inevitable effect of clarifying my ideas and enriching my appreciation for my material overall. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. At the point when numbing staleness began to set in, I was fortu­ nate indeed to have fellow Rutgers doctoral student, Pat Butcher's friendship grace my life. She provided not only the invaluable bibliographic assistance of a seasoned research librarian, but the insights of a fine women's historian. I gratefully acknowledge her sincerity and help. Melanie Pimont, who is the ablest and most literate word-processor a dissertation-writer could dream of, produced flawless manuscripts, since the project's inception. There is no way I could ever adequately thank my family for permit­ ting this project to be a part of their lives for longer than any of us care to remember. When I started I had no idea that my work would span all of Stephen's college and Barbara's high school years. My husband Stanley believed in me and the subject's importance and is the only true feminist in his circle of friends. He has my heartfelt thanks for his saving humor, optimism and love. RRH March 29, 1986 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgment iv Chapter I - An "Unnatural" Institution 1 Chapter II - With Parables and Poetry: Hilda "Jane" Worthington Smith's Directorship of the Bryn Mawr Summer School, 1921-1933 37 Chapter III - The Blue Collars of the Bryn Mawr Summer School 92 Chapter IV - "The Place Was Full of Legends:" The Bryn Mawr Summer School Faculty 149 Chapter V - "It Was an Education to Be Here" 200 Chapter VI - Coming Apart 241 Chapter VII - Epilogue 267 Bibliography 277 Vita 284 v i i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited